My combined Chicago Diary/Keyboard Impression writeup
So as promised, I’d do my diary of the Chicago/Great Lakes meetup. I drove in Friday night after work and unfortunately, I got held up at work so instead of having a 5 hour drive, I got stuck in Indianapolis rush-hour traffic and that added an extra hour to my drive. Got to my hotel room, cleaned some boards, called some people to let them know I didn’t die, and then tried to sleep for the meet.
Next morning I snagged some delicious food from a diner then drove to the Gurnee Mall. I stayed at a hotel about an half-an-hour away and it wasn’t a bad drive until I got to the Mall itself. I got super lost and didn’t realize where exactly where the Cyber Arena store was so I ended up parking and moving like three different times.
Cyber Arena in Gurnee Mills MallSmallFry had joked that there might be security so I was pretty worried for no reason. I simply waltzed into the mall with all of my boards stuffed in a huge backpack, a box that I use to keep my cap collection, and Akimbo’s AT101.
I had called/scared Tipo33 earlier just to let him know that I was going to show up soon, thinking that most people wouldn’t even show up until 11 or so. I was wrong. I walked in to see this:
On the left is Tipo33’s collection, on the right is prdlm2009’s boardsAnd chatting in a circle were Tipo33, prdlm2009, Trent, Dianoda, and dante. I set my stuff down and everyone blitzed me with real name/GeekHack IDs. But almost instantly, I got to try out Trent’s unicorn vomit Model M. Incidently, I would later learn that Trent invented the term “unicorn vomit” when he was joking around with Tipo. Guys…I met a legend!
I also tried an SSK out that Tipo had. Let me just say that if you haven’t tried out a Buckling Spring board yet, do it. They feel amazing. They’re a bit heavy but when the spring snaps againist the cylinder as you press down, the ping (in the best way) feels amazing as tactile and auditory feedback. Touching a BS board was like touching that BlackWidow for the first time. Just incredible. I need one so bad. Anyone wanna hook me up with an SSK?
Prdlm’s collection of Alps boards was super nice. He was really stoked to try out the AT101 and I gravitated towards the AEKs and of course the Full Metal Filco. The switches in the AEK were nice but they were like lighter Tactile Black Alps. And I discovered from the switch try bag that I prefer clicky Alps switches. The Full Metal Filco was ridiculous. First off the thing weighed about 2-3 Model Ms. Second, the F and J caps didn’t have any nips or scoops so locating your hands was a bit hard. But the feel of the smooth metal and the solidity of the board was unmatched. Best part though? The caps were too heavy for the brown springs and if you picked up the board and shook it a bit, the keys would actuate and the joke was born: The FMF is self-typing!
Then I HAD to test out the Maltron with Clears and Kinesis with reds. They were just too crazy for me to pass up. Immediately, I ran into an issue with the Kinesis since it has a nonstandard layout and blank caps. I struggled the whole day with figuring out where exactly my hands should go so that I could properly type on the Kinesis, but I never figured it out. I did like the Maltron though, it could take some getting used to but I could easily learn to like it. What I didn’t like about the Maltron was that Prdlm modded it with clears and the clears seemed a bit off. A lot of them were sticky or weren’t tactile at all for some reason. And the Kinesis was so odd that it distracted me from my hate for Reds.
But guys….I fell in love with that Filco Zero. Holy sh*t. Everything aesthetically good about a Filco but with XM Alps. Soooo clicky. And nice and solid in the Filco case. Its literally everything great about the alps switch: clicky, crisp, actuation at the top, not too heavy; with the amazing looks and feel of a filco. And the HID liberator works with it?? Why did i even bother snagging a ducky/dell at101/focus 2001?? When my mods done, I'll be happy i made this amazing board but it still won’t match the Zero. Another dream board. I was so taken with this board that Tipo came up to me at one point and said, “Hey, I’m going for a smoke break….is this going to be here when I come back or what?” Sigh. If Tipo and K weren’t so cool and I could run faster….I’d have a Zero right now. Oh well.
So right after that, deepthawt and G came in with this ENORMOUS dufflebag of goodies.
This doesn’t show the best board in Deep’s collection
HERE IT IS! That G80-5000[/img]
I’m a little embarrassed that I thought deepthawt was Smallfry’s parents but its ok. He was an amazing guy and his collection was sweet. That G80-5000….it’s like Microsoft stole the idea for their Ergo 4K. Seriously, look at it. And it felt INCREDIBLE to type on. It was the first MX Browns board I liked. Plus it had a sweet coffee set that Keypop is selling and I hadn’t seen that in real life until then. I had a lot of fun with deepthawt talking about Dalek novelty caps, laughing at the Super Blacks on the G80-5000, and trying to figure out which caps are the most wobbly.
So at this point I’m enjoying the happiness that comes with too many boards and GH bros. As I find myself gravitating towards the Zero again, I realize that keymaster and i3oilermaker had arrived. Keymaster had done a sweet Leopold putty mod on his spacebar and I took some time to go and admire it. It’s so simple but it’s ingenious, just a bit of putty and some donor stems, and he managed to mod his imsto spacebar. I need to do this. And keymaster, don’t even worry about the “uneven-ness”, it’s all good. Also, I dress like a bum and it really showed when I met keymaster. When I’m not at work, I usually wear skate shoes, band t-shirts, and jeans. Keymaster shows up in a nice American Apparel hoodie, peacoat thingy, nice leather shoes, and his lovely lady A was dressed up nice too. Definitely the classiest dresser there, sorry everyone else
.
Most of me, proving that I dress like a bum. I’m in the Born Low shirt (Albany hardcore represent) watching over my collection and Tipo’s G80-1800 ISO DE/My Collection
i3oilermaker was definitely not how I pictured him in my head. He was also really chill and unassuming. I didn’t even get a proper introduction because we were too busy admiring his case o’ caps and laughing at the Hapsters. And the center well of his goodie box had all the rarest and most awesome caps: Saw see/speak/see no evil, rag mods, the Zerg mods I want so bad, April nuclear cap, the sick Wario caps. He had a Candy Corn Topre Clack just lying about. I never dove for anything that fast ever. I had to know what it was like. And it was glorious. Felt like a harder PBT, maybe it was a solid chunk at one point and they really are hard-carved. Regardless, I want one even worse now. And his KBTalking Bluetooth keyboard was so ****ing cool. After admiring the caps, of course I had to buy some so i3oiler popped in a Square-like device. I paid for my caps right on his iPhone; just swiped my card phone. Technology is marvelous and horrible for my wallet. Wallethack indeed.
Side note: it cracked me up the i3oiler called Imsto “I-M-S-T-O” and would spell out a lot of other names instead of trying to pronounce IDs.
Check out the board that i3oiler brought in. Greatest QFR ever?
Dat. Function. Row. And those caps.
Closeup of the caps. You can see some goodies poking out.
Mmm, dat function row.So after laughing with i3oiler, Dianoda and Trent and I went to get some lunch; nothing special, just some Americanized Japanese food at the mall’s food court. Dianoda then introduced me to the real Wallethack hobby: photography. His DSLR, macro lens, and tripod cost like triple of my keyboard collection. Dat Wallethack.
After chilling and eating, I walked in to find The_Beast and these goodies.
That TiproBeast has every high-end novelty cap I ever wanted: P1 purple, Orangesicle, Octopink, purple Superhero. The Tipros are really cool, they had MX Blacks. And he had some other amazing goodies including an Imsto case for his poker, plates (60% and GHPad), lube station, and switch opening tools. He was a really cool guy and we chatting about the GH_60 case we worked on together. I also might’ve snatched the Poker out of his hand because that Imsto case was so cool. I’m sorry man!!
And then SmallFry himself walked in and looked a bit shocked. I think it was because we all mobbed him. I heard at least 5 times, “Where’s SmallFry??” and I was actually in mid-text asking him where he was when he showed up. The kid had the biggest duffle bag ever and he wraps his boards in towels!! Please guys, let’s start a GB for him: boxes for SmallFry. He needs em bad. And guys, I’m not even ashamed to say it but he has more facial hair than I do, and I’m a bit older than he is. That’s obviously how he got his lovely girlfriend S
. He brought his aircraft carrier of a 122 Model M, a Phantom, and his QFRs with graphite and unicorn vomit. He had other boards but those stuck with me the most. The Phantom had 65g MX Blues which felt INCREDIBLE. I was like oh man, this board feels CLICKIER somehow. And there was this lovely bottom out. It was almost as if the springs were cushioned somehow and the resistance built at the bottom. And it wasn’t too heavy. Nothing else seemed different until I asked him later and SmallFry told me about the springs. I really liked those and hope to mod my Leopold with those springs now. The 122 had these amazing self-dyed red caps. But seriously, be careful with your things around SmallFry. That kid tried to hustle i3oilermaker 2 minutes after he walked in (JK <3, but he really does like his trades).
So the next hour or so was filled with us happily nerding out about boards, me drooling all over the Filco Zero/G80-5000/ SSK, and just hanging out. Around 3 pm, Cyber Arena said they were closing or wanted us to wrap up so we all packed up our stuff and moved to the food court. Some topics of note while sitting around at the food court was the size of Tipo33’s hands, tattoos, Dalek novelty caps, The_Beast’s plates and switch lube station, Boost’s obsession with speeding, Litster’s custom caps, hi end audio equipment, and how I’m a showoff for going to 2 meets in 2 weekends. It was a lot of fun just shooting the **** and unfortunately, we all decided it was time to leave around 4 pm.
At this point I got a text from my friend who asked how everything was going and I was so sad that I didn’t have a third meet lined up for the following weekend. Seriously, GHers are nice online and amazing in person. It was such a diverse group of people brought together by our silly love of keyboards. I’m glad I drove all the way to Chicago to meet all you keybros. And I’d do it again this weekend if you guys said something else was going on.
Dante, I’m so happy that you love your G84 and I’m even more excited that you’re inspired to make a TKL and GH60-ML board. I can’t wait to see what you come up with in the future. As always, I demand pics of your future projects.
K, if I don’t see you with a mech board with those caps at the next meet, I’ll be very disappointed in you.
To everyone else I didn’t mention, forgot about, or didn’t get a shout-out, you are all amazing and I better see you in 6 months when we meet again. And yes, the Zero, G80-5000, and SSK will remain safe. I like you all enough that I won’t steal em. Plus Tipo and you other lanky kids could outrun me (I’m looking at you i3oilermaker, prdlm2009, and keymaster). For anyone who wants pics, please check out dianoda’s
amazing work. And we decided not to take group shots. If you want my silly impressions of everyone, check
this out.
Oh and for anyone who cares, SR60s are super nice entry level “hi-end” headphones. I liked my SR80i’s more but they’re pretty similar.
---Finished on 4/17/13 @2000. All other edits will be me nit-picking at grammar and mispellings; this was a longer writeup and I wanted to put something out for people to read so I rushed the editing.---
