After a 15 hr car trip, I'm back home in SE Minnesota. Since I took today off to recover, I've had the chance to reflect on the 2001 AH con. I've been flying online sims since Warbirds back in 1996, but this was the first time that I've taken the steps to make an appearance at the con. The experience totally blew me away. The hotel was first-class in every way. While at first I wasn't too geared up to shell out $119/night for a room, once I saw the room, and discovered the usual price per night, I realized it was a bargain. And when I factored in the free breakfast buffet every morning, and the free booze at night that I consumed, I think it was a steal!
The con room was spacious, and well-equipped to handle the power/networking needs. This, combined with the superb organization and skills of Skuzzy <S>, resulted in no network or power drops that I was aware of.
The three veterans that HTC had lined up to speek to us were very interesting, and I learned a great deal. The trip to the air museum on Saturday was rewarding, too. You don't appreciate the size of the TBM Avenger until you actually stand next to one in person--the thing is HUGE! The highlight of the trip to the museum for me, though, was seeing their beautiful B-25J. This plane has been one of my favorites for a long time(Pyro, if you're reading this, I'd like to place an order for a B-25H first, then a J model when you get around to it.
).
But by far, the highlight of the weekend was meeting the people. It was a pleasure to finally meet the people behind HiTech Creations. There was HiTech, canvassing the room, talking to everyone, explaining features to us that some of us had never even tried before. He personally spent at least an hour with me helping to resolve a problem with my new CH HOTAS setup. Then there's Pyro, who, while quiet on the outside, is always worrying that everything is running smoothly, and remained the consumate professional all weekened.
Yankee, that whirlwind of efficiency, was everywhere, making arrangements, handling questions and generally running the whole con. And Ronni, the un-sung hero of HTC, was single-handedly manning the fort at HTC while we were having fun. But she finally was able to break away and take us to the air museum on Saturday. When I first got to Texas, I was wondering where all the pretty women were that I kept hearing about. Well, they're all at HTC!
Yankee and Ronni are not only stunningly beautiful, but extremely friendly and a whole lot of fun to be with(pssst...all you single guys out there. Rumor has it that both are unmarried and available). I didn't get a chance to talk to Superfly and Natedog all that much, but they both were friendly and right in the middle of the action at the con.
I want to give special mention to Skuzzy, who was prowling the con room all day and night on Thursday making sure everyone was up and had a live network connection. The amount of dedication in this guy is incredible, and he richly deserved the standing ovation he received from us at the banquet on Saturday night.
Perhaps the thing I was most looking forward to was meeting, in person, the people I fly with and against all year long online. While I won't take the time to say something about everyone, there were some really special people I'd like to give a <S> to:
Verm: My brother CM, an all-around great guy. Verm and I spent Thursday night drinking and talking til the wee hours of the morning, and was the guy that I hung around the most with during the con.
MarkAT: This guy is old enough to be my father, but is just as passionate about flying AH as anyone else I met at the con. And talk about classy...the guy drove me at least 40 miles (round trip) to get to a huge computer store where I found and purchased my CH USB Pro Throttle and Pro Pedals.
Yoodee(Udie): Well, what can I say. I've been waiting since 1996 to meet the guy who took me under his wing when I was a newbie and kept me alive during my first scenario in Warbirds. Great seeing you, bud!
DmdCoach: I didn't even know of Coach and had never seen him in the arena before the con, but we ended up having our computers next to each other during the con. The guy is the working definition of "Texas friendly". One of the nicest guys you'll ever meet, he cracked open a couple bottles of red wine on Friday night, and shared with me until we had polished those bottles off sometime later in the evening. Hehe, I gotta admit, red wine goes just as well with AH as it does with red meat and pasta!
The Buccaneers: Sabre, Eskimo, Jarbo. Great guys, all of them.
The FDB's: Hehe, the FDB's were everything I thought they'd be, and more. The only squad I saw with their own groupies! The FDB's are truly a one-of-a-kind squad. While I was very surprised to discover that Sally was in fact a man, he is still a babe nonetheless.
And Fatty, although in reality skinny as a rail, is as droll and deadpan in person as he is on the BBS. But he's a good guy, as are all the rest of the FDB's that were there.
Troxel, Edbert, LLBM, Karnak, Sancho(and many others too many to name): Superb people with fantastic attitudes! We all had a great time flying together at the con, expecially the evil con mission. Hehe, you should've heard the roars of laughter in the room when we all took off in our suped-up sheep!
My appologies to anyone I forgot to name above, but suffice it to say that everyone there was friendly and fun.
If you've made it this far, I'd like to sum up by saying that only when you go to the con and meet the people whom you fly with and against on a daily basis, does the real strength of an online sim reveal itself. After being able to put the faces with the names, then you begin to realize that everyone online is just like you, more or less. All the nastiness of the BBS is absent at the con. All the whining, complaining and crying on the open radio buffer is replaced with laughing, smiling and shaking of hands at the con.
If you are passionate about AH and flying, the AH con is something you simply have to experience to believe. I think it will transform your whole way of thinking while you're flying online. Before I went to the con, I always thought that the arenas of AH are places where friends get together to share the love of air combat. Thanks to everyone at the con, my belief has been confirmed.
Start planning and saving now for the 2002 con, you won't regret it. And I'll see you there! <S>
