Subject:
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Re: Spring 2003 Meeting Planning
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.org.us.texlug
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Date:
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Fri, 1 Nov 2002 09:33:24 GMT
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Viewed:
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1303 times
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My first instinct in responding to this thread was "perhaps you should
organize your thoughts first."
My second instinct was "Who am I kidding?"
So here is my honest view, with the bark on:
In the 21 hours and 18 minutes between Tony's initial alarm-sounding post
and TJ's last, I did not once log onto the internet or check email. I am a
night owl. I feel obligated to check email once per day; usually it's late
at night, but sometimes its before evening. Yesterday (October 30) was one
of those days.
What really threw me for a loop is how fast everything can come to pass in
so short a time span. My condensed summary:
Sava: Might have a place. Dad can help, but there are conditions. We should
have a contest, too. Contest, anyone?
Laura: Great. Shouldn't this be on LUGNET? Balloons, anyone?
Matt: Houston good. Robotics good. Programming languages, anyone?
Laura: RoboLAB good. Mindstorms not quite as good. (Pause for this brief
message)
Laura: I'm back. Gears good also. Workshop, anyone?
Matt: Great. So anyway, these days I'm...
Laura: Tell us.
TJ: This is your leader speaking. Hate to interrupt, but we should take this
over to LUGNET. Got a small novel for ya to read.
TJ: (on LUGNET) Check out this link 'cause I...er, that is, WE have decided
to build our moonbase this way. Tony, thanks for volunteering, you're now in
charge of meeting space. Robotics and engineering not just good, bite your
tongues, but core! Etc. Anyway, thanks for replying everyone! Out!
Pat: Uhhhh...
Well, first I'd like to say, thanks for the big reply window; I hope you
were addressing your appreciation to future respondents 'cause all of three
replied. Second, sorry I wasn't here today to monitor this thread; I did a
really unusual and unorthodox thing and went off to a Halloween party. Odd,
that. Actually, I went to help organize and decorate someone's else in
preparation for such...involved arriving early.
In case you haven't pieced it together at this point, I am concerned that
we're rushing into something here. A lot has been thrown into the mix to
digest, and I've barely had time to absorb it all; I'm not at all sure I've
had time to do even that.
Tony, since you're looking for short, almost ready-made answers, I've put
the following together. I am not sure when TEXLUG adopted its own mission
statement, but here are my answers to the questionnaire:
1. What do we want to do, what will we need, and what do we want to accomplish?
We want to have a TEXLUG meeting in Houston. Theme was space. Now the
theme(s) are space, robotics, engineering, programming...
We need space to hold it in. I guess that's where the "space" part comes in.
We want to have a bit of fun (I think everyone else has pretty much covered
our other goals): Corporate Partnership, Community Enlightment, Public
Relations.
2. What about holding a contest? What type?
Seems that's been answered as well.
3. What is our theme. Space? Medieval? Trains? A mix?
I must have been misinformed. Space was the theme orginally discussed, now
it seems to have taken a back seat to all this other techno-related stuff.
4. How many people will be attending?
I can speak for myself and probably one other person. Put me down for 2.
5. When is the meeting going to be?
"Sometime in March" were the words I heard at the last meeting.
6. What size of room do we need?
At least the size of the NI room we had.
7. What do we need furnished for us in the room?
Tables and chairs. Plus some tables and chairs.
8. Do we want to actually do anything during the meeting?
About all I'll be doing is BSing with the rest of you, tinkering with my
space display, and taking photos of the MOCs...that is if Boeing doesn't ban
cameras inside the place.
9. How public are we to make this, and What type of publicity do we want?
That sounds like TJ and Laura's dept. I know nothing of garnering publicity.
I'll just come right out and lay it on the line, folks: I'm not all that
complicated; in many ways I'm kind of old-fashioned. It also means I believe
that I need more time to seriously address all this than 21 hours and 18
minutes.
My beefs:
- What in God's name happened to space as our major theme? Now I'm reading
lines like "Particulary stuff involving robotics and engineering". Sorry,
I'll have to cut class on this one. I'm not a particular boy-wonder genius
when it comes to robotics or engineering; in fact, I'm just not all that
interested. Just for a brief moment, I thought I might actually be able to
measure up creatively when I heard the theme was space...it's been my thing
for years, and thus far, nearly every other major LEGO theme has has its
share of the limelight at our three meetings: Castles and Churches, Trains,
Technic, and Robotics. But not Space. Please, I do not count robotics and
space in the same group; not even remotely. Remember, I'm the guy that still
can't get LEGO-CAD or LDRAW to run for me.
- "I think we all like the dragster derby thing." Oh, we do? Four voices
inside 22 hours and that constitutes a majority? I'm not saying I like it or
don't like it - it would seem it's been settled. I am a little annoyed that
"we" as a group are being half-volunteered to buy a bunch of LEGO Racers and
creator tubs just so some total-stranger kids can have a jolly outing; I
personally have nothing to contribute financially. I still have no job and
am scraping every farthing together just to get to Houston and stay for a
night. If Boeing finances the deal, fine; but I thought Tony just got done
posting a note about his financial difficulties, so the suggestion surprised
me to say the least.
Little side note: This unfortunate tendency to misinterpret a few
clamourous notes of agreement as the end-all be-all policy maker has
infected this group from the beginning, and it's getting worse instead of
better.
Fun is nice, but it costs. I suggest we limit both our enthusiasm and
our commitments until all the votes are in.
My Close:
At this stage, I am not changing my plans. I am going to show up
"sometime in March" in Houston with as big a space MOC as I can transport.
Aside from that, I am not prepared to make any commitments until we have a
firmer idea of what we're going to do. If Boeing is holding their breath for
a reply from TEXLUG, do not wait for me if it comes down to eleventh-hour
decision-making.
Awaiting further discourse.
- Pat Hough
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | Spring 2003 Meeting Planning
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| Howdy all, There has been a lot of talk via email recently about the meeting, and it was suggessted that we take it to LUGNET for the benefit of those not on the email list. So, here it is: MEETING DISCUSSIONS AT NI At the recent fall TEXLUG meeting (...) (22 years ago, 31-Oct-02, to lugnet.org.us.texlug)
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