


                     What are we, NUTS?!?!?
                     A tale of Adamcon Nine


   I mean it; what's wrong with us? Here we have a computer that 
has been D-E-A-D for more than ten years, yet a hard core band of 
us seem to think nothing of ditching work (and in some cases 
abandoning families!) to run away to some far off location to 
meet and greet and otherwise hobnob with our fellow Adam users. 
Nuts, that's what I call it!

   All right, all right....I got that off my chest. I feel much 
better now. Yet the question remains. I'm not sure I can answer 
it for any one else. For me, it's a time to see, actually and in 
the flesh, that the rest of you out there still exist. You all 
have become more important to me over the years than I care to 
think. For those who have never been to an Adamcon, there is 
absolutely no way to explain. (Believe me, we who have been have 
been TRYING to ever since day one.) And for those of you who have 
been and continue to come, there is no need. Suffice it to say, 
it was wonderful to be back in the bosom of my extended family 
once again!

   Have no doubt, though, that I went to Michigan with my eyes 
wide open. Beyond question, this wasn't going to be an Adamcon 
like those of days gone by. There simply aren't that many of us 
left any more. (I do wish that those who have left would stop in 
every now and then, just to say a quick howdy.) A "small" 'con 
would be what I was to expect. But I was quite pleasantly 
surprised to find that some 35 of us showed up. (I can't wait to 
see the final official figure. Wonder if it's more or less?) This 
included some wandering sheep who have missed one or two in the 
past. It was a genuine pleasure to see them again.

   It was quite a spread that Judy,Bob and even son Doug put on 
for us. While Bob seemed to spend a good deal of his time 
complaining about the hotel staff, I myself didn't have much to 
gripe about. They certainly treated me right. Except for the 
propensity to take as long as possible to get the food to the 
table, all else was fine. And when that food got there! Yummmmm! 
I especially enjoyed the Sunday Brunch. I don't believe I've 
ever seen that much food (and that kind of variety!) at any hotel 
brunch I've ever attended. Well done!

   Well now that we have the most important support function of 
any hotel hosting an Adamcon out of the way, we can now 
concentrate on other matters. I arrived thinking that other than 
seeing this motley crew, I probably wouldn't take much away. I 
DID "know" that I was going to have my hard drive worked on. 
Herman Mason was to give a session on how to ressurect a dead 
hard drive. Unfortunately, the one I brought was deader than 
dead, if such a thing could be. (Leave it to me to be the 
exception that proves the rule.) Long story short, Herman, 
through no fault of his own couldn't breathe new life into it. 
Sorry about that Herman! (But imagine how I felt!!)

   However, all was not lost. Doug Slopsema said he was pretty 
sure he could lay hands on a substitute hard drive "for cheap". 
Being his old man's son, he couldn't resist teasing me, telling 
me that it would be "well, kinda cheap". What he came up with was 
a 40 meg Seagate which was much more than I expected. So I was 
more than happy to pay him the fifteen bucks. (I want to go on 
record here as saying that Herman DID get this hooked up to my 
Adam and running in very quick order!)

   So that was ONE of my personal goals taken care of; just had a 
couple more and all would be well. Next up....I wanted to make 
sure that the video I had slaved over would work properly. You 
may recall, dear reader, that last year I managed to break the 
tape and had to end up doing it all by hand. I'm proud to say 
that this year, it actually worked. I've got to say that if one 
is to do a session, THIS is the way to go. No persnickity Adam 
takinga nose dive right in the middle of showing folks something. 
Much easier as you can pause, rewind or fast forward depending on 
how things go. While that part worked, I'm not sure I got the 
information across. The session was on IMAGE files, a very dry 
and boring topic. I'm sure I saw quite a few glazed eyes out 
there!!

   The last personal goal for me was rather tied in with that 
hard drive mentioned above. See, I was paying keen attention back 
a few years ago when Rich Drushel talked about the impending 
demise of Adam do to the fact that the main processor is going 
quite literally die of old age. (I won't go into this here, it 
has been well published else where.) What I was considering was, 
up to a point, abandoning Adam. I figured I could use either Adam 
Serve or DOS software Adam Emulator to carry on with my future 
Adam activities, saving wear and tear on my poor beleagured Adam. 
Alas, as near as I could determine from the questions I asked at 
the 'con, the limitations I'd have to live with would be far too 
limiting. (At least, present day limitations.) Adam Serve can't, 
at this time, handle tdos. Much to my surprise, I found Adam 
Emulator CAN handle tdos, but can't write to the IBM hard drive. 
It can only write to the disk drives. (BTW, if anyone reading 
this spots any of this as wrong, could you PLEASE let me know?)

   That's why I went ahead and got that replacement hard drive 
for my little ol' Adam. An investment of fifteen bucks will keep 
me going for at least a year or so more and perhaps I can stave 
off the demise of my machine for that long. At any rate, while I 
went to the convention thinking I wouldn't get too much out of 
it, as you can see, it was quite the opposite. All around me, I 
could see signs that others were learning and sharing information 
as well. Situation normal at Adamcon.

   While I take plenty of pictures at these gigs, it seems I 
don't always capture on film what I see going on there. Each 
year, I bring back with me a vivid mental image. It's something 
that sums up each year for me. For some reason, this year, it was 
the fact that almost every time I turned around, there were Judy 
Slopsema and Bob Bair, huddled in front of the Adam. Just what 
was so fascinating? It seems Bob has mapped out Adam Bomb II and 
was taking Judy step by step through the screens. Even while 
sessions were going on, where valuable high level discussions 
were going on, there sat Bob and Judy, playing that same game over and 
over again.

   See what I mean? We travel thousands of miles, go through long 
inspections at airports, and we end up "just" playing games. What 
are we? Nuts?

   Yeah.....I guess we are. And I wouldn't have it any other way.
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