The December Christmas party / meeting of the TI-Chips was opened with the reading of the November minutes. (Yep, I remembered to bring the minutes this time.) Lin Shaw gave the Treasurer’s report. Both the minutes and treasurer’s report were accepted as read.
Les Kee was unable to attend. Therefore there was no disk library report at this time. However it was noted that Les issued an E-mailed statement to the effect that he wishes to resign as the disk Librarian for the TI-Chips. Les’ resignation will be effective as of the end of February, 2005. Les has asked that anyone interested in taking ownership of the TI-Chips’ TI-99/4A disk library / collection, do so by the end of February. If there are no takers, Les said he will be forced to place the collection in the trash. If you are interested, send an E-mail to Les Kee .
John Parken, our Membership Chairman, stated that the TI-Chips still has 26 registered members. (This means, by attendance records, that as much as 46 percent of our membership will attend meetings at any given time. Not too shabby for a 21 year old TI- 99/4A user group.)
Ron Markus said he was still trying to locate the copy of PC Transfer that the TI-Chips had purchased from him.
There was a short discussion about our experiences at CCAG 2004. After which, I showed the CCAG videos on the library’s large screen TV. (For once, a demo went along with out a hitch. Whew!) I gave Harry Hoffman’s, Alan Hewston’s and Norb Sitter’s souvenir CCAG 2004 video CDs to Lin Shaw for safe keeping. All they have to do is attend a meeting and ask Lin for their CD.
reported that the Jim Peterson Achievement Award editing month has worked out very well. I received a request to remove a nomination and to correct the placement of another nomination into the correct category. Baring any additional changes, the Jim Peterson Achievement Award ballot for 2005 will be ready for posting and voting on January 1, 2005. Voting will conclude April 30, 2005. I said I would send the ballot to our webmaster Scott Kee in plenty of time for him to set up the interactive voting page.
There was some light discussion about password hacking. It was recommended that passwords be frequently changed to avoid unauthorized access to private accounts.
I then announced that this meeting would be the last meeting of the TI-Chips I will attend for the foreseeable future. Lucille Mayer asked how the meeting minutes would be handled in the future. I said that anyone who wanted to take down a few notes about what transpired at the meetings could E-mail them to the TI-Chips membership and to Scott for posting on our web site. (The ISP addresses, for the TI-Chips membership, can be found in the header of the E-mail that contains these minutes.) The TI-Chips doesn't need an ‘official’ Secretary to do this.
I also said that either someone could take the club’s TI-99/4A system home after the meeting or I would obtain permission, from the branch library, to temporarily store it in the library. I also brought in a box of miscellaneous TI-Chips property, including the TView system, for anyone to take home after the meeting. Jack Koryta volunteered to take the box home.
One last item, I reported that I found the club’s constitution and bylaws that were adopted by the TI-Chips around 1995. I placed three copies in a manila folder in the suitcase that contains the club’s TI-99/4A system.
Although I will no longer be able to keep the office of Secretary, I will continue to administer the Jim Peterson Achievement Awards, for the TI-Chips, from home. I also hope to maintain contact and communications with my ‘family’ of friends in the TI- Chips. It has been a wonderful 18 ½ years for me, and I will try to attend as many meetings as I can in the future.
Wouldn't you know? I won the 50:50 drawing at my last meeting. What a way to go!
The business part of the meeting was adjourned with the announcement that the next meeting of the TI-Chips is scheduled for Saturday, January 15, 2005 from 10:00 until noon in the Storytime room of the North Royalton branch library.
The rest of the time was party time. There were cookies, munchies, soft drinks and Ada’s delicious Chicken Paprikash. The traditional TI-Chips’ Christmas goodie tray was made and presented to the library staff for their holiday enjoyment. The attendance was light, but a great time was had by all.