NWBC Day 2

The second day pf the convention was a pretty busy one - this was a public day and at 11 am, the place was opened for everyone to see.

Some neat things were around to see:

The Crate Contraption - Gus Janssen built a course for a bunch of robots to move crates of soccer balls around, including a crane, and a few vehicles.

FIRST LEGO League - The Gothic Lawn Gnomes team was working on their robot for this year's challenge!

Mecha Godzilla - (there were two of them!)

Moonbase - some modules and construction areas - and more than a few space craft,

Train/Town - Nice buildings and skyscrapers.

And yacking with everyone is a lot of fun.

Afterward, saw Transformers the Movie at the IMAX. Wow.
  

NWBC Day 1

Wow, what a day...

Got in in the morning and took pics all day. Also talked quite a few people, like Steve DeCraemer, who built a hearse in Model Team scale. And Keith Goldman, Ryan Rubino, and Mike Rutherford, who got together and built a simple astounding layout. I was able to ge my micro stuff out too.

I also ended up being timekeeper to the Millennium Falcon Speed Build. THe previous record was 2 hours 53 minutes, and...this team got 2 hours 49 minutes! I ended up getting pics of the build and a timelapse of most of the build. The battery died on the camera, and so there is a 15-20 minute gap while batteries were found and replaced. The LEGO Group had a camera setup that was much more impressive that filmed the build.

There also was some information on the upcoming trains - pretty positive news actually. Since I was watching over the speed build, the other Joe went to it ad got information. I will be getting more info about this for the Journal.

Opening ceremonies were pretty laid back - some info the upcoming activities and prize drawings. It's much more relaxed in NWBC than in other cons.

So some fun stuff (and nice eateries, too)! And I met anc chatted with:

Keith Goldman
Mike Rutherford
Ryan Rubino
Wayne Hussey
Thomas Rafert
Phil Eudy
Steve Witt
Roger Cameron
Steve Gerling
Gus Janssen
and many many others...

Now, to Saturday!

Pulling into NWBrickcon...

And after 7 hours and two airliners later, I am in Seattle.

I am rooming up with Joe Evangelista at the Best Western Executive Inn(I think). It's about a ten minute walk to the event, and a pretty nice room for a hotel, Wireless is free too, which is reallly nice!

The location of the convention is a really different location compared to other conventions that I have been to before Unlike the others, NWBC is in a place that is really close to other attractions.

How close? I have to walk PAST the Seattle Space Needle to get to the venue. A science fiction museum is just down the way, and there's IMAX theatre just as close. There's also more than a few eateries and places to munch at, so the location is very nice.

The venue space is not bad either. It's 13,000 sq ft, and split into two rooms. One room is sale stuff it appears, and the other is display. Since it's Thursday (now Friday) the early birds have come in...and wow, there are some astounding models showing up. How astounding? Go to my Flickr gallery!

However, not all was great. I brought a shoebox of micro in, and by the time it got to Seattle, it was pretty badly destroyed. Joe E's stuff wasn't much better. But things are being rebuilt.

I also got to meet Wayne Hussey, the coordinator of NWBC, and found out he's a great person to talk to. His planning is good too. So things are falling into place as this event begins.

Highlights already:
Godzilla (okay, Mecha Godzilla)! At about 4 foot tall!
Titanic Titanic (at over ten feet in length)
Totem Pole
KeithLUG's layout!
War of the Worlds tripod

...and that's just a starter....

Thoughts here and there...

Well, the 9v announcement was released, and while sad, it wasn't very surprising. There have been many discussions about 9v and what its future iis, and to be honest, its future lies in the community.

I firmly believe that 9v will persevere. I am very interested to see what the LEGO Group is developing for the Power Functions system that will align with train, and am excited with the possibilities that will be opened. There are some challenges that will have to be addressed, but this too will be dealt with.

From my experience with PF motors and systems, I can see the potentials an limitations so far:

Potentials:
IR remote, with different channels.
NXT integration (which could possibly mean Bluetooth)
Multiple trains on single track
true building with a train set - there are no train motor trucks - you may have to build it!
Possible integration for lighting

Limitations:
IR remote:-) - line of sight challenges
Power - batteries is a definite limitation, with weight and available power.
Motor size - the smallest size now is almost too big for 9v train bodies.

The things that need to be looked at right now (and I am assuming they are looking at it, with the AFOL group) are the production things: There has to be a wheel setthat links to the PF motors in some way - the 9v motor is in a train truck...PF will most likely have a built solution or an adapter.

What I think is neat is that the motor system is becoming  a cross platform LEGO solution, which is a very welcome thing. It's a business-smart solution that can be a great long-term solution for electronics.

So I am looking forward to seeing what happens.

On other subjects, BrickJournal has been sent to the web publisher. So it's done (for me, anyways). And I am very happy with it. There are some neat things in it and an announcement in it:-)

And congratulations to the staff of Railbricks! They launched their magazine and yes, I got a copy. It's pretty good. It's nice to see other projects start. and I wish the best to them.

Now that BrickJournal's current issue is done, I can turn my attention to BrickJournal.com - there have been new things added to the web service that I have to sit down and figure out. There are some easy things, like live chat for members, and not so easy things, like creating data pipes for feeds that are multi lingual, which can be really cool! I have to take a good look at all of this first.

And I will be at NWBrickcon! With maybe one MOC. Sorry, I have been building something else:-)

I'm also trying to figure out NXT building. I got the new MINDSTORMS NXT Idea Book from No Starch Press, and am getting my way around the programming.

So new day, new things, new adventures!

BrickJournal 9 is....

big: 148 pages
diverse: Articles come from Europe, the US and Asia
fun: with LOTs of instructions
inspiring: with a story on FIRST LEGO League and a story on a person setting up MINDSTORMS classes in Jamaica.

The issue is in final proof, with release set for this week.


Woo hoo!

Yep, I should be working.

am doing some almost final stuff for the Journal - I say almost because I have to paginate the whole thing.

But I have to stop and rest for a moment...I have done about 80 pages of layout in the past four days...and there's a bit more coming in.

There are going to be some different articles in the Journal this time around. We got a display article from China and FLL in Jamaica, and some really nice and longer than usual articles from some events. There are some articles on builders and building, and more instructions!

Am I excited? Yes I am! Tired, but excited. The layouts are falling into place, and I got some last minute pictures for a story and am writing up a report...always to the wire.

But I have to say I completely love it!

PS The MINDSTORMS NXT Idea book is out, and I plan to review it!

banging my skull on an article...

So I am working on an article for the Journal..and it's been a tough one.

It's pretty odd how I ended up writing - I started writing because I had some contacts I wanted to have in the mag. Now, it's because I am the forward edge of the magazine and as a result, the one finding different things than the expected community articles.

There's a lot more out there about LEGO building than we know, and I want to find those things. I want to touch on as many aspects of the community as I can - there's something for everyone to see and if they want, join.

My article is about an educator who is creating robotics labs in Jamaica using LEGO MINDSTORMS. I have been online with him and talked to him on the phone, and he's a great person to talk to. His name is Marvin Hall.

This story is different from the usual article, but I feel strongly that the Journal show how our hobby can inspire people. What Marvin has done is use MINDSTORMS to teach technology to at-risk children in the Jamaican inner-city. Where there are guns and war, he is giving hope. And he doing this using LEGO sets.

The bad thing about writing these articles is thatI have to get a lot of information and then find the voice of my article and put everything off topic aside. And that's unfortunate. Talking with Marvin was a very secial moment for me, as he's got enthusiasm and passion in what he wants to do. He's a person that wants to give hope and pass what he has learned to the next generation. I was moved to tears on some of the stories he told me. He is a person of vision, and one that has become a ray of hope to his country.

In searching online for information on him, I found many articles and his blog, and there were some wonderful things that I got to read. One was an article in www.jamaicans.com. he has an interview, and he has some advice to students - and they are things that I try to keep in mend when I am writing and looking for stories:

From Marvin:

Whatever your field of study, make sure you love it. Act in spite of fear, take the risk annd immerse yourself in whatever you beleive in. you will not find your passion without exploration. most importantly, beleive in yourself at all costs. Some say that the most powerful force on earth is knowing how to be yourself. Five specific points for the students would be:

1. Keep on learning and never think you know enough
2. Develop your logic, critical thinking and problem-solving skills
3. Find a procedure to learn anything in the way that suits you best 
4. Maintain your enthusiasm from failure to failure, and learn from your mistakes
5. Collaborate with, and value the opinions, ideas and expressions of the community of learners around you.

It was very humbling to listen to him. But it also was inspiring. There's so much more to do, and so much to pass on.

Such as hope. We can make tomorrow better.