It was good, very positive. I got a couple leads for small stuff, handed out a bunch of cards and got good exposure. I would definitely do it again. I would actually do a handful a year, I think, if I could space it correctly, in the right parts of town.

My only hard-to-track goal was to get my name out at a local level. I'm sure I got a couple thousand impressions, so mission accomplished.

The best part was probably being visible with the other businesses that were there, kinda getting into the club. Between BNI and the Chamber, I knew at least a dozen of the other owners there. I talked to a Designer, a GC, and a gal that runs a new shared workspace building, she needs "a guy" to refer to the people using the space when it comes tech above and beyond what was done in the new build.

Bottom line, good stuff, for me anyways. I had 8x8 booth with 2 6ft tables, laid out L-shaped. In one corner I had an LG Supersign, on a small basic stand, rotating 8 slides overlaying a Star Wars Ep7 bluray. I had the slides set to change every minute or so. There's a slight delay when they switch so it was perfect to have a kid or parent stare for a minute, then move along.

I also had a 2.1 Marantz/Boston system with a Dot on top for voice control. On the main table I had tabletop sign and a couple acrlyics with a line-card and reasons to work with me etc. Also branded pens from iPrint and candy for giveaways.

I really miss doing "Home Shows" overall.
There's nothing better than meeting new people and forming a friendly bond.

Twenty+ years ago I was growing tired of the 12vlt industry (all bass,no sound stage!) so my boss and I started a new adventure into home A/V installations.

I volunteered my time for the first show and it took off like a rocket!

We made a lot of contacts in the building industry and met a lot of people that became clients.

We had a booth for a couple more years but finally quit because we just didn't have enough time to fit it in.(a good problem to have from a business prospective!)

Leaving that company to move to Oregon was the hardest thing I've every done (professionally).

I went from hero to zero in a matter of 24 hours/1700 miles!

However,the last five years I've spent with my "new" grandson have been priceless and it was worth starting over for that(painful,but worth it)!

Thanks for sparking the memories and I hope your experiences pan out as well as ours did!

This was about falling in the shower:

I realized mid-day that a bit of explanation might have been good. I was on chemo, which typically causes neuropathy. Neuropathy is everything from lack of sensation, which mostly affected my feet, to cold sensitivity, where anything in the refrigerator feels like it's burning your skin, to extreme pain, which, thankfully, I never had.

We have no idea how much we depend on subtle signals from the soles of our feet to keep us standing upright! Basically, my feet were lying to me. I had to list off the vertical farther than normal before my feet would tell me to stand the hell back up. That's how I almost fell. Touching the side of the shower was a pretty smart move.

Something I just read reminded me of this person's response to the situation:

I was sad because I had no shoes. Then I saw a man with no feet. And I laughed my ass off.




Gallows humor at its best.

Okay, let's take this in a different direction or two.

I was at a 7-11 a little while ago. A Snickers bar, Almond Joy, Mars, and several other of the about 1 1/2 ounce variety candy bar was $1.39. I remember the week that the candy bars of that size went from a nickel to ten cents.

On another front...
When I started earning a full living in audio in 1970, the Marantz 27 sold for $300.

$300 of 1970 money works out to $1883 in today's dollars.

Think of all the AV Receivers and other products you can buy for $1883 these days.

The Marantz 27 had two channels of audio; 30 watts RMS per channel; several audio inputs; a switch on the front that would allow you to use one or two pairs of speakers; and an AM/FM tuner.

It had no remote. No video anything. Only two channels of audio. Therefore no surround of any sort. Only 30 watts per channel. No zone 2. RCA connectors that today look quaint and cheap. And it had a value in today's money of $1883.

I think I need a Snickers bar!

(skip at least the first one -- we've all seen it!)

When the Schwinn Sting Ray bikes came out, I wanted one but since we weren't given everything just because we we said we wanted it, I was told that I'd have to pay for it myself, with whatever I had- I did odd jobs over and above my regular chores, shoveled snow, raked leaves and cut lawns. I was told I could use some birthday money, but not all of it and at that age, the waiting just about killed me. I finally got it, for the low, low price of $126 in 1967 dollars. That translates to about $919, now. Not bad for a 10 year old. I got to enjoy it for about 5 months before some A-hole from the inner city decided that he needed to pop my cherry; must have been 'empowered' by the riots a couple of months earlier.

I want a phosphate.

Yes, but production scale is very different now, robots are on the assembly line, integrated circuits are ubiquitous, and "offshore manufacturing" referred to a plant across the river. We get a lot more value per dollar now.

And yet, a full-size pickup truck is $50K and some pickups & SUVs have a car frame.

You say "but," which is the classic start of a refutation, but then you not only agree but explain why we get so much more for the money. You've gotten all complicated about what's usually expressed as "the price of electronics is always going down."

Highfigh's story reminds me that I once overheard my dad and older brother discuss a deal whereby my dad gave him half the money he needed for some kind of tool or other thing with practical and educational value. A couple of months later my dad looked stunned when I quoted that example and proposed that he could pay half for the Weller soldering gun that I wanted. He agreed and paid half.

As I remember, that soldering gun was $25. A comparable looking model today is $37 at Ace Hardware. Given inflation, the price is way down!