The June meeting of the TI-Chips was called to order, and the minutes from the May meeting were read and accepted. There was no Treasurer's report in that Lin Shaw was unable to attend. John Parken reported that our membership was at a stable 19 members.
Les Kee reported that the group's disk library was very large, and that there was no activity to report at this time.
Harry Hoffman brought in pictures he had taken of Dan Williams' model railroad setup. Very impressive to say the least. On one shot, I would swear that I was looking at a real mining pit. The realism was that great.
There was a lively discussion about the CCAG 2001 to be held on June 30th at the Lorain National Guard Armory from 9:00 am 'till 6:00 pm. It was hoped that TI'ers would attend this classic show. CCAG 2001 is a classic computer and electronic game show hosted and sponsored by the local Cleveland area Atari User Groups. Classic computers and games of all types and manufacturers will be on display, including the TI-Chips' TI-99/4A system.
I passed around a printout of a draft of the Cleveland Area TI-99/4A User Groups Memorial Page to be posted on our web site. Harry Hoffman and Deanna Sheridan mentioned the passing of Chuck Poulin (Secretary of the Northcoast 99ers) and Tom Miller (Member of the Northcoast 99ers), but were unable to confirm the year of death. Both Chuck and Tom's memorial will be included in our memorial page as soon as this information can be confirmed. The Memorial Page draft will be sent to our webmaster, Craig Getty, for posting.
We had two very pleasant surprises at this month's meeting. Both long time member Curt Gadd and former member Dan Williams dropped in for the meeting. Curt explained that he was in the process of moving full time to Sun City, Florida, and that he was giving away his entire TI-99/4A system. We're going to miss seeing you Curt and hearing your familiar bass voice at our meetings, but we all wish you the best of luck and happiness in the sunshine state. Curt also told us that he will be featured on the cable History Channel this November 11th, on the Pathfinders Series called "W.W.II, Suicide Missions". (We'll be marking our calendar for this one, Curt.)
Dan stopped by to see how the TI-Chips were doing and to talk a bit about his model railroad system. Dan stated that a fellow model railroader knelt down to take very detailed video shots of his system, but when Dan put the tape in the VCR, to show the railroaders, the VCR ate the tape. At this time, Jack Koryta volunteered a trick he learned on how to dislodge a stuck video tape from a VCR. Jack said all that had to be done was to turn the VCR upside down, shake it a few times and press the Eject button. Dan said thanks for the hint, but the machine totally destroyed the tape. Therefore, the shaking technique wouldn't help in this case.
Dan also read his personal notes from 1992 meetings of the TI-Chips. (Thanks for the wonderful trip down memory lane, Dan.)
Dan also asked if there was anybody in the TI-Chips who might be able to answer some Excel macro questions he had. John Parken responded that although we may not be able to provide answers on everything, we were there to get together to find answers to questions our members may have. At this, Don said he was happy to rejoin the TI-Chips. Welcome back aboard, Dan. We missed having you at the meetings. (I took the opportunity to take both Dan and Curt's pictures for our web site's Member's Gallery. The shots will be sent to Craig for posting.)
Harry reported that Nina was experiencing some difficulties while recovering at home, and that Nina could still use our prayers. (Our prayers and thoughts are and will always be with our president, Nina Mae Hoffman, for a complete recovery.)
Harry also brought out that the TI-99/4A On Line Users Group has recently crossed the 300 member mark.
Yours truly won this month's 50:50 raffle.
The next meeting of the TI-Chips will be on July 21st , at the North Royalton branch library, from 10:00 AM 'till noon in the Story Time room. Hope to see as many as possible at our next meeting.