On Wed, 8 Dec 1993, Douglas Barnes wrote:
It was 4:30 in the afternoon; Dallas is a highly optimistic three and a half hours away.
3 hours, the way I drive...
Since neither of us had ever really been to Dallas as an actual destination, we bought a map in Troy. (Home of the fighting Trojans.) Jim spent the rest of the way to Dallas (several hours) attempting to unfold the map.
Dallas is easy - get on I-35 and go NORTH...
Now, unbeknownst to Jim or I, we were _savagely_ underdressed for what turned out to be the best Italian restaurant in Texas. Chaum, at
Horseshit. Eletto's in Austin is the BEST Italian place in Texas!!!
He had come to Dallas not for a convention, but rather to work with a company that is implementing his smartcard technology for automated toll collection equipment. "It's hard to do this protocol in such a narrow window, but we're getting there. If the car is doing 60, there just isn't much time."
The North Dallas Tollway already *has* such a gadget. Pretty cool, too...
Halfway to the car, as if on cue, Jim and I just completely lost it and started laughing hysterically. All the tension and nervous energy of our mad dash to Dallas and meeting a hero of the digital revolution had melted away, and the full realization of the incredible experience hit us full force -- out of the blue, this guy whose papers we had passed back and forth and argued about endlessly over bagels, had called Jim up, invited us out to dinner two hundred miles away, we had a great talk, this incredible food, put new life into the Digial Credit Union project... and only about eight hours had gone by.
Oh .. did you ever figure out why he called *you*??? Ed Carp, N7EKG erc@wetware.com 510/659-9560 an38299@anon.penet.fi, anon-1157@twwells.com If you want magic, let go of your armor. Magic is so much stronger than steel! -- Richard Bach, "The Bridge Across Forever"