Texas Instruments TI-92+, Tip List

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[1.22] TI Calc-Con '02 Trip Report
(In the spring of 2002, Ray Kremer, Bhuvanesh Bhatt and I met in Indiana, just to get together. Ray
started calling this "Calc-Con '02", obviously as a joke. I posted the following report to the TI-89 / TI-92
Plus discussion group).
I am happy to report that TI Calc-Con '02 was a success. No arrests were made and no emergency
medical equipment was summoned. No live animals were used in the testing of various products. What
follows is a more-or less chronological report ...
In attendance were Ray Kremer, Bhuvanesh Bhatt, myself, my wife, Janet, and my daughters Katie
and Carrie. We arrived at the designated meeting place early, about 12:00, making much better time
than we expected. The weather was cloudy and intermittently rainy for the trip from Eaton, but all in all,
a nice drive. We had arranged to meet at the interpretive nature center at Fort Harrison State Park,
which is just northeast of Indianapolis, Indiana.
Fort Harrison was actually a military facility from the 1950s, through the 1970s, and maybe earlier.
However, it only became a state park in 1996, so they have a lot of work yet to do. Even so, this turned
out to be a great place to meet for several different reasons.
As my family and I had a little extra time, we took advantage of the nature center. There were several
interesting displays, including a diagram of a core sample of the earth beneath Indianapolis, down to
4000 feet, live exhibits of pond and creek fish, several species of turtles, and rat snakes, and
microscopes with animal and botanical samples to inspect. There was also a tremendous display of
about 200 animal skulls, and the labeled display called "The poop on scat" proved to be quite popular
and informative.
Very shortly after 1:00PM, Ray and Bhuvanesh arrived. Both reported windy, rainy weather on the way
in, but no major problems. As Bhuvanesh forgot about the time zone change, even with a reminder
from Ray, he had to 'step on it' during the last leg of his trip. After introductions all around, and some
general chatting, we revised our itinerary. The original plan was to explore Fort Harrison's hiking paths,
then have a bit of a picnic, but unfortunately the weather did not cooperate. Continuous high winds
were punctuated by dousing downpours, and the temperature was dropping rapidly. As none of us
were outfitted for that kind of hiking, we repaired to the Fort Harrison restaurant for our midday repast,
which was a quite satisfactory buffet. Lunch was quite enjoyable, as we talked about Ray's research
project with copper tri-crystals, as well as Bhuvanesh's work at Wolfram. My wife acted as
photographer for all of Calc-Con '02, and started soon after our luncheon.
I have to confess that I felt a bit underdressed for Calc-Con '02, as Bhuvanesh wore a spectacular
oversized T-shirt with colorful math expressions, and Ray wore a shirt with the periodic table printed on
the back. This is, perhaps, why he occasionally deprecates the need for calculator-based periodic
tables - he's always wearing one!
So, instead of hiking, we decided to visit the Children's Museum in Indianapolis, which was also in
keeping with the general technical theme of the convention. We found the Children's Museum with little
trouble, although I was leading the caravan and forced Ray and Bhuvanesh to run every yellow light
between Fort Harrison and the museum. We arrived at the museum a little before 4:00PM, so, with a
closing time of 5:00PM, we had to get right to it. We enjoyed the water lab display and the mirror maze,
but even my daughters found the life-size doll-house display a little boring. Ray turned out to be
particularly good at building the 8' cantilevered arch. We managed to get several other activities in
before closing time, including observing the albino raccoon. As the museum closed, we watched the
very elaborate water-clock in the lobby, which was at least two stories tall. Because of our late lunch,
no one was particularly in the mood for supper, so we attended a movie showing at the CineDome at
the Children's Museum. The CineDome has a huge semi-spherical screen, with a resulting 'immersive'
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