I freely admit that I’m a geek.  I always have been.  I was more interested in chess that I was in flag football and I was way more interested in tearing down computers and rebuilding them that I was in my car.  I read software instruction books for financial software way over my head rather than read my US History book and couldn’t stop myself from using up my parents precious long distance minutes to access the cool looking BBS’ in the back of my Computer World magazine every month.

When Barnes & Noble opened in Bowling Green, KY the first thing I did was run to the computer magazine section.  There my heart nearly burst from my chest as I discovered 2600 Magazine for the first time.  I read alt.2600 (as much as I could understand – I knew what they were doing, just not how).

I still have every issue of 2600 that I ever got (about 2 dozen of them) in a plastic container upstairs in my own house.  They traveled to college with my should I ever run in to Lord Nikon questioning my hacker elitism.  I always dreamed of playing hookie from class and running off to NYC to go to the H.O.P.E. conference that 2600 put on.

Now, the last H.O.P.E. coference is taking place.

Ah well, some dreams are not meant to be.  I wouldn’t be on their level anyway, but I did want to try my hand at “Spot The Fed” and maybe pick up a t-shirt.