 MY ADAMCON 09 HIGHLIGHTS

 by Gene Welch

     The first highlight of the trip to Grand Rapids, 
Michigan was Northwest Airlines. I flew them to the convention this 
year and I arrived in much better shape than I had last year 
for 08, when I flew with Southwest Airlines.

     Another highlight was seeing everyone from AdamCon 08.  
Although there were a few missing faces from last year, 
there were a few new faces to make up for it.

     As with previous 'Con's, the hotel accomodations were 
excellent. Bob and Judy Slopsema did a fine job of planning  
this event. There was plenty of good food, and the rooms were 
nice as well.

     There was a Radio Shack nearby that I gave some of my 
money too, upon my arrival. I had brought the wrong video 
cable for hooking my Lap-Top ADAM to the television set in my 
room. It only took a few minutes to run across the street to the 
shopping center and pick up the right one. I know this does 
not sound like it should be a highlight, but this  is the 
first time I have left the Hotel and went shopping during an 
AdamCon.

     I spent a couple of hours in my room with Dale Wick, he 
demoed his new compiler and taught me a few tricks with TDOS 
and ML programming.

     The food was outstanding, and the Sunday Brunch was an 
enormous spread. I made several trips to refill my plate, 
though I was unable to keep up with some Adamites.

     I had a great time learning to use Dale Wick's Micro 
Compiler. I had three supervised sessions with it. It is an  
amazingly easy to use compiler. I can't wait to get my hands on 
the final version (we were using v0.77).

     Ron Mitchell's MIDI session was quite good. Ron brought 
a lot of equipment, and walked us through SEQUEL, the 
sequencing software. He also demoed the DYNOMITE SOUND DIGITIZER. I 
own one of these, but haven't used it in some time. That 
should change, now.

     Another highlight with Ron was spending an hour or two 
in his room with the DYNOMITE SOUND DIGITIZER. I have learned 
a couple of tricks, and enjoyed rediscovering this unique 
piece of ADAM hardware.

     Just thought of another good one. Bob Slopsema, relaxed 
and in charge of the 'CON running around in his socks. I 
even got a picture of it during the Sunday night Banquet.

     Rich Drushel shared alot of juicey ADAM trivia and some 
unique ADAM hardware and generally neat stuff. Hopefully he 
will be writing about it, possibly in his weekly articles.

     Rich also brought along a LEGO robot from his 
Engineering course. It was a big hit.

     Bob Bair gave many impromptu one-on-one sessions on 
ADAMBOMB 2. I learned a few tricks from Bob, as did many other 
Adamites. I was also relieved to see that I am not the only 
one who has had a tough time conquering this great game.

     I enjoyed all of the breakfast speeches, but I thought 
that Rich Clee's was the best. Hopefully it will be published 
so that every Adamite can enjoy it as well.

     P. J. Herrington led a session on PowerPaint that had 
her feilding questions on this very popular software. I 
learned a new trick myself.

     Watching Herman Mason try to resurrect Bart Lynch's 
dead Hard Drive was a highlight I won't soon forget.

     Neil Wick got ADAMEM, the ADAM Emulator running on his 
laptop computer. He had ADAMCALC, and several cart games 
going quite well.

     I finally got the SHOW.GIF viewer working, with a 
little help from Dale Wick(its author). I have GIF picture 
files(color) of my two children(Melissa and Andrew) that I   have 
been waiting to see on my ADAM.

     Bart Lynch's TDOS to EOS session was great. He had it 
on video tape and was able to go over the important parts over 
and over again, 'til we understood what was going on.

     Rich Drushel ran a speed test between Dale's MIC 
compiler and the SmartBasic interpretor. The compiler won hands 
down. It was 15 to 20 times faster. Now that's amazing.

     An unexpected Adamite crashed the 'Con. A fellow by the 
name of David Ramsey learned of AdamCon from the Internet 
and stopped by to chat for a while.

     Bob Slopsema was inducted into the GALLERY of HONOUR. 
Bob really deserves this distinction. He has put a lot of work 
into the ANN, and also Adamcon 09, lately.

     Also inducted were Eric Danz and Ed Jenkins, both 
deserving fellows.

     Now, I have saved my biggest highlight for last. You 
see, there were four inductees this year. The three above and 
ME. Yes, that's right, me. I, Gene Welch, am very grateful to 
everyone for placing me in the Gallery with all the great 
Adamites that have made it possible for me to get the most 
enjoyment possible from my ADAM computer.

                    Thank You.
he important parts over and over again, 'til we understood 
what was going on.

     Ric

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