KFest 2007 Report

[Kirk Mitchell <kirkmitchell@gmail.com>]

Hey, all...

Your intrepid reporter here with yet another running commentary on the
current KFest.

I'll try not to talk about food so much this year.  B-{)

I left the small town of Moscow, KS to drive to KFest and 7 hours
later, pulled into the parking lot of XL, the dorm we're at.  I really
need to take more pitstops on trips like this.  I'm old enough that my
joint's lock up.  Duh!

Registration was fast, and I had lots of help from folks already here
to help me unload my treasures.  Ryan Suenaga needed my GS for his
session, so it got out of the house for the first time in a few years.

Got here around 2:00 pm, and by 3:00 pm, a bunch of us decided to go
out for lunch.  Geoff Weiss suggested Sonic.  I'm never going to
listen to Geoff's suggestions again.  Waiting for food in a hot car is
just no fun.  That and they shorted us an order of fries. The
B@stards..

Shortly afterwards, more folks started arriving, and we met folks we
haven't seen in 5-12 years, like Max Jones, Cindy Adam, and Tim
Kellers...  Also, KFest newbies, Jamie, Anthony, and Henry.  All much
younger looking than I'd anticipated.  Sweet!  The Apple II kept alive
by the younger generation.  B-{)

Dinner time finally came around, and we raced to Sweet Tomatoes, a
soup and salad joint that's become a tradition. I won.  I don't think
the others were aware that we were racing, or that'd the excuse
they're using.   I ate plenty of rabbit food, but made sure to finish
off with lots of soft serve ice cream on hot fudge brownies.  My Dr.
would be so proud.  B-{)

Oh.  Food.  Sorry.  Sheesh, I'm obsessed!

After Dinner, Ryan and I drove to Costco to buy supplies for the
KookOut tomorrow.  It's a lot for 40+ folks.  Since I have to bake
outside grilling this stuff, I made sure to get a case of my favorite
barley beverage.  B-{)

You can't buy small quantities of anything at Costco though, so we had
to search for a Price Choppers to get the rest of the stuff we
needed.  Sheesh...  I live in the boonies.  I have to drive 35 miles
to get to a WalMart...  One way.  Seems like you have to do the same
in a big city, but you have to do it at 35 mph, and mess with
stoplights.  We got everything, and.... had absolutely no help hauling
it to our room.  I'm a bit miffed at that.

Now we have folks settling into their rooms, playing a Wii on the big
screen TV in the lobby, coding, visiting, and generally introducing
themselves to each other.  Matt Jenkins was in here earlier, and we
had a nice relaxed conversation about Australia, and IT, and a range
of other stuff.  Meeting new cool people is what this is all about.  B-
{)

I brought an external USB Hard drive with all 11 seasons of MST3K to
share with Ken and any other Misties here.  Since it takes 3 hours to
copy over, it could keep him busy.  B-{)

Oh, it took a while before Rockhurst IT got their act together, and
activated the account we were to use.  They gave us the username and
password, but the service wasn't activated.  We've working on getting
certain ports opened now.

I'm going to do a walkabout to see if anything else is happening...

Talked to Andrew Roughan a bit...  The lobby full of folks playiing
Wii Bowling...  Or just sitting there with laptops on laps engrossed
in geeky stuff.  This is truely a summer camp for geeks.  B-{)

I got a few folks to sample my homemade wine, but they must be
frightened of Jesuits, since this is supposed to be a dry school.  I
haven't seen security yet, and I'm discrete.  B-{)

I'm sure more will happen, but I'm off to visit some more.  I hope
other participants feel free to add to the thread with their takes on
what happens here.   We have a lot of new folks, and their viewpoints
can always open fossilized eyes.  B-{)

Kirk