The January, 2002 meeting of the TI-Chips was opened, and the minutes from the December, 2001 Christmas party/meeting were read. Lin Shaw gave the Treasurer's report. Lin reported that our opening balance for 2002 reflected the various checks written during 2001, including our $150 donation to the 9-11 New York City Firemen's Disaster Relief Fund. Lin said our monthly 50:50 raffle was keeping our balance in a healthy state.
There was no membership report at this time. However, Les Kee stated that, once again, the activity in the club's software library was minimal. Les also volunteered that his wife still uses the TI-99/4A for her customer database. (Another example that our TI-99/4A lives on, and can still live a useful and productive life.)
The first item of business was to discuss the status of our newsletter Web site. Craig Getty informed us that much of our new Web site is now up and running at:
Craig has addressed the problems he had encountered in uploading graphics as well as completing the posting of our monthly minutes to our Web site. Craig said it was quite a job, but it was very satisfying to be able to have the site ready for all TI'ers to view and enjoy. Craig did a lot of 'housekeeping' in the process by removing outdated files and postings that no longer reflected the TI-Chips. Craig also said that he is in the process of completing site organization, and is setting up a site data system where he will be able to easily move our Web site from one service to another. It was recommended that we correct the OLUG link to our Web site as soon as possible. I said I would do this at my first opportunity.
There was some inquiry about the address for the OLUG. This address was posted in the November, 2001 meeting minutes. However, I am happy to repost it again at this time.
The URL for the OLUG is: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ti99-4a
Harry Hoffman and I encourage all members of the TI-Chips to join Yahoo! TI-99/4A On Line User Group (OLUG). A wealth of information and help is posted on this site everyday, many of the questions and calls for help are much the same as we heard and responded to in our early days of the TI-Chips.
Ballots for the 2002 Jim Peterson Achievement Awards were passed out to those in attendance. "Absentee" ballots will be E-mailed to TI-Chips' members who were unable to attend this month's meeting. I was happy to report that every aspect of the Jim Peterson Awards, nominations, editing, and voting, was going much more smoothly this year. (This was due, in part, to the many helpful suggestions I had received from participating members in the international TI community.)
Harry treated us to a pleasant surprise. He brought in a copy of the Dubuque (Iowa) Telegraph Herald that had a feature article about Sr. Pat Taylor, a good friend of Harry and Nina Hoffman as well as all TI'ers who had the pleasure of meeting her at past TI faires, such as the Lima MUGs. It seems that Sr. Pat is still very active in the computer world during her retirement. She continues to share her God-given talents and knowledge. Thank you, Harry for sharing this delightful news with us.
Much of the rest of the meeting consisted of discussions and conversations about Windows XP, modem speeds and the advantage of having parallel operating systems (i.e., Windows 98, Windows XP and Linux) installed in our respective computers.
Harry won the 50:50 raffle. Congratulations, Harry.
The next meeting of the TI-Chips will be held on Saturday, February 16th, in the Story Time Room of the North Royalton branch of the Cuyahoga County Library System from 10:00 AM 'till noon.