 The magazine of the Melbourne PC User Group President's Report Joan Hegedus |
Now that the last Easter egg has been consumed and the holiday break is behind us, we can look ahead and check out what is in store for us in the months ahead. But before we do lets take a moment to reflect on some of the happenings of the first four months of the year.
The Committee has spent time investigating the possibility of purchasing a building that would house our Group's activities all under the one roof. With market prices on real estate certainly favouring the buyer these days - what may have seemed like an unattainable dream 3 years ago can be very much a reality today.
The subject was brought to the last general meeting by way of a motion asking members to vote on whether we should pursue the issue further. Those members present at the April meeting certainly made it clear that they need much more information about the pros and cons of property ownership before making any decision on whether the Group should make a real estate purchase. The Committee was requested to supply articles to PC Update with more details on the subject. The vote on the motion on the Members Buying Service was also delayed. "Give us more facts?" was the order of the day.
At the April meeting we barely had our newly pointed "Volunteers" and "New Members" signs hung on the wall behind Bill McLeod and Bill Westhead when our first Volunteer arrived on the scene and was "conscripted" to assist with training. We welcome the fourteen volunteers that signed up at the meeting.
There are still rumblings that the Committee is not looking after the best interest of the members. I believe that actions speak louder than words. I do not know of anyone on the Committee that is not giving at least 5-10 hours minimum of their time each week to the Group's affairs - some spend a lot more. I'm still not sure when Peter Smith gets to sleep. Anyway, if you have queries of the Committee's activities why not give any of us a call, or take up Spen Ingamells' invitation of last month, and visit one of our Committee meetings (third Monday each month at 568 St. Kilda Rd.)
Our Vice-president Charles Wright just loves gimmicks - well they seem to love him anyway. His Symantec satchel that he carries around has all sorts of goodies not least of all his Toshiba T2000SXe notebook computer. If you ever need to ask Charles for a phone number out comes his address book - no digitised diary here - and there inside his tiny 5 ringed binder is an alphabetised Times-Roman listing of all of Charles contacts, with surname and phone number bolded. Very impressive. It makes my dog-eared, liquid-papered, scratched out edition look very unhealthy.
Well Charles wants all the volunteer workers of our Group to add another gimmick to their bags. He wants all Members to be able to identify who does what when we get together so he has developed the idea of "White Caps."
All volunteers on active duty are to be given a white cap with the Melbourne PC User Group emblem on the front of the cap and with the function for which they are responsible clearly visible underneath e.g. Doug Brooke's cap will say "SYSOP".
It gives the individual a better opportunity to meet the people who are responsible for areas that are of interest to them. If they are available the first "white caps" will distributed at our next monthly meeting.
If you are "white capped" please remember to wear your caps to our gatherings. We want to ensure that your faces are known to the members and we also want to acknowledge the work you have done for the Group.
On Sunday 5th April I visited the PC Swap meet at the Malvern Town Hall. Although I arrived only 15 minutes after the 10 am opening time there was a very long queue wait to gain access to the hall. Bill Westhead, Graeme Paul and Felix Van Lier manned our Melb PC table just inside the front door and were pleased with the response to membership signups and with the interest generated in the new $30 course "How To Buy a PC".
I put my head in to say hello into the members at the new "Quicken" SIG at its inaugural meeting last month. Viv Martin is the enthusiastic co-ordinator. The new music SIG under the co-ordinatioon of Murray Grigg has its meeting on the third Thursday of May at 7.30 pm at the Groups offices.
Fifteen minutes ago I remembered that Peter Smith asked me for a photograph for this page. I asked Steve Belli, a Melb PC member and work colleagues he could use the Logitech Fotoman - a digital camera that easily connects to a PC for the downloading of pictures - to take a photograph of me. No film is required as the picture is stored in RAM in the camera and then transferred to the PC'S hard disk - instantaneous development. You can edit the photo by sharpening its image, adding or removing shading and by playing with many of the other features that come standard with the package - most of which I am still to get the pleasure of using. (Still, I'm sure Charles Wright will be green with envy.)
Reprinted from the May 1992 issue of PC Update, the magazine of Melbourne PC User Group, Australia
