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Jake McKee wrote:
>
> Inspired by John's post (http://news.lugnet.com/general/?n=39785), I would
> love to throw out a question!
>
> What is your coolest LEGO Experience? Maybe you built an amazing castle when
> you were eight years old. Or perhaps you've had a more recent experience
> like watching an FLL robotics competition where you saw kids participating
> in the most thrilling event of their lives. Or maybe you finished the
> perfect train car and posted it online.
I've been reading all of these and trying to decide what my coolest
experience was. I don't have a single experience that really jumps out,
but several are notable. One factor is that while I had LEGO as a kid,
and even had a LEGO train, we somehow never got anything past the 60s
LEGO even though I certainly played with LEGO into the 70s.
Of course a good stock cool experience is the sequence which led me out
of my dark ages. It all started at one of those big "all hands" meetings
where they spend an hour telling you about the company (or division in
the case of IBM) strategy, then they bring on a motivational speaker.
Well, the motivational speaker that time was Fred Martin of the MIT
Media Lab and the speech was about personal computing (not PCs on your
desk, personal computing like electronic business cards, robotics, and
such). Of course he talked about LEGO robots and Mindstorms, and
mentioned how adults were buying them like mad. Well, I've always been
curious about hobby robotics and instantly saw the possibilities of LEGO
(despite never having owned or played with Technic - though I had seen
it). A couple weeks later, I bought a set. Then I bought a couple other
sets. Then I searched on the web and found (not necessarily in order of
finding them, more so in order of importance to me) a LEGO Titanic,
train layouts, the Pirate Game, castle layouts, and Lugnet. Sometime in
there I met up with Karim Nassar and really launched LEGO into a social
hobby.
Another cool moment was walking into the first BrickFest. Up until then,
I had only got together with folks a few at a time (and had only got
together with more than one other person just that same week when Martin
Legault's work visit to RTP NC instigated the first real NCLUG
gathering). A second part of the coolness of BrickFest was actually
getting to run the Pirate Game. Of course as Jake mentioned, the spark
of finally meeting someone you have shared e-mails with in the past.
Another cool moment was meeting Steve Jackson in person at BricksWest
2002, and helping him with the Pirate Game.
Another cool moment was three and a half years ago when I was going out
to Portland OR for a church conference. I had decided to go out a couple
days early to do some sight seeing. Since I was going to have some time,
I posted to lugnet.loc.us.or.por that I would be out there. Steve Barile
responded and we eventually arranged to meet for lunch. Somewhere in
there I realized Steve and I were in the midst of a trade so I suggested
we save on shipping. Kim Toll also joined us for lunch. This Portland
visit, and especially Steve's hospitality certainly were key factors in
my decision to choose Portland over Pittsburgh this spring. Maybe in a
way the sequence of my getting to Portland is my coolest LEGO
experience. I had actually investigated coming out here earlier, and
existence of LUGs or LTCs factored heavily into where I was looking for
jobs. The funniest part about being out here is that I think I get
together with Mike Walsh from NC more often now than I did when I lived
back there (probably not really but it sure seems like it)...
One final cool LEGO thing is that it has really revived my activity with
Model Railroading. I have been into Model Railroads since I was 10 or
so, and was making an effort to go to shows, and even built a table for
a layout, but I just wasn't going anywhere. With LEGO, I have had a
working layout (though I haven't done anything out here yet), have
participated in shows, and have built trains and structures.
Frank
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | Coolest LEGO Experience?
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| Inspired by John's post ((URL) I would love to throw out a question! What is your coolest LEGO Experience? Maybe you built an amazing castle when you were eight years old. Or perhaps you've had a more recent experience like watching an FLL robotics (...) (22 years ago, 6-Dec-02, to lugnet.general, lugnet.people) !!
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