The not-so-offical HOPE thread!!!!!!!

[Schuyler]

Yeah - tons of both good and awful (but cheap and that good sort-of-awful) food choices in the area. You can literally pick the entire weekend if that's what you're into. There will be a lot of great collectors and talent there. HOPE is a fantastic time and absolutely worth the trip. I just want to make sure you don't arrive and discover it's completely different than your expectations.

Also - sorry I completely blanked on ever getting back to you, but NEO Boston is postponed a year for reasons I can't talk about publicly until the 14th but aren't at all exciting. Just going to be stretched very very thin for the 6 week window that I could have held it is all. Hilariously I got approval for the Stata Center at MIT about 2 weeks after canceling :\

[JK_the_CJer]

Alcon,

I have been approved leave for both defcon and hope this year, hooray!

Registration, plane ticket, and hotel are all good to go; see you guys there!

[test]

I'll be there again this year.

Last year was excellent. I loved being able to bump a medico open.

[Squelchtone]

I just spoke to the front desk at the Hotel Pennsylvania, and just a heads up to anyone arriving early on Friday, room check in is not until 3:00 PM. You can ask if there is a "clean room" ready, or you can pay an extra $95 to check in prior to 3:00 PM.

I'm getting there at 7 AM, so I guess I'll be setting up camp at the Lock Picking Village, which I'm hoping is in the same area of the Mezzanine level.

Does anyone know when the HOPE Registration table is being staffed?

Squelchtone

[nostromo]

squelchtone (you handsome devil),

I'll get there on friday at 8:40 plus whatever time it takes to schlep my gear from penn station. probably be a little later based on comments about greyhound from other forums.

packing tonight and catching the ride tomorrow around 11:30. looking forward to the challenge of practicing picking in a moving vehicle, not to mention making all kinds of new freinds on the bus. come to think of it, maybe the picks should stay tucked away in my luggage . . .

am looking forward to your assessment of a featherweight tension wrench i worked up based on steve hampton's "white crane". also have a "medecoder lite" for jon and others to check out.

made extras for trade goods, and am also bringing picks and sets in hopes of making some trades. is there a lot of trading at hope?

[JK_the_CJer]

I'll be arriving late Thursday and sticking around until Monday afternoon. Also, I'll be doing a Medecoder-building/use workshop. These are simplified and use marks on a groovergrabber instead of a scaletube (as several here have suggested). The readings are a little harder to do but it works pretty well. I'll be asking for a $10 donation to help cover the cost of materials. You'll be able to keep the tool you build, printed reference scale, and hex key. Everyone is welcome to come, but theres only 10 kits, and obviously I don't expect a donation if you're just watching or bring your own tool. Not sure when we'll do it but I'm thinking on Saturday when there is good crowd in the village. Here are what the kits look like:

http://theamazingking.com/images/locks/ws1.JPG
http://theamazingking.com/images/locks/ws2.JPG

Also, if you can bring or get an xacto handle and a medeco mortise/rim cylinder, I'll have plenty of wire and we can ensure more folks are able to participate.

See you folks at Hope!

[Schuyler]

Great hope! Hope everyone is getting home safely. For those worried - my car was still on the upper west where I left it and in perfect condition. Just got back to Boston & am headed to bed shortly. Exhausted!

[Squelchtone]

Great hope! Hope everyone is getting home safely. For those worried - my car was still on the upper west where I left it and in perfect condition. Just got back to Boston & am headed to bed shortly. Exhausted!

Ditto, about to fall over, drive home was tough, 2 hours of solid traffic because of construction.. Thanks Google Maps, not!

Great to see everyone, what an awesome time, Thanks to jk for helping me hump my gear back to my car.

good night,
Squelchtone

[Squelchtone]

Hey gang,

I uploaded some photos of The Next HOPE conference in NYC. The TOOOL sponsored Lock Picking Village was not very big, so I hope 2600 / HOPE organizers give us more space next time. The Hackerspace/electronics soldering area was 4 times as large, and the Hammock Village (for people to sleep) was 6 times as large.. Kinda makes you ask wtf.

We had fun though, and the tables at the village were in full use pretty much 24 hours a day. One night everything got put away at 10pm, but people started coming down and so I put everything back out and from midnight to 4am the all tables were in use again. It's nice to see so many people interested in our hobby.



New York City is an amazing city and it was nice to walk around and see some of the stuff near the Hotel Pennsylvania where the conference was. The Empire State Building was a few blocks away, I took some good pics of it, so I hope you enjoy them.

Thanks to all the good friends who were at the con both from Locksport International and from TOOOL. It was good to see all of you!

Squelchtone

[Schuyler]

Awesome pics! My buddy Danny managed to get some video of the Locksport Wizard competition final round:

http://vimeo.com/13496783

Warning: I accidentally dropped an F-Bomb. Just got a little over-excited

[socraticd]

if i met any of you, and if any of you gave me some tips in my first ever adventure into lockpicking, then thanks!

was a great conference, and the locksport stuff that went on was a blast to watch and try out. it definitely go me hooked, and i'm currently trying to figure out what the best way is for me to pick up a set of practice locks inexpensively.

if anyone rememebers a short bald dude with black frame glasses asking "where is the easy stuff for people who have no idea what the F they're doing?" that would have been me.

[Squelchtone]

Warning: I accidentally dropped an F-Bomb. Just got a little over-excited

nice going vice president Biden!


Squelchtone

[Squelchtone]

if i met any of you, and if any of you gave me some tips in my first ever adventure into lockpicking, then thanks!

was a great conference, and the locksport stuff that went on was a blast to watch and try out. it definitely go me hooked, and i'm currently trying to figure out what the best way is for me to pick up a set of practice locks inexpensively.

if anyone rememebers a short bald dude with black frame glasses asking "where is the easy stuff for people who have no idea what the F they're doing?" that would have been me.

If you're here, then you probably met me. I told a lot of people to visit this forum, as it is a good place to ask questions, read, and learn from everyone else. It's not perfect, and sometimes there is an all out flame war, but I think that happens on many internet forums. Hope you enjoy this place for everything good it has to offer, and we're glad you walked away with something positive from the lock picking village.




Squelchtone

[socraticd]

oh yeah, squelch. i definitely remember you. i was sitting across the table when you were teaching a latin-american looking chick how much tension to put on a defiant deadbolt, you and her were having a little competition to see which of you could open your locks first. very very cool to put a face to a name, etc...

[Squelchtone]

oh yeah, squelch. i definitely remember you. i was sitting across the table when you were teaching a latin-american looking chick how much tension to put on a defiant deadbolt, you and her were having a little competition to see which of you could open your locks first. very very cool to put a face to a name, etc...

That chick was Michelle from topheavysecurity.com nice domain name, very fitting wouldn't you agree?



I think I remember you, trying to remember which padlock you were trying to pick... but anyways, nice to meet ya, and welcome to the best hobby you'll ever get involved with!

Squelchtone