President's Notes (08/12)
President's Message
Review of 2008
by Phil Sorrentino
Member of the Sarasota Personal Computer Users Group, Inc.
Well, it’s hard to believe that a year has gone by since
I was elected president of SPCUG. Time really flies by, when you’re having
fun. It has been a personally rewarding year. I have enjoyed meeting as many
of you as I could, at the meetings and educational classes. And I have had
the privilege of working closely with a very dedicated group of people that
make up the Board of Directors.
This past year certainly presented a lot of challenges
and surprises. The year started out with great presentations and a very full
spring ‘08 educational schedule, and accolades for our Computer Refurbishing
Community Service Project. Things had a "normal" feel to them until we went
to re-negotiate our rental agreements with the schools where we have
meetings and classes. At this point, everyone is aware that we are paying
about 65% more for our monthly meeting facilities than the previous year.
And, the cost for SCTI training facilities has gone up about 400%, which is
why we have had an attenuated fall ’08 schedule. (We’re now using only one
room at SCTI and paying about 150% more than we paid for 4 rooms in previous
years. But the school board’s smaller budget forces them to watch every
penny and look for income wherever possible.) This has actually had a
favorable effect on our operation. We have spent a lot of time investigating
alternate meeting places such as the YMCA, the Boys and Girls Clubs, and the
Senior Friendship Center, and we now have a variety of venues for our
classes, and we are aware of some possibilities for our monthly meeting
facilities.
Aside from the facilities rental situation, we have
managed to carry on the normal business and have had some very interesting
monthly presentations. We also had a few SPCUG members attend and make
presentations at the Spring and Fall FACUG conferences. In May, we awarded a
long over-due lifetime membership to the SPCUG founder, Dr. Saul Lowitt. And
along the way we continued development of www.spcug.org, and
maintained the high level of quality of our news letter, the Monitor. The
Yahoo Group, for those of you who are members, (And I suggest Yahoo Group
membership to every SPCUG member, it’s free) continued to provide the
highest quality of informal technical education and interesting computer
information. Also, during this year the SIG chairman instituted Mini-SIG
classes, which are one or two session classes on specific subjects of
interest like Photography, Home Networks, Internet Security, Control Panels,
and Computer Music. The Mini-SIGs offering will be expanded in the Spring
’09 educational schedule.
Because we have been working so very diligently on the
meeting facilities situation, we expect that it will settle down as 2009
starts to take shape. In fact, we have had talks with the Boys and Girls
Clubs and we expect that the Educational classes, formerly held at SCTI,
will be held at the Boys and Girls Clubs facility on Fruitville Rd. starting
in January. And as we find our way out of this facilities predicament, we
will be getting back to great presentations, a full Spring ’09 educational
schedule, and a hugely successful Community Service project. Stay connected,
visit the website regularly, and take advantage of the Monitor and the SPCUG
Yahoo Group. These are all your resources to help you keep up with the fast,
ever-changing world of computers. So in closing, drive safely, practice safe
computing, and enjoy the coming Holiday season. And don’t forget,
"Volunteer, it feels good". :
Copyright 2008. This article is from the December 2008 issue of the
Sarasota PC Monitor, the official monthly publication of the Sarasota
Personal Computer Users Group, Inc., P.O. Box 15889, Sarasota, FL
34277-1889. Permission to reprint is granted only to other non-profit
computer user groups, provided proper credit is given to the author and
our publication. We would appreciate receiving a copy of the publication
the reprint appears in, please send to above address, Attn: Editor. For
further information about our group, email:
admin@spcug.org/ Web:
http://www.spcug.org/
The Sarasota Personal Computer Users Group, Inc. has 1,100+ members
and was established in 1982. We are members of the Assoc. of PC User
Groups (APCUG), the Florida Assoc. of PC Users Groups, Inc., and we are
members of the America Online Ambassador Program.
See http://www.spcug.org for all reviews from the Sarasota PC
Monitor, go to the Newsletter Section.