KFest '97

[Mike Adams <adams@primenet.com>]

I guess I'm probably the last Kfester to leave Kansas City, so I thought
I'd work on a KFest report while I'm waiting on my plane. Just to let
everyone know, the temperature and humidty are much higher today (Monday)
than they were during Kfest.

I just want to say that I hope everyone learned lots, made new friends,
got re-aquainted with old friends, didn't sleep enough, ate too much, and
generally had a good time.  I know that I certainly did!!

Wednesday was check-in.  I had fun sitting at the table waiting for
familiar faces to show up, trying to guess who the new people were, and
making sure I was sitting there when Geoff showed up. :)  Then it was on
to an already packed K C Masterpiece, but we all eventually made it in.
Good food, good fun, and a great way to start off KFest '97.

Thursday morning stared bright and early with breakfast at 7:00 and that
was followed by the Keynote Address by David Kerwood.  The text of his
speech can be found on the A2web page. Then the wonderful sessions were
started.  After a busy day of sessions, grabbing a 10 minute nap, and
Avila cafeteria food, we were all treated to the unveiling of Richard
Bennett's TCP/IP for the GS!! What a wonderful thing to see! Following the
world premire of TCP/IP for the IIgs, the annual Bite the Bag competion
began. After a very exciting competion, the crown was awarded to Paul Zaleski and
Scott Johnson.  Both men were previous winners so they graciously agreed
to share this year's title.

On Friday everyone got to sleep in an extra few minutes because the Apple
representative canceled.  I have to say that having breakfast an hour
later brought out more programmers than I've ever seen at that meal
before. :)
Once again, it was a day full of sessions that Steve "Godzilla" had to
change around.  And for dinner, we roasted Richard Bennett.  Oh wait, we
had a banquet and then Joe Kohn MC'd the roast after dinner.  Max Jones,
Goeff Weiss, and Ryan Suenaga did their best to help Joe. Andrew Roughan,
another Australian at Kfest (actually we had 3 there), provided the
visuals for the roast.  (Richard was such a cute little boy!!) After
Richard had his say, we all moved out to the patio to teach Richard about
s'mores.

After a short night, and the obligatory run to Denny's, Saturday was
filled with demos and the vendor fair.  I know I spent plenty of money, and
I'm now the proud owner of a very stylish Juiced.GS T-shirt.  DINNER!! We
all piled in the cars and headed down Wornall to Jess & Jim's for a
wonderful steak dinner. They were expecting us, so we got in fairly
quickly and were able to sit near each other.  Joe Kohn received an extra
glass of water, just in case.  The weather was clear, so I didn't need to
go outside to see rain. (as I did last year)

As we came back into the dorm, we saw Godzilla's final schedule change for
this year.  He was apologizing for being unable to find anything to change
on Sunday.  (Thanks to Steve for being such a fantastic and flexible
schedule-meister!!)

Sunday morning was a sad time as we all left Avila, and went back to the
real world.  I think the first load left at 5:00 am, and there were about
6 of us that finally drove out of the parking lot about noon.  I have to
tell everyone that the staff of Avila said we were the first group all
summer that turned in all of the keys.  (Heck, thanks to a certain A2Pro
librarian, they got an extra key left from four years ago - thanks Todd.)
They were even impressed with the cleanliness of the rooms.

Over the years, it seems like each Kfest is the "year of" something.  I
would vote that 1997 was a tie, just like Bite the Bag. 1997 was the year
of the Australian (thanks to Richard Bennett), and the year of Snood.
(Now if some wonderful GS programmer will port Snood to the GS!)

Well, it's about time for my flight, so I will soon be returning to my
real life too.  KFest '97 is just about over.  ::sob:: (This is being
written in KC, but will be posted after I'm back in Phoenix.)

But one bright spot on the horizon is that plans for KFest 1998 have
already started.  As soon as I get the date finalized with Avila, I will
tell the world!  BTW, KFest 1998 will be the 10th anniversary of KFest, so
start making plans to attend and it will be the biggest and best ever!!

Cindy

(aka Momma Cheese)