It’s taken a while to get around to it, but on the 5th the Midsouth Makers went to visit one of our sister groups in Nashville, the Hacker Consortium. The HC guys were unbelievably generous, they did a lot in a little time to prep for our visit. Quite often for the few days before we arrived, their IRC channel was littered with chores being doled out to clean the place up. No offense, but it was likely a waste of time as we were just so mesmerized by everything. They probably could have had every piece of junk they could find scattered on the floor and we wouldn’t have noticed. On top of doing what they could to make the place presentable, they went so far as to fix an impressive lunch. I personally had never had “Beer Can Chicken” before, but I’m already wanting more. Hopefully we’ll be able to have our own cookout and make the same thing before too long. The trip really served as a good chance for the people here in Memphis to see what we could potentially have and to motivate them to push for the same.

As for more details about the space, we’ll just say that it is unbelievable. If you take a look at what they have now and compare it to what they started with, you almost wouldn’t believe most of it. They had tons of tools everywhere, an impressive server room, and had even just finished their learning lab. They have roughly 2000 square feet of space and have done an excellent job of laying things out. The best thing you can do is just take a look at the Flickr account and see for yourself.

So for those who aren’t aware, we’re still alive and looking for potential locations to call home. After our visit to Nashville’s Hacker Consortium, spirits are rekindled and the drive is on again. Earlier this week we scheduled a viewing of a space that was located at 3527 Southern Ave, Memphis, TN 38111, and I must say that it was awesome! Now I know, we don’t want to get too excited about it as we may not get it, or even better find a space that is just that much more outstanding. Even still, it really is pretty cool. It really is a shame that more of the members couldn’t make it to check it out, but in place of that we did try to document things as best as possible on the Wiki. Pictures of the space are on the Wiki if you click on the thumbnail on the previous page, or you can always checkout the pictures on the Flickr account as well. From the pictures you’ll see that it could use a little care, and does lack a garage door, but everything else about it just screams “makerspace!” With everything around it like Brother Juniper’s, RP Tracks, and the University of Memphis, we could make great use of this location and the room that it has in it.

The space is approximately 2000 square feet and used to be a TV repair shop. The great thing about that is the fact of three phase power already being run to the location! It already has workbenches on one wall, and has a storefront that we could re-purpose for other things. You can check out simulated 3D photo of the main workshop at photosynth. There is just a lot to be said for the potential of the space. From the layout of the place, we would be able to build us a server room, possibly a kitchen, a storage closet, plenty of workbench space, individual cubbyholes, a lounge, and a maybe even a learning lab. We will be discussing all of this with everyone at the next couple of meetings to get ideas for potential layouts and what we can do to make the most of what is available. The owner has even generously agreed to give us the first month for free and $800/mo for the first year before raising the rent to the requested $900/mo. If we can get enough paying members interested this it really could become a reality quite soon.

Again I’m not sure exactly how many people have heard, but along with our invitation to Nashville, we’ve also been invited to check out Makers Local 256 in Huntsville, AL. Our current agenda is for us to leave at 7:30 AM on June 26th so that we can meetup with the guys in Huntsville around lunchtime on that Saturday. From there we’ll checkout the shop, stay the night, and come back again on Sunday morning. Since we will be making use of discounted hotel rooms, we will need a head count no less than two weeks in advance to know how many rooms to get. If we do not do it at least two weeks before hand, we may not be able to get the discount. So bottom line, if you haven’t said anything by the meeting on the 11th of June, then you’re not going to be able to join us. That being said, everyone is welcome to come that wants to. You just have to let us know in time. Feel free to send in an e-mail to the mailing list, or send in one to info@midsouthmakers.org and let us know.

It would seem to be that those involved with the Zombie Walk this weekend had an excellent time. We’re terribly sorry to those of you who couldn’t make it, and equally sorry to those who do not enjoy this sort of thing. It was all a great time with a bunch of people just being goofy for the sake of being goofy. Everyone needs a little entertainment every now and then.

The walk started at G.E. Patterson and S. Main out front of Ernestine & Hazels where it progressed north down S. Main to Beale St. From there every zombie traveled down to the New Daisy where the walk ended. There were really tons of types of zombies. It was estimated that 500 people where there participating. We did not get the opportunity to make use of this public event to advertise ourselves like we had hoped, but we still had a blast and that was the great thing. There was tons to see and plenty of material for pictures. Take a look at our Flickr account if you’d like to see more. Let’s try and make it where we have even more people and something even more elaborate next year. It seems to be that stranger you are at this the more you stood out. John was even mentioned in the Flyer’s YouTube video post for this year.

Just to try and get as much of the word out there as possible. THERE WILL BE NO MEETING ON May 28th 2010!

A handful of the members will be at the Zombie Walk (see the wiki) during the normal time of this meeting. Everyone who wants to is welcome to come, whether it be dress up and parade as a zombie through downtown Memphis, or as a potential victim, or simply as a supporter of the event. We hope all members that are capable, will come down and help promote Midsouth Makers in whatever way they can. The event starts at 6:30 PM (I highly doubt you will be able to miss the zombies) at Earnestine & Hazel’s on South Main St. We’ve heard that the crowd is rather impressive and makes it hard to find each other if you don’t all get there at the same time. Well obviously that isn’t going to happen without everyone standing on one foot while whistling the Pac Man theme and the planets aligning in the heavens. So as an alternative, there is an invention we all love, the cell phone. If you would like to have my number to call and meet up feel free to send me an e-mail at dhess@midsouthmakers.org and I’ll gladly send it to you so you can find us. Hopefully everyone is excited about going, and we look forward to seeing you there!