5/31/05 - I returned last night from Wonderfest and boy
are my legs tired. I never realized how hard it was to stand and talk with
people all day.
The trip home took 3 hours less than the trip there. We must has come
through a worm hole on the way back. Actually there was a 3 hour tie up on
the trip down that delayed all of the folks coming from the north. So we
didn't get there until 8 PM on Friday.
A special thanks to Pat Burns for coordinating the entire B9 Club attendance
at the show. This guy wore a permanent smile and was non-stop from the
time he arrived until the last item was packed to go. What an awesome
J2 flight deck he built. It'll be really neat when it's done. Pat was
building much of it on the spot. Where he's going to put it when it
done is what I want to know. He kept us supplied with food and
refreshments most of the weekend. He had one corner of the room set up
with all the treats.
Look for Phil H's DVD of the event. He always had his camera going and
captured some great candid moments with Bob and Mark. We were all able to
witness some behind the scenes TV production. Saturday morning two different
channels had live updates from the B9 Robot room. They even did the weather
from in front of the Jupiter 2 consoles. Sunday morning, they taped some TV
spots for the sponsoring TV channel (TV 19 -Fueled by Fafe!) Bob was at his
best, goofing around.
My B9 Robot made a appearance on one of the channels with the News Girl.
Don't know if anyone taped or "Tivo'd" any of it. If they
did please let me know.
Pat's "B9 building Seminar" was also a great event, chock full of self-deprecating
humor. The only way to stay sane while building your own B9 robot.
I met Phil H., Dave H., Sam C., Bill H. (and wife), Doug H. & Ray D. (and
daughter Taylor). It was great to meet all of you. It's nice when you can
have a lengthy conversation with a person about a soil sampler or textured
torso finish and neither person thinks the other is crazy.
A special "thanks" to Sam for finishing off the leftover sandwich meat
Saturday night. We didn't know whether to throw it out or not, since it had
been sitting there since noon. Sam didn't let it to go to waste.
Dave H. let us pose with his LIS laser pistol replica. It
helped add to the "realism" of the photos I took with my robot. Doug H.
had a large laser rifle on display. Even though he didn't know it, I should thank
him for allowing us to hold it in a few photographs.
Bill H. has an awesome LIS panel display with some original LIS panels and a
replica count down timer. His wife also bought a Mystic Seer shirt from me
and then wore it on Sunday to promote my Mystic Seers.
I met tons of people and everyone had great things to
say about my robot. It was my first show (with my robot) and it really makes
it all worth it when people ask ME "how" I made such-and such a part. I'm
sorry the soil sample wasn't working. I haven't had a chance to see what
came loose during the trip, but I'll figure it out and make sure it doesn't
happen next time.
My son was a real help. As you may suspect, setting up a robot is
not a one man job. He's 16, and while not a total "geekazoid" like his dad,
he is a sci-fi fan (thank you Star Wars) and he appreciated what the club
members have done.
Later,
One
of Bob May's standard B9 Robot jokes made reference to Viagra.
Well, my soil sampler was not working, so maybe one of those blue pills
could have helped. I did manage to "hand crank" it out for this
picture.
|
Here's a scene you won't see in
"Revenge of the Sith"
This is my son Cory, Mark, Bob and me with Pat's B9 in front of his J2
Console.
So guess what the first thing I did when I got home. Yep! I added
the Laser beam to the picture of me with the Lost In Space
Laser Pistol.
This is Taylor. She had fun interacting with my robot.
Mark and me with my B9. We never could get Mark to take
off his coat. He always looked like he was ready to go. |
