SGVAUG

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

Since its inception in the mid-1980s, the San Gabriel Valley Macintosh Users Group has operated on an informal basis, without any official structure or legal status. While this has served us fairly well for the past two decades, the Board of Directors has decided that it is time to take the Group to another level by incorporating as a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization. The immediate benefits are: 1) we will be able to solicit and accept tax-deductible donations from individual and/or business sponsors; 2) we will be a legal entity, able to enter into agreements or contracts as appropriate; and 3) the individual members of the Board of Directors will be relieved of any potential for personal liability relating to the operations or activities of the Group.

As a prelude to the formal process of incorporation, the Group will be holding its Annual Business Meeting on December 15th, during which we will elect a new Board of Directors and approve the SGVMUG Bylaws. Details of the nomination and election process can be found in my previous message on the website (It’s Election Season … September 30th, 2008).

At the October 20th General Meeting, Al Richardson was named chair of the Nominations Committee, assisted by Bud Keville and Billy Chang. The Call for Nominations for the Board of Directors will remain open until the end of the November 17th General Meeting. Any member may nominate him/herself or another member. All nominations must be confirmed by an agreement in writing (via e-mail) from the nominee that he/she is willing to be nominated and to serve the full two-year term if elected; complete contact information and a brief biographical statement (maximum 200 words) also are required from each nominee. Nominations and supporting documentation should be sent to the Nominations Committee using the following link: nominations@sgvaug.org All e-mail nominations must be received no later than Noon on Monday, November 17th.

Following the November meeting, the final roster of nominees will be posted onto the website and sent via e-mail to the voting membership.

The proposed revised Bylaws document also is available on the SGVMUG website for your review. It can be found by clicking on the following link: SGVMUG Bylaws.

This is your Group. We need your participation to be successful. Please consider placing your name in nomination for the Board. Then be sure to come to the December 15th meeting and vote.

With best regards,
Ron Streicher, President SGVMUG

The US Presidential Election on November 4th is garnering much of the attention of the nation – if not the entire world. However, not to be lost in the shadow of this historic event, please mark on your calendars that the SGVMUG will have its own election the following month at our December 15th meeting. At that time, we will be electing a full slate of Directors – with a minimum of five and a maximum of twelve positions available – to serve a two-year term, beginning in January.

This Board of Directors, in turn, will select from among its membership the Officers of the Group: President, Vice-president(s), Secretary, and Treasurer.It is the Board of Directors – all of whom are members of the SGVMUG and serve as volunteers – that develops the meeting topics and other activities that we enjoy every month. We invite all members to consider becoming more involved in your Group by participating on the Board. Quite literally, we cannot go on without you.Our election process (unlike that for the US presidency which seems to have been going on forever) actually begins with our meeting on October 20th, when a Nominations Committee will be announced, and nominations will be opened to the general membership.Any member wishing to place his or her own name in nomination, or to nominate another member, may do so at this meeting.

Nominations also may be submitted directly to the Nominations Committee. All nominations must be confirmed by an agreement in writing (or via e-mail) from the nominee that he/she is willing to be nominated and to serve the full two-year term if elected; complete contact information and a brief biographical statement (maximum 200 words) also are required from each nominee. Nominations and supporting documentation should be sent to the Nominations Committee using the following link: nominations@sgvaug.org

Nominations will remain open until the close of our meeting on November 17th. Following, a roster of the Nominees will be posted on the SGVMUG Website and sent via e-mail to all current members.The Election will be conducted by a ballot of those members present at the December 15th meeting, so please plan to come to the meeting to cast your vote.While you are making your calendars, please plan to join us for all of our meetings, regularly on the third Monday of (almost) every month throughout the year.

While there, you will enjoy networking with the other members of the Group, learn about new and interesting things you can do with your Mac, and have an opportunity to win some valuable prizes in our Drawing.

VOLUNTEERISM
The Key to a Successful Community Group

The San Gabriel Valley Macintosh Users Group needs your help! It is common knowledge that the SGVMUG is organized by a small cadre of dedicated volunteers. What might be less obvious to the casual observer, however, is just how small this “inner circle” really is. In fact, of the approximately 125 members of the SGVMUG, only about a dozen are actively involved in developing and producing the regular meetings and website on which the Group relies each month. Now, having twelve dedicated people out of 125 is not an unworkable proportion … unless you realize that these twelve are responsible for all of the work, and many of them have been doing this for the past several years, without very much “turnover” within their ranks.

The problem with this scenario, however, is that after a while, this very small group of individuals can become overburdened with their tasks. Sometimes it is just a matter of having to juggle the demands of the SGVMUG with the necessities of and responsibilities to their family and “day job.” Taken to the extreme, the stress becomes too much and “burn-out” becomes an issue. We experienced this earlier this year, when some of our Board members decided it was time to step aside and let someone else take over.

Some of the tasks necessary to keep the SGVMUG going forward include arranging meeting topics and presenters, securing prizes for the Drawings, maintenance of the membership database, development and maintenance of the Website, assisting at the General Meetings, publicity and promotion of the SGVMUG activities, membership recruitment, etc.

In December, in accord with our Bylaws, the SGVMUG will hold elections for the Board of Directors. At present, all twelve members of the Board are serving as an ad-hoc committee following our reorganization meeting in July. The December elections will be an opportunity to confirm these people or to elect “new blood” as Directors of the Group. We will begin the election process at our General Meeting on October 20th by naming a Nominating Committee and issuing a Call for Nominations.

Many of the activities listed above can be accomplished by volunteers who, although they cannot commit to being a Director, still want to help keep the SGVMUG a vital and active group for all of us. At the October meeting, let us know who you are. Volunteer to stand for nomination in the upcoming elections or offer to help as a non-Board member. Remember, the word “we” involves you!

Jayson Adams from Circus Ponies Inc. will be our guest speaker for the August 25th monthly meeting. Circus Ponies is the maker of NoteBook – the best note organizer for the Mac.Is your desktop cluttered with files? Are you drowning in sticky notes? Do you remember where to find that important web clipping? Circus Ponies NoteBook is the award-winning application that helps Mac users manage all those bits of information that lack a good home. Whether it’s the notes, clippings, and to dos of your life, or the e-mails, diagrams and spreadsheets of that important project, NoteBook helps you keep it all organized and accessible.Jayson will be presenting the latest version of NoteBook – v3.0. I know some of our users are already fans of this software and use it daily in our work. So come join us to watch the creator himself give us a demo and some sneak peaks into the future versions.Remember, in August we are meeting on the fourth Monday, Aug 25th ! So be there…

Although meetings of the SGVMUG normally are held on the third Monday each month, our next meeting will be on the fourth Monday in August due to a conflict with the Library schedule.  So please mark your calendars for August 25th.  Also note that we now begin with “Tips and Tricks” at 6:45 p.m.  The main topic of the meeting will be posted soon.  We look forward to seeing you there.

It’s official, Mozilla set the World Record for most downloads of an application in 24 hrs. From their Web site –

“Thanks to the support of the always amazing Mozilla community, we now hold a Guinness World Record for the most software downloaded in 24 hours. From 18:16 UTC on June 17, 2008 to 18:16 UTC on June 18, 2008, 8,002,530 people downloaded Firefox 3 and are now enjoying a safer, smarter and better Web.”

Firefox 3 has added over 20 Million downloads since setting the record.

Hope everyone is having a wonderful Independence Day. We’ll see you in a couple weeks at our next meeting.