FLEM ver 7! June 27, 2009 in Tavares, FL. (We're hopelessly addicted, aren't we?)

[cat]

Outback is perfect. I probably would have eaten there if I had been home. Bob usually takes me there for my birthday. Cat

[buffo]

Looking forward to seeing everyone again. Also looking forward to a little pre-FLEM laser fun after dinner! 4 days and counting down...

Adam

[DZ]

Well, looks like I will make this after all. I will have to leave late saturday afternnoon though. See you guys friday!

[wolfblue]

I think we will be there by about noon Saturday. Looking forward to it.

--John

[allthatwhichis]

Well, looks like I will make this after all. I will have to leave late saturday afternnoon though. See you guys friday!

That just means you have to come down early on friday.

[buffo]

He'll be there on Friday. I'm going to kidnap him on my way down from Charleston. (No, really... I am!)

Adam

[DZ]

ha! Yep, he told me he'd smash all my stuff if I didn't drive down early on friday. Since clan isn't around to back me up, I had to agree.

[Lazerjock]

This is going to be awsome!!!!!!
I've been trying very hard to finish my new projector for FLEM. Tuesday night I actually had a green image out and was going to tweak the amp. I realized I haden't installed the sound card drivers yet and decided now was the time. After rebooting and powering everything up I noticed all 5 lasers were dead (PANIC). Yes I killed all of my diodes.

I decided to order new red and BR diodes from Mo. In the process we discovered we live less than a mile apart. He drove the diodes over to my house last night. Now that is service!!! He and I talked until well into the night.

I guess you could say FLEM has started.

[buffo]

Cool! I spoke with Mo yesterday, and he said he was going to drop the diodes off at your house. Evidently the two of you are almost neighbors! Glad to hear he was able to hook you up. Sorry that you blew your old diodes... That hurts - especially so close to the event. Really looking forward to meeting you and trying some of your rum though!

In other news, I picked up Clandestiny's CVL yesterday. OMG this thing is massive! 4 grown men just *barely* got it loaded. I had to go buy a shitload of extra tie-downs to secure it properly. The drive to Florida ought to be "interesting", to say the least! I'm going to need a *lot* of help getting it unloaded...

But the good news is that it has a bottle of neon in it with just over 1000 psi showing on the gauge. Also, the regulator was still hooked up and turned on, and the low pressure side (before the solenoids and the vacuum pump) was holding steady at 11.5 psi. So it looks like the gas system is A-OK. No idea if the copper load is exhausted or not though. (741 hrs on the meter, so it's a toss up.) We're going to give it a shot anyway, and if we can get it working, we'll have a bucket-load of yellow and green!

I'll be in town around 2 PM, and I'm going to start setting things up at the venue as soon as I get there. If anyone wants to help out, give me a ring on my cell phone (843) 324-0735. DZ and I will be there all afternoon...

Don't forget - Dinner at 6 at Outback! Then we come back to the venue for some late-night pre-FLEM laser fun!

Also note that I probably won't have Internet access after today. If we get the connection working at the venue on Saturday, I should be able to check in here, but that's not certain. I'll be back in Charleston Sunday evening...

Adam

[daedal]

Oh man... Chris is truly a laserjock! Last night was a blast! I had a great time looking through the beautiful collection of pictures that you've taken over the years. I'm fairly certain we'll be dealing more with each other in the near future.

Chris, again, thank you very much for the hospitality and it was really great to meet you and your lovely wife last night.

As you said, FLEM has in fact begun!

It was really sad to see that all the diodes decided to blow right before the meet (including the green). Even if we had worked on it last night, it would have not been enough to get everything back up. I suspect the culprit was the modulation spike when the computer was turned on. I'm not sure if the flexmods handle that. In either case... If there's anything I can help with, please let me know.

Adam, I decided to be nice and managed to leave you *some* rum...

So, how long do you suspect the drive will take to Florida this time. If it's anything like the difference we saw the last time we had a trailer behind us, I really don't think you should go over the speed limit... I'm a crazy nut on the road and all that, but with an uncontrolled "tail" it's just plain scary!

Have a safe trip and I'll be there as soon as I can to help take that thing away. Paul, you'll like hauling my Argon much better!

So just about 32 hours and counting down!

--DDL