Walkabout at OTC

This year's OTC is shaping up to be the biggest in 20 years, still not quite up to the early 80's but getting there. I only had about 3 hours to roam the hall, I didn't make it out to the other two extra exhibit halls that were set up in the parking lot, complete with AC. There were so many companies on the waiting list for exhibit space that they decided they needed a bigger hall, hence the air condidtioned tents out in the parking lot. I snapped a number of pictures but the camera must be tired, it is refusing to download them to the computer. Actually I think I have a bad cable, I may need to visit Fry's tomorrow evening for either a new card reader (I'm not sure I trust my current one, the last card I tried in it got fried.) or a new cable, or both. I'll try to get them recovered and posted soon. Suprisingly, there weren't quite the number of booth babes this year as in years past. Althout there were a couple of "superhero women" and a "superhero guy" that were wandering about in cheesy get ups made from what appeared to be wetsuits (unfortunately, I missed a picture opportunity). They were attractive enough (the women that is) but cheezy get-ups nonetheless. There were a couple right near the entrance that were apparently hired for talents that did not include word processing or filing.

There was a dearth of real hardware (vs sales mockups and cutaways), probably because every ROV and BOP was out on a job. Everybody is busy doncha know. There were however a couple helicopters on display, a full working Eurocoper and a Bell mockup with what appeared to be a working avionics package.