Chris Graillat accepts award from Milt.

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The first order of business was presenting to the outgoing editor of Sacra Blue, Chris Graillat, a plaque with a clock and an inscription saying Editor, Sacra Blue, from 1999 to 2000. Chris accepted the plaque to a round of applause.

Then Tom Anderson, who now shares the editor's job with Ken Hopkins, took the stage to discuss changes in Sacra Blue. He noted that the Sacra Blue team "managed to get a 38-page issue out, including the covers, and we would really like your feedback." The May issue, the first fully electronic issue, can be downloaded from the SPCUG Web site. Go to the Web site at www.sacpcug.org, then go to the current month's eBlue. There are links to download the screen version, which is smaller for faster downloading, or the printer version, which has much better resolution but is a 2.7-MB file. "It prints out beautifully, I think," Tom said. "I edited all the content, Ken did all the design, and we're pleased and proud of it. We want to know if you like it and if there are any changes you want to see."

Milt Hull pointed out that those who prefer not to download the PDF file can read it online as eBlue. "They look a little different, but it's the same content," he said.

Ken Hopkins pointed out that members should have received a blue card in the mail which announced and described the evening's meeting. This is the method the Steering Committee has adopted to remind members of upcoming meetings, in the absence of the Sacra Blue mailing which formerly handled that task. "You should have gotten a little blue card in the mail. If you didn't, and expected one, we really want to know," Ken urged.

"As to volunteers," Ken continued, "we have numerous positions open now. We're trying to make it so that we don't get burned out and Sacra Blue continues to survive. The only reward is that you get to see your name in genuine print, or at least the electronic equivalent thereof.

"We need writers. We want to make a big newsletter again. One of the things is just writing up tips for a tips column, and also tips we might use as fillers. I'm trying to make columns so that we never have one continued onto another page." Spontaneous applause interrupted Ken at this point. "That's my goal, and to achieve that, I need filler to fill up space that is sometimes left at the end of an article. Tips are great for that.

"We also need someone to write up news articles about current events. If you see something that affects all of us, write it up. We can print it.

Also, "we need people to evaluate hardware and software, mostly software, and to write product reviews. We can get almost any piece of software out there, if we can get someone to really review it. If we get software from a company and no one reviews it, it becomes harder to get software from that company again. So we have to be careful about even asking, unless we have someone lined up to do a review.

"A big need is for stories on how you solved some problem. We want to know from your perspective. We don't expect people to be great writers. If necessary, Tom will dress up the work and make you look good, but we need another perspective. We still need copy editors to edit for grammar and readability, and to format some material according to the Sacra Blue style standard. We need a calendar editor; it's just a Word document that can easily be pulled out and put back in. We need Chapter and SIG meeting list editors to keep the meeting times right.

"And here is a big job that I'm giving up, the postcard coordinator. [Ed: Remember the little blue post cards?] In this case I took it to a copy shop and my kids helped put the labels on."

Ken, Milt, and Tom announce the positions available on the Sacra Blue staff.

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Finally, Ken said, "we need an eBlue editor. This person converts the information found on the eBlue main page into a text document that's mailed to the eBlue mailing list. It takes about an hour. The message should be sent within 24 hours of eBlue being posted, and that's just the table of contents. Those are the positions we have right now. Talk to Tom or myself and we'll tell you more details."

Milt pointed out that the membership database, which he wrote around 1982 in dBase, is being rewritten in Access by Tom Anderson. "We're trying to get everyone's e-mail address so we can use e-mail when we have special announcements and offers and such."

Milt also announced that SPCUG members are the beta testers for a site that will handle a lot of our e-mail. "About 60 of our members already have an account on the Web site. The e-mail will be for members only, and your address will be first.lastname@sacpcug.org. It's still in the transition stage, but the nice thing is you can check your e-mail at the NX (http://www.nx.com/) site, or have it forwarded or popped (retrieved from the POP3 server) to your own Outlook or Eudora or whatever. We will be using that to send out the newsletter, and for sending announcements and distribution -wide messages. We think this is very important. Having a first name-last name e-mail address will let people get to know each other better. All I need is your first and last name. Give me your membership number if you have it. We'll verify your name and send back to you your login name and password. Then you can change the way you accept it, either pop it off or have it forwarded. The process is not intuitive, but I'm working on it.

Former President Larry Clark wrote a Visual Basic application that "allows you to enter your name on a laptop in the lobby. I'll verify it and we'll set you up."

A question was asked about how to download the PDF file. "If you right-click on the filename, you can select Save As from the context menu. If you left-click on the filename, it starts up the Adobe Acrobat reader to display the file, rather than send it to you."

Larry and Mary Clark, who have served the group in many capacities, have decided to move to San Diego. Milt and Ken presented them with certificates signed by members attending the meeting.

Larry and Mary Clark accept their certificates.

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Larry commented, "It's been about ten years that we've been hanging around here and there have been a number of crises in my computing career. I've had at least three past presidents show up at my house to bail me out of problems. We've had a lot of fun. I don't know what I'm going to do with the third Wednesday of the month. We've been through some difficult times recently, and I'm gratified by the things I see happening. I love the new PDF format of Sacra Blue; it looks great. I think we're back on a good track and I congratulate the officers for turning things around. We will be actively watching what's going on electronically and looking forward to messaging with many of the people that we've made friends with over the years. Thank you very much."

Now everyone will know where Larry and Mary came from.

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Ken presented Larry and Mary with specially-made t-shirts. Mary Clark said the shirts "are adorable. It says, The Sacramento PC Users Group Ex-Officer Relocation Program." She added, "I just want to say thanks to everyone. I haven't been a real techie in this world; I've been on the helper side of things, doing what I felt necessary on the administrative side. But I've learned a lot from this group. So if you get nothing else out of the group, use it for the educational opportunities that are here. A couple of months ago I didn't know what a DSL was. Over dinner, Larry told me we're getting one. Now I get to learn about DSL.