Dec. 14th SEASL Meeting

[big red]

The next SEASL meeting will be a potluck and tank tour at my home. The last one we did was a big success and we are hoping for another good gathering. The meeting agenda can be found on the SEASL web site and those people on the mailing list will soon be getting the agenda and announcement.
Soda will be provided. My address is 2407 Winter Forest CT, Wildwood, MO 63011. Mapquest is a good internet site for driving directions. I have also listed directions below. My home number is (636)273-6906 if you get lost.
If you plan to attend, please send me a PM or email to RSVP.
Thanks.
Hope to see you there.

Scott Johnson


From 40 and 270:
40 W to Clarkson Rd exit (19B) (5.95 miles from 40 and 270)
Turn left (S) onto Clarkson/Olive Rd (continue 4.63 miles on Clarkson)
Turn right (W) onto Manchester Rd/100 (continue 2.25 miles on Manchester)
Turn right (N) onto Forest Leaf Pkwy (continue 0.4 miles)
Turn left (W) onto Birch Forest West (continue 0.15 miles on Birch Forest W)
Turn right onto Winter Forest CT (2 story colonial, 2407 Winter Forest CT)

[Saltgills]

Thanks for all the food and a special thanks to Scott and his wife for hosting the event. We had 13 people at the meeting. We missed seeing several of our regular attendees, but were pleased to welcome a couple first-timers.

Thanks to the many people who brought corals and other items for door prizes. We had macro algae, zoanthids, (lots of) montipora, pocillopora, gorgonians, mushrooms, and a cool t-shirt. We also had several member-to-member coral trades.

We covered a lot of business at this meeting.

• We selected two SEASL posters to display at local fish stores. Thanks to Linda and Scott for making these posters. Linda and Barry are working to “color� them up. Hopefully they will be ready by the next meeting, or sooner.

• We discussed how best to take advantage of discounts offered or that maybe offered to SEASL. We did not want to create a membership structure that would exclude anyone. Yet, we did not want people to pay club dues to obtain the discount, but never attend meetings or SEASL events. That’s why we developed a Participating Member Designation (PMD). Members at the December 14, 2002 meeting help craft and then approved the qualifications for PMD. See the website for details. (To be posted soon.)
o Gary will be the membership chairman. He will keep track of attendance for PMD and issue cards to qualifying members.
o Jim will initiate a design for the PMD cards. Once approved by the other executive officers, Jason has agreed to prepare the cards. Jim will also open a bank account in which to deposit funds from PMD.
o Paul will investigate the availability of button making equipment that will also indicate PMD.

• The next store tour will be Reef Systems in St. Charles. This will take place in January. Be watching your email and RC for details. http://reefcentral.com/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?forumid=169

• Due to the room usage fee now being charged by the St. Louis County Library system, we discussed alternate meeting locations. The most attractive, due to its central location, is a church in Kirkwood. Linda, Ed and Jane are going to determine if they would allow us to use their location, if necessary.

• We discussed the coral propagation workshop planned for the February meeting. If anyone has large soft or SPS corals they would like to offer for this event, please email me. jjcraig@charer.net. You don’t have to donate your entire colony. As in the past, we have made some pretty good cuttings by just giving “haircuts�.

• We also discussed many ideas pertaining to enhancing the SEASL website.
o If you would like to have pictures of your reef posted on the website, feel free to send them, along with description of your system to Paul at info@SEASL.org. Pictures of member reefs are a significant part of most clubs’ websites.
o We are developing a list of local retailers to post to the website.
o We will be posting programs for future meetings on the website.

That’s it for now. Hope to see you in January.

Jim, Paul & Scott.

[Saltgills]

Sorry, typo in the email address for donating corals for the propagation workshop. The correct address is jjcraig@charter.net.