yoyoboy wrote:HI guys,
I actually just heard the radio piece in NPR.
I'm back in boston home on break from school. Any idea when the next meeting will be?
Thanks,
Brendan
Hey, Brendan,
We're trying to get a meet together for January, probably middle of the month, but another member here is in town on break and wanted to get together, so maybe we'll do a low key lockpicking & dinner or something. When do you head back to school?
zeke79 wrote:Schuyler,
I must say this, I remember when you first come to lp101 and started learning how to pick. I think you even screwed the lock up on your apartment and ended up sleeping by your door . I remember the "green" lockpicker Schuyler. We had so much fun with those late night chats about any and all locks out there. I had such a great time chatting locks with you so it is a great memory of mine. These days I don't really have many new picker friends on msn to chat locks with so I miss that quite a bit.
I am so glad you kept up with the hobby. You have grown so much and your skills and knowledge has grown so much. I am proud of your NDE magazine and even tell my friends that you publish it online so they can read it. I even tell my friends who have no interest in lockpicking about it since it is such a great magazine.
Don't take this the wrong way as I don't want to sound as though you are where you are today because of me or my help because that is in no way the case, it was you who done all of the hard work and pushed yourself to success. I just feel really thankfull that I decided to take the time to get to know you and share knowledge of locks to help you along the way when you were starting out. I would hate to think where the sport would be if you had not received any help when starting out and ended up getting frustrated and quiting. I am honored to be able to consider you as a friend and am really really happy that you have come as far as you have.
I am so proud of how far you have come in this short amount of time. I remember yelling outloud "yes" when you won the DefCon black badge for lockpicking. I truly hope we can meet someday. If you are ever in Illinois or close by sometime please give me a heads up. My family and I would be more than happy to have you stay with us. Late into the night we could talk locks, picks, picking, and do lots of fun stuff on the code machines and duplicators, along with all of my other toys.
Great job promoting the sport Schuyler. You really deserve the attention you are getting in the media with all the work you have put into the sport. I am very glad to know you and I am very humbled by your lockpicking skills.
Your friend,
-Zeke79-
Zeke - you absolutely are one of the reasons I'm where I am today. I have a new picker in our club, he's blind and absurdly nice. The first day he picked with us he would ask questions every now and then. "Do any lock companies do this" or "What if I tried that" and every time he asked something I said "Yes! And it's funny you mention it because..." or "That's a great idea, but try this tool." Things like that. The way he thought about picking, and locks, was great. He kept saying "Ah! All these great ideas and someone's already thought of it!" It reminded me, exactly, of our old chats. Back then I was convinced I would come up with a high security lock. That was my brief obsession, and I'd think of something, hit you up on MSN and you'd say "Yes, but look at how DOM does it" or "It's an interesting idea, but doesn't hold up to X." It was very cool getting to relive that on the other side of the conversation.
I've had a lot of false starts over the years. My Lock Mods were fun, and I thought I'd do dozens, but ended up only doing 2. Then the high security lock, I got a lot of thinking and drawing done, but that fizzled too. NDE was amazing, and I can't believe we managed to go an entire year before I slipped and hit the brakes there. That, of all of my lost projects, is one I have to get back to some day.
These days, though, I have a couple of things actually thriving, and it's incredible to me. The Boston TOOOL chapter is now running out of a great local hackerspace and attendance has skyrocketed. We have people showing up at meetings now doing very interesting things with locks. My friend Jimmie is playing around with a contact mic to make a timing device that can track when you have started & ceased picking. We have parents bringing their children. It's exciting. The other big thing, is that I've actually been designing my own line of lockpicks over the last 8 months. We just got the first sample picks in before Christmas. They were just to show the machining, so the metal wasn't right, and the riveting was a little ugly, but the heads were perfect and my handles worked, which was my biggest fear.
I never knew what it was to obsess about something. I was an actor, but didn't need to act. I was an athlete, but didn't need to play sports. I've picked up so many hobbies and interests over the years, but never really needed any of them. Lockpicking, though? I would feel emptier without it. I don't know how to give it up. I've tried. When things got to stressful in my day to day life, I tried to give up Locksport to free up some money and time. I couldn't stay away for long, though.
Anyway, this is becoming ridiculous, so I'm going to reign it in.
I just want to say that you, Zeke, are one of the major reasons I'm where I am today So thank you for that.
-Schuyler
so keep us posted on when the next one will be
. I remember the "green" lockpicker Schuyler. We had so much fun with those late night chats about any and all locks out there. I had such a great time chatting locks with you so it is a great memory of mine. These days I don't really have many new picker friends on msn to chat locks with so I miss that quite a bit. 
