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I had the opportunity to host the 802.11b class at the Microchip Technology MASTERs Conference 2005 in Scottsdale, Arizona. As I was walking by the Trace Systems exhibit, I happened to see one of Jeff Bachiochi’s USB articles on display. That was cool because I met Jeff for the first time at the very first MASTERs Conference in 1997.

During this sojourn to beautiful Arizona, I also had the opportunity to speak with Microchip CEO Steve Sanghi for the second time. I met Steve in a peculiar way at the first MASTERs Conference. I had been lost, and not knowing who Steve was, I stopped him and asked for some directions. He kindly showed me the way and remembered me later when he saw me at dinner. I’ll never forget the look on his face when I handed him one of my EDTP pens and said, “Hey, my number is on the pen. Give me a call when you have the time.” Boy, I really know how to make friends and influence people.

During dinner with Steve this year (I didn’t have any cheap pens with me), one of the other conference attendees at the table thought he recognized me. So, he asked, “Aren’t there two Fred Eadys? Are you the one who writes for that magazine, Circuit Cellar, or is it the other guy?” I assured him that there was only one of me (thank goodness), and, yes, I’m the guy who writes those Circuit Cellar pieces.

I had a blast talking to the long-time Circuit Cellar readers I met in my classes. One reader said he always reads the magazine backwards. That is, he first reads Steve Ciarcia’s editorial before cracking into the columns and features.

I had a ton of fun at the conference. My wife, who had come with me, later said it was interesting “being surrounded by a thousand nerds.” As it turned out, that wasn’t a complaint. She had a great time as well. We got to have dinner with a couple of nerd friends of mine and she felt right at home.

I guess the neatest thing I saw was a guy sitting in the first row of my class reading one of my Circuit Cellar articles. That’s proof positive that Circuit Cellar is everywhere.

Although there were plenty of neat gadgets to salivate over at the conference, one product in particular was drawing a crowd. A couple of my Microchip staffer friends hustled me over to the Calmotion exhibit. I had to see this, they explained.