FLMUG (aka MUGOO)

Hope to see you Saturday, if you can make it:

Dinner at Outback, 6:00 pm

1927 Aloma Ave Winter Park, FL

Meet outside the front door. Call Mark at 407.256.4643 if necessary.

http://www.meetup.com/Florida-Macintosh-Users-Group/events/23110961/

We’ll need to practice for Walt’s going away dinner!  : )

In case you weren’t aware, our old FLMUG iCal calendar no longer works, and in iCal, you will likely see the icon next to FLMUG that indicates an error. Might as well go ahead and delete the calendar.

But the next step is to then subscribe to this one:

webcal://ical.mac.com/markspain/FLMUG.ics

I’ve updated it with all the relevant data for meetings of interest to Mac users, including MacLegal, InDesign, iSig, Apple Seeds, lunch and FileMaker Pro.

In addition to subscribing to the calendar in iCal, you can also view it as a Web page, at:

http://ical.mac.com/markspain/FLMUG

With no new announcement of a free MobileMe-type service (that I know of), this seems to be the best way to proceed. (The MobileMe retail box was discontinued on February 24.)

FLMUG board meeting

Monday, February 21, 2011

location: Denny’s, Lee Road and I-4

Present: Treasurer Jef Walker, Apple Seeds Director Alastair Burton, Secretary Mark Spain

Absent: InDesign SIG Director Edward Feldman, board member at large Walt Sellers, board member at large John Dickson

6:25 meeting called to order

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The future of FLMUG —

Mark moved to change the structure of FLMUG from a membership-based organization, with dues and a voting membership, to a nonmembership organization with a self-perpetuating board and no dues.

The vote: Yes (unanimous).

We also resolved to make this change permanent only if a review of our bylaws makes this possible.

[From the bylaws:

Article 6: Officers, Board of Directors and Elections

a. The general management of the affairs of the Corporation shall be vested in the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors.

Article 9: Amendments to the Bylaws and Articles of Incorporation

The Articles of Incorporation and/or Bylaws of FL MUG may be amended at any time by the following procedure: An affirmative vote on the proposed change by a majority of the Board of Directors @ a regularly scheduled meeting of the Board of Directors. The changes approved by the Board shall then be published in the Newsletter, posted on the Corporation’s website and approved by a majority of members present and

voting at the General Meeting next following the action by the Board of Directors.]

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Officers —

Due to there being only three board members in attendance, and due to Alastair preferring the position of Vice President, and due to Jef’s previous experience as Treasurer, Mark moved to adopt the following:

President — Mark Spain

Vice President — Alastair Burton

Secretary/Treasurer — Jef Walker

The vote: Yes (unanimous).

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Web sites —

Jef moved that our MobileMe site (which disappeared when our MobileMe account expired) and our WordPress site have links to each other, and that the MobileMe site serve the organization in the same way that the old FLMUG site did. That is, it will have front and center details about current FLMUG activities, with an easy way to view an iCal calendar to see upcoming meetings, and with this calendar being published, such that those interested can subscribe to it.

The vote: Yes (unanimous).

Mark suggested that we use iWeb to create the new FLMUG MobileMe site, due to the speed at which such a site can be updated, even when there are photos on the home page (compared to Dreamweaver and Photoshop).

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Budget —

Mark moved that we adopt the following budget:

(1) MobileMe account, including an iDisk — 50.00–100.00

(2) hosting of flmug.org WordPress site at GoDaddy — 60.00

(3) registration of two domain names (flmug.org and flmug.com) — 22.00

(4) payment to InDesign SIG for our Meetup site — 48.00

(5) expenses for Apple Seeds — 50.00

(6) registration with the state as a nonprofit — 61.50

The vote: Yes (unanimous).

Jef pointed out that expenses for the December party can be covered by sponsorships, such as those companies that used to have corporate memberships.

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Apple Seeds —

Alastair is planning on leaving either in the summer or fall. Mark will offer to help Jon, as long as we switch the schedule to once, instead of twice, a month. He’ll also try some new ideas to bring in volunteers, such as contacting the Mac user groups in Lakeland and Mount Dora. The hope is that even with Alastair leaving, we can maintain the structure and foundation of Apple Seeds so that it does not need to be recreated when new volunteers are found.

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Door prizes, raffle, premeeting meeting, etc.

Mark will talk to Dom Salfi, Scott Mousseau and John Dickson to determine the status of door prizes and raffles, now that we are meeting at Dom Salfi’s MacLegal (Business and Legal) SIG. The desire is to continue the monthly giveaway of the Take Control ebooks and to continue the raffle if there is sufficient support. [The raffle, obviously, would be self-sustaining, with a volunteer handling the tickets, collection of money, and delivery of prizes to the winners.]

With the recent change in FLMUG meetings, to Dom’s, the needs of beginners need to be handled differently. In all likelihood, with sufficient support, beginners’ questions can be dealt with in a “premeeting meeting” from 7:00 to 7:25.

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FLMUG newsletter —

Mark moved to change the publishing of the newsletter so as to contract it out to anyone who wants to do it, assuming they reach an agreement with the board. In the past, any money from advertising belonged to FLMUG, with the writing and editing being handled by FLMUG volunteers. Under the new arrangement, advertising income would be kept by the editor, who would handle writing, editing, publishing, and the setting of advertising rates in the way that he or she would like. The FLMUG board would serve as overseer, and would assist the editor in nonmonetary ways, such as by providing past issues, tech support, etc., in a way that promotes the organization’s interests.

The vote: Yes (unanimous).

6:55 meeting adjourned

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Who can vote at FLMUG board meetings, as of February 21, 2011:

Officers:

Mark Spain, President

Alastair Burton, Vice President and Apple Seeds Director

Jef Walker, Secretary/Treasurer

Board members at large:

Edward Feldman, InDesign SIG Director

Walt Sellers

John Dickson

We know this guy from the Macworld Expos and as columnist for Macworld magazine and the New York Times, and author of numerous how-to books on Apple products. He’ll be on NOVA on Wednesday:

Join Alastair, Jon and others for lunch at Kappy’s, 501 North Orlando Avenue in Maitland. Kappy’s will be a first for our informal FLMUG meetings, and it follows the morning’s Apple Seeds session. Apple Seeds is that part of FLMUG whereby the aforementioned Alastair and Jon fix up older Mac computers and then donate them to nonprofits, churches, and sometimes individuals. They work from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm, and then go to lunch. This time it’s Kappy’s, at 2:30.

Do you have an old Mac to donate? As long as it’s a G3 or later, they’ll take it, as well as peripherals that work with those machines. Desktops, laptops, software, dark chocolate… they’re happy for all usable donations! Stop by before they close at 2:00, then join us for lunch.

Apple Seeds meets at the Altamonte Chapel, on 436 in Altamonte Springs, generally on the first and third Saturdays of each month. Stop by if you’d like to help or if you have donations. The Apple Seeds shop is in the northeast corner of the church’s office. See map below.

For more details on Kappy’s, see:

http://orlando.citysearch.com/profile/2358372/maitland_fl/kappy_s_sandwiches.html#profileTab-photos

http://www.yelp.com/biz/kappys-submarine-sandwiches-maitland

It is just a block north of Horatio in Maitland, on the west side, across the street from Publix, and across the street from the 7-11, right next to the railroad tracks.

The Apple Seeds shop is in the upper-right-hand corner of the church’s office.

Next meeting is Tuesday, February 1, at 7:30 pm.

Location:

ScanDesign

999 Douglas Avenue

Altamonte Springs

See:

http://www.meetup.com/mac-259/events/15918044/

Note: “IDC Building” is the old name. The new name is ScanDesign.

See you there!

See:

http://www.meetup.com/Florida-Macintosh-Users-Group/events/16126008/

Stardust Video and Coffee is near the northwest corner of Corrine Drive and Winter Park Road, in Orlando.

Check this out:

http://www.itwin.com/

(Thanks to Jef Walker.)