I finally made it out to PC Expo today.

See, I fell asleep at about 8 PM last night, and got up at around 2 AM, and stayed awake thereafter, so I was up first thing in the morning. So I ended up attending the convention from around 11 AM to about 4 PM.

Now, supposedly at least, the purpose of a computer convention, such as PC Expo, is to allow computer companies to pitch their products to industry professionals, and to allow industry professonals to find out more about the latest products. And I imagine that many of the attendees were there for just this purpose.

On the other hand, some of us were there just to pick up Free Stuff.

This year was probably my most successful in that regard, despite my having attended for only one day. No, I didn't win any of the big stuff, like a Palm V, or a Jaz drive, although I'd had a slight chance of being randomly selected to win those and a few other items. I never win anything like that, though, so no big surprise there.

However, during the course of the day, I picked up two T-shirts, a cap, a cup (with a lid and straw), and a little "stress ball" shaped like a basketball. Plus a few magazines, and the assurance that I will have more junk mail than I'll know what to do with in the very near future.

Plus I had the satisfaction of knowing that I got the cup for successfully sinking four baskets in thirty seconds, with a miniature basketball. :-) (The stress ball was for sinking one basket in three tries, with a regulation ball and hoop. What any of this had to do with computers is beyond me, but I wasn't really about to argue.)

Plus I saw a not terribly interesting presentation by 3Com, a slightly amusing presentation for Acid music (or something like that), a less than enthralling presentation for Corel Office 2000, a demonstration of a rather cool portable electronic whiteboard system, and a few other things along those lines. Nothing that bowled me over this year, though, neither in terms of the products, nor the sales pitches.

I did find myself wondering why 3Com is apparently allergic to even numbers. First came the Palm Pilot. I don't remember there being a Palm II, although I may be wrong. Then came the Palm III. Then the Palm V. And now -- or perhaps real soon now; I'm not clear on that -- the Palm VII. What happened to the Palm IV and the Palm VI?

"What does your company do?"

I did not answer "Mainly, we go to conventions and try to get free stuff." This is partially because I didn't think of that until a few minutes later, and partially because I probably wouldn't have been able to say it with a straight face.

What I did answer was: "Not very much."

She gave me a brochure listing some courses they run, presumably in order that I could take them and move on to doing more than that.

But you've gotta have a company to attend the show, so that's what I've been putting down all these years.