Apple II Bits

This week marks the 21st annual KansasFest, a week-long computer convention dedicated to the Apple II. My first year in attendance was 1998, making this my lucky 13th consecutive KFest. And boy, am I lucky!

Though every year’s KansasFest brings with it different attendees, sessions, and opportunities, it is never any less a blast year to year. We’re missing the physical presence of regulars Ryan, Sheppy, and Bruce, among others — but in their stead, we have six first-time attendees, including Krue, who I previously met at last month’s demoparty, as well as our keynote speaker, Mark Simonsen. Each person is obviously thrilled to be here, and the enthusiasm they have for the platform and community bring much to the KansasFest experience.

For better or worse, many of us are spending as much time working as we are socializing. The two dozen sessions on this year’s schedule require much preparation for which we found little time on our pre-KFest lives. I was scheduled to give four sessions this year and offered to fill an empty slot with a silly fifth — all in addition to video-recording all other sessions, and emceeing the annual dinner banquet with an activity recommended to me by KFest committee member Andy Molloy. There’s much material for me to prepare, memorize, and test.

But in the end, it’s worth it. KansasFest comes but once a year and is every Apple II enthusiast’s opportunity to recharge their retrocomputing batteries for another year. The more people who invest in KFest, the greater the return on the investment. With all the contributions to KFest 2010 from people on-site and off, I’m looking forward to this year’s event keeping me going for awhile to come.