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Grex > Coop > #251: Board Meeting Minutes for April, 2009 | |
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denise
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Board Meeting Minutes for April, 2009
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Apr 22 22:43 UTC 2009 |
Here are the minutes for the meeting held on 4/19/09
Present: gelina, aruba, STeve, tsty, denise, and by speaker phone:
cross. Unable to attend: unicorn.
STeve called the meeting to order at 7:25 pm.
First order of business: election of officers.
For president, gelinas was nominated and elected, 5 for, 1 abstained
For treasurer, aruba was nominated and elected, 5 for, 1 abstained
For secretary, denise was nominated and elected, 5 for, 1 abstained.
Treasurer report:
Monthly expenses are $150/month
In the bank, we have about $5,000.
The question of earning interest was brought up. The checking
account is earning a small amount of interest; having it in a savings
account may not get us much more than what we're currently getting. If
someone would like to do some research, let us know.
There are a number of people who's memberships have expired.
Reminders need to be sent. Will consider having membership start on the
date membership is paid instead of being made retroactive to when it
expired.
Issues discussed:
-How do we want to expand: growing the membership vs fixing the system
and thus, then growing the membership...
-What do we want Grex to be and what can we offer? Primary
purpose-communication. Should we consider having a blogging option
available to members? Something like Wordpress or LiveJournal?
Other things we offer includes conferencing, front talk, backtalk,
party/multi-user chat, unix, mail [very limited at this point in time].
We still have students that are referred to grex for
coursework--programming, code writing, etc...
-Newusers come in to the system with restricted access; can get
increased access through validation from one of the porters. Do we want
to have some kind of fee structure to get better access? Even something
like $1.00 through a check or paypal may limit access to vandals. Would
this be a problem in accessing the funds in some situations [ie, other
countries]; could we work this out on a case by case basis?
-How do we attract younger users? Why kind of things [not already
mentioned] will attract them to grex? And along the same line, how do we
get current members to recommend grex to others? Why do people leave,
why are some coming back? Getting back to having some face-to-face
interactions for those in the Ann Arbor area may help build connections.
Along with the Saturday morning grex walks and debriefing, perhaps
having potlucks, happy hours, picnics, etc would bring more people
together. What else?
-What other technical stuff do we want to work on? New
equipment/hardware? More RAM?
-->Discussion to be continued at a future meeting.
Next meeting is scheduled for Sunday, May 24th, time and place to be
determined.
Meeting adjourned at 9pm.
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| 21 responses total. |
denise
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response 1 of 21:
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Apr 22 22:45 UTC 2009 |
Sorry this took a few days, I've been having some technical
difficulties.
Any other board members that were in attendance--feel free to add or
elaborate on any of the above statements.
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tsty
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response 2 of 21:
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Apr 23 18:32 UTC 2009 |
quite fast enough .... nicely done.
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tsty
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response 3 of 21:
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Apr 27 15:29 UTC 2009 |
several qustons wer reaised in the meeting ... and posted above ... one
concep t of coop.cf is that these ten get disciussed here.
anyh idesa/toghts from the above start-talking points?
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tsty
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response 4 of 21:
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Apr 30 01:50 UTC 2009 |
how about hte blog sofware installation idea?
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denise
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response 5 of 21:
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May 6 00:27 UTC 2009 |
Are we still considering having the next meeting at Zingerman's or some
other public place?
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mary
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response 6 of 21:
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May 6 10:54 UTC 2009 |
If it's at, say, Zing's, and you wanted to try this, I could bring a
laptop and bring in Dan via Skype or iChat. Not sure how easy it would be
to bring in two remote users though. The video is fine but it starts to
get difficult for both remote users to hear each other.
As long as you have two or more remote board members it may just be easier
to continue holding meetings in quiet, well-connected locations.
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denise
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response 7 of 21:
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May 6 22:29 UTC 2009 |
There's some sort of system [I forget what it's called] that TS
mentioned and he was going to try and see what kind of reception he'd
get at Zing's; I'm not sure if he's tested it yet or not.
At the last meeting, Unicorn couldn't come nor call in due to his work
schedule; hopefully he'll be able to attend this next meeting.
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tsty
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response 8 of 21:
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May 7 06:34 UTC 2009 |
oh, yeh ... better got on that... it;s gonna be weird to waltz into
zingies witha laptop AND a telephone on the table.
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tsty
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response 9 of 21:
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May 7 06:35 UTC 2009 |
or under myu arm ... or whatever.. i know .. i;l jsut say it;s an
old fashined cell phone! back be fore they got minatuareized.
think that would work?
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denise
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response 10 of 21:
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May 8 19:04 UTC 2009 |
I'm sure people have done stranger things...
I can't remember the last time I've been to Zing's; it's been too long.
If we end up not meeting there, I'll have to make a run out there some
other time soon. Soon, it will be nice enough to dine outside.
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slynne
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response 11 of 21:
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May 8 19:43 UTC 2009 |
It has been nice enough to dine outside for that past few weeks :)
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krj
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response 12 of 21:
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May 10 16:09 UTC 2009 |
Remember, you can't get a sandwich at Zingerman's these days until
your loan is approved.
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mary
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response 13 of 21:
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May 10 18:10 UTC 2009 |
Hey, it's only expensive if you eat a whole sandwich at one meal. Which
is simply wrong to begin with. They are HUGE.
If you go to McDonald's you'll spend $7.00 for garbage. I'll take a half
#32 over that any day.
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denise
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response 14 of 21:
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May 11 00:46 UTC 2009 |
Ok, Mary, what's a #32? Years ago, the walking group must've been
pretty rich since we had the debrief at Zingerman's on a fairly regular
basis.
I have a friend that, when she dines out, will mainly go only to places
that have the dollar menu items. Granted, she can't eat a whole lot in
one sitting due to having had a gastric bypass many years ago but still,
she's a cheapskate. It seems like McD's, Wendy's, and Taco Bell are her
favorite restaurants. I'll have to ask her sometime if she's ever eaten
at Zing's.
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mary
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response 15 of 21:
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May 11 11:34 UTC 2009 |
A #32 is fresh mozzarella cheese, roasted red pepper, lettuce, tomato
and olive oil on Paisano bread. I sub-out balsamic vinaigrette for
straight olive oil.
I'll agree with Ken that Zing's prices are too high for it to be a stop on
the debrief circuit. For the first few years it was open they did try to
compete with other sandwich spots and their price-point reflected that.
They have since gone on to carve out a niche where it's all about the
quality of the ingredients. And the knowledgeable service. And, with
lines out the door, they can afford to do this.
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denise
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response 16 of 21:
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May 11 13:40 UTC 2009 |
The #32 sounds delicious! And I agree that the prices at Zing's is too
high for the regular debriefings.
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krj
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response 17 of 21:
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May 11 17:01 UTC 2009 |
Drift Advisory: Narrating some back-story about things that happened
while Denise was gone...
Yes, Zingerman's used to be the regular walking debrief location
each Saturday, back when you could get a sandwich there for maybe
$6-$7 -- and also back when the lines were not around the block
at Saturday lunchtime.
Sometime in the mid-1990s, Valerie, who was a vegetarian, fomented
a revolution to stop going to Zing's every week, and she started the
current concept where we visit a different restaurant every week.
I think that Zingerman's can get somewhat boring if one doesn't
eat meat.
The Saturday lunch still happened at Zingerman's once or twice a year,
until the last few years, when there seemed to be general discontent
with the price and crowding issues.
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mary
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response 18 of 21:
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May 11 17:08 UTC 2009 |
I'm really liking the current system. Not every week is a favorite but
that's okay. Too, I've tried restaurants I otherwise wouldn't have and
found a few jewels along the way. Ken does a fab job of mixing it up,
syncing with local events, and keeping everyone happy. Not sure how he
does it, but he does.
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krj
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response 19 of 21:
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May 11 22:35 UTC 2009 |
I started Agora item #98 for discussion of the walks, lunches and
area restaurants.
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