2005-01-04
I've Had Some Sleep
I was waiting for someone to leave comments like that, Richard and Erinose. Eventually, I would have left a similar comment myself!
I've been spending most of my free time working on the PAL (European TV standard) version of the C64 30-games-in-one joystick. The rest of the time I've been thinking about what I should be doing on it. Not ideal blogging conditions, unfortunately. Things are slowing down on that now, so I can make a post somewhat guilt-free.
I think I was supposed to say a bit more about my trip to the World of Commodore in Toronto in early December. The biggest thrill was meeting Karl Hildon, former editor of the greatest magazine of all time, The Transactor. I've still got several issues I bought down at "Little Richard's" corner store back in 1986 or so.
Transactor was a magazine about Commodore computers, but unlike any other. It was totally into the technical side of things - advanced programming, hardware hacking, all that sort of stuff. Almost all of it went over my head (especially when I was 13 years old), but every time I read from them, I'd learn a little more.
I don't know what Karl thought of me at first - perhaps he had never run into a rabid fanboy before. But after a while he seemed happy to share lots of memories of his time running the magazine, both good and bad, and even several adventures after he left. I even learned some of the story behind the really cool and unique cover art the magazine had, and even more obscure trivia. Cool cool cool.
Karl gave me a copy of his book "The Complete Commodore Inner Space Anthology", and signed it for me. And in a weird twist, he received one of the Commodore joysticks I had worked on. He came back the next day with his electric engraver, and had Jeri and me buzz our signatures into the side of it :) Trading autographs with your childhood hero, how cool is that?!
I've been spending most of my free time working on the PAL (European TV standard) version of the C64 30-games-in-one joystick. The rest of the time I've been thinking about what I should be doing on it. Not ideal blogging conditions, unfortunately. Things are slowing down on that now, so I can make a post somewhat guilt-free.
I think I was supposed to say a bit more about my trip to the World of Commodore in Toronto in early December. The biggest thrill was meeting Karl Hildon, former editor of the greatest magazine of all time, The Transactor. I've still got several issues I bought down at "Little Richard's" corner store back in 1986 or so.
Transactor was a magazine about Commodore computers, but unlike any other. It was totally into the technical side of things - advanced programming, hardware hacking, all that sort of stuff. Almost all of it went over my head (especially when I was 13 years old), but every time I read from them, I'd learn a little more.
I don't know what Karl thought of me at first - perhaps he had never run into a rabid fanboy before. But after a while he seemed happy to share lots of memories of his time running the magazine, both good and bad, and even several adventures after he left. I even learned some of the story behind the really cool and unique cover art the magazine had, and even more obscure trivia. Cool cool cool.
Karl gave me a copy of his book "The Complete Commodore Inner Space Anthology", and signed it for me. And in a weird twist, he received one of the Commodore joysticks I had worked on. He came back the next day with his electric engraver, and had Jeri and me buzz our signatures into the side of it :) Trading autographs with your childhood hero, how cool is that?!
