OT: I'm in the local newspaper today

[Ken Layton]

My local newspaper here in Olympia, washington did a story about me:

http://www.theolympian.com/living/highlight/story/810108.html

There were much more pictures in the regular newstand version though.

The online story may be removed from their site after 30 days.

[Jeffitarian]

Interesting article, Ken. You seem to be a true "Retro Tech" Renaissance Man!

[frizfrelengfan]

It's cool to be in the paper. I had my 15 minutes of fame a few Aprils ago when I was out at a local marina with my daughter, who was 9 at the time. She wanted me to take her fishing. I took her even though I find it boring. I was interviewed by a Newsday (http://www.newsday.com) reporter for a fluff piece about the weather, which was finally getting warm after a cold winter.

My father got on TV (WPIX-11 (http://www.wpix.com) and cable News 12 (http://www.news12.com)) when as a retiree he helped dismantle a carousel when the land that it stood on was sold. My siblings and I rode that carousel as kids. It is opening up at its new location this May.

I learned to operate 16mm movie projectors when I was in junior high school, as a member of the A-V squad. I learned how to splice film too. Unfortunately when I moved to high school I didn't have time to stay on the A-V squad. That was about 40 years ago. Schools use VCRs, DVD players, or computers now, so it's a lost art.

[Brandon Panther]

I've shown up on telelvised news three times.

1. A news crew came by my 4th grade class doing a report on how education seems to be lacking (obviously this report is quite dated).

2. News crew showed up at some Pacific docks that my dad and I were fishing. A report was made on the endangered rockfish. I actually have a funny story about this:
There was another man fishing, that my dad was chatting with, and he was bragging about how he lied to his wife about being at work, and lied to his work that he was home sick. CUE THE NEWS CREW. They come in, interview the guy about rockfish, and then leave. Later in the day, my dad and I tape the news report (my dad and I were in the background), and there's the lying guy's mug right there being broadcast! I sure hope his wife and boss weren't watching.

3. It was a snowy day and I was on my way to the store. I got stopped by a news crew, they asked me if I had any complinats about there being too many snow days. Considering I was in High School at the time, you can imagine my response.

[Ken Layton]

Update:

They have now loaded all the pictures that accompany the print version.

http://www.theolympian.com/localgallery/gallery/810203.html

[janiepooh34]

Thanks for sharing the story Ken.

After seeing some of the comments, I wonder how many of us here were that kid that ran/fixed the film projector at school. I know I was.

Now, anyone have an extra 1K lying around so I can get my hands on one of those projectors?

[Steve Stanch]

That's a great story Ken- and great photos too! Congrats!

[Bugsy-Kun]

Many congratulations for you. I remember i'm passed in local news in 2002 for our new (and a bit dated now) puppet piece for kids in my High School when characters teaching about environment and recycling. It was a great time for us but unfortunately they lost this privilege last year due to the lacks of subventions. My class changed since i'm gone. :(

[Dave Mackey]

Ken, that's good stuff. I should have asked you about my old Bell & Howell Filmosound 385 on which the sound wasn't working before I junked it. I would have liked to have kept that projector as it was the first film projector I ever learned how to use, in first grade, in 1967. Today's kids don't know what they're missing with the DVD! Imagine manually threading one of those suckers at 6 years of age... and we actually had me and another kid in my class who knew how to do it!

[Studio Toledo]

I was once a shill for my local newspaper's delivery service!
http://g.imagehost.org/0645/BladeDawnPatrol.jpg

[Ken Layton]

Ken, that's good stuff. I should have asked you about my old Bell & Howell Filmosound 385 on which the sound wasn't working before I junked it. I would have liked to have kept that projector as it was the first film projector I ever learned how to use, in first grade, in 1967. Today's kids don't know what they're missing with the DVD! Imagine manually threading one of those suckers at 6 years of age... and we actually had me and another kid in my class who knew how to do it!

I've done several of that vintage amplifiers out of Bell & Howell projectors. I have all the amplifier service manuals going back to 1936.

[cbrubaker]

Well, I know who to ask to when my projector needs fixin'.

I was a published cartoonist in couple of newspapers. Unfortunately, that's probably all I'll ever get as far as being a published cartoonist goes.