The future of INMAS?

[Scott Joniec]

I would like to reccomend that we try to make up some type of leadership structure so that we may get more out of this than what we currently have. For example a president to make descions on when and where to have meetings. Public relations or negotiator (maybe there is a better word that escapes me right now) but someone to call around to the LFS and see about getting us a discount. Maybe some form of minimal annual dues could be paid into the group so that we could use the $$ for events, raffels charities etc for that we would need a treasurer. Has this come up before? Does anyone else feel like each month it is real chaotic when we try to establish what we do?

[Hooked4life]

Scott,

I understand your concerns, but do think that this time of year is the most difficult in terms of getting people together. The kids are out of school, people are gone on vacation and have a myriad of social obligations that make scheduling difficult.

I did not attend the initial meetings, but I believe that the group already has bylaws? Anyone there that can confirm or deny?

I'm all for getting things rolling along more smoothly, but some organization may have already occurred. I believe that the initial organizer had to bail due to personal commitments.

Anyone who knows more about this, please jump in.

[Scott Joniec]

Yes, I don't want to recreate any wheels that have allready been built just curious if we can make thing run more efficently and also for us to be able to get more out of this group.

[DensityMan]

All of this "administrative" stuff is still in process, as I understand it, and 'we' are still relatively new.

Your enthusiasm is incredible, but you may want to turn it down just a notch after only a month of being 'here.' ;) The meeting you tried to call didn't 'fail' because it was a bad idea... it was just in a bad time (2 weeks since the big frag-swap and a week before the next big engagement at Inland). What Kat's saying is very true, Summer is very busy for many of our members with family obligations and warm-weather activities outside of our tanks. I know I had to cancel other plans to make the 24th (there were other complications besides the reef-geeking op at Inland, but it was a big part ;) ).

We've done all the "this is what we need to have in place" talks either in this forum or at the ICC board where it could be said that this group splintered from. I have to admit to not necessarily being there during the beginning phases as much as I wanted to (working two jobs got in the way of many things) and wasn't even a really big fan of a big structure and dues, etc. I've warmed up to the ideas and simply wait to be called on for greater duty (outside of Summer/Fall camping season) or fall in line when someone else does.

Currently BigReef is top-dog and Shaw has been tapped to be 'in charge of the next couple months of meetings, etc.

I'm not meaning to sound harsh (again), just spouting off while bored at work. Come to a couple of meetings or make dates available in-between the larger events for smaller crowds...

We're good people, just a little busy in our individual lives and we've already met in June and have a planned meeting for July.

[shaw]

Yes, we do have bylaws that were created using a template from other clubs
shawn

[Scott Joniec]

As we all know its hard sometimes to convey what your feeling over this so bear with me. I think what we have is great and I also know that since I still have meeting one to attend who am I to say much of anything. I guess I am just doing a little one man brainstorming. Let me ask this do we have a list of members or something that could be used to give local LFS an idea of how big we are and maybe used as sometype of leverage to aquire discounts for us? There was also a great thread started awhile back about people that would be willing to help move tanks. Are these people noted somewhere and if so who would be a point of contact for this group? (here I go on a roll again.. sorry) I can see some great things that we can accomplish if we work on it and I will be happy to do my part to contribute to this.

[Jeremy B.]

Tim, John, Shawn, Cory and myself created an entire 2 or 3 page list of bylaws for the society. Unfortunately I think we just tried starting it at the wrong time of year, end of winter/early spring, rather than late fall/early winter. Hopefully once the cold weather rolls around this year we'll be ready to go again and get this going in the right direction. For the two or three meetings we did have there was a GREAT turnout, so we definitely have something to build off of. I will be game to hold a meeting this fall, as Im sure a couple others are as well.

[Scott Joniec]

Jeremy, I think yuo have the right idea maybe all of this should be discussed in a meeting. I would again be willing to host this maybe the end of next month. (can't say until I return from Vacation on the 7th) Let me ask this idea should we start a couple of indivdule threads about idea so that we can come to some conclusions before a meeting? Such as dues, discount ideas, membership drives, equipment and frag swamp/sales etc?

Have I mentioned work is really slow today?
Thanks for reading...

[Jeremy B.]

Hi Scott.....

Everything that you mentioned has already been discussed and put down on paper.

I think as summer dies down we should probably implement the ideas again once the attendance really takes off for the meetings. For the time being I think the best idea would be to keep having the get togethers here and there, keeping it very informal. Once the cold weather kicks in (when attendance will pick up) is when we should look at being much more formal with the society.

[DensityMan]

Jeremy (or whoever) If we're looking for some of this stuff to make it onto the INDMAS site I can certainly volunteer to do that. Compiling everything onto the site (save for the message boards here) would be a great boon.

Perhaps even a 'private' area with lists of our attending members and contact info. The tank-rescuers list of people willing to help move or rescue tanks in distress... etc.

I offered that up at the last meeting as well, but it was chaotic mess after all the frag-swapping started. ;)

[Scott Joniec]

ok I'll jump off the soapbox. As I said I wasn't sure what has been done and I'm sure that most of the trouble getting people together is due to summer activities. If I can help in the future let me know.

[Scott Joniec]

DensityMan, I'd like that (maybe it will help if I see some of the organizational ideas that have been decided then I will quit wondering what should or could be done.)

[DensityMan]

No need to look so down about it. ;)

The entusiasm is good... but speaking for the grumpy, busy, 'old' men/women division, we all hate you for having so much available time and energy... :lol:

[Scott Joniec]

Let me say and I'm sure my wife will back me up on this. Its not the energy, but that I have found something that I'm really passionate about. I want to get the most out of it that I can while sharing it with the everyone that will listen to me. I've met some great people and want to do my part to give back while continuing to learn everything I can.

[DensityMan]

:D that is good too...

The wife wasn't even upset with my changing plans the weekend of the 24th, because she knew I needed to reef-out a bit with people willing to listen to me babble on about things she isn't interested in. She likes feeding and watching the fish occasionally, but doesn't want to hear about every little thing I think is spectacular (that she can't see). ;)

[reeftechie]

Must be a log in area for personal information :D I too can help if needed as that is one of my passions.


RT

[Scott Joniec]

Yea don't get me wrong my wife listens to as much as she can stand but with me working from home it really consumes you or maybe its just that you don't have the oppurtunity to talk to anyone else about it.

[matt the fiddler]

speaking of which- were we ever going to devolop the website more? we talked about it.. we could easily have a passworded members only area with member personal information/ numbers, etc...... i run Vbulletin on one of my high traffic sites.. to bad the liscence does not transfer.. that program KICKS interms of power.. special approval areas, etc.

[DensityMan]

I need to invest in VBulletin sometime for my vanity/fun sites. Currently using phpBB for message boards on several sites... just never got around to adding 'Nuke' to any of them.

And yes, by "private" area I meant passworded. ;)

[matt the fiddler]

vbull pays people to search for unliscenced boards.. and then makes you shut down or pay...

oh - and you have to have a separate liscence for every URL of it that you have it on...

now.. you could have a root vbull site, and have sub forums for each of the "fun areas" i would be happy to volenter my Vbull to have an INDMAS sub forum.. but i don't think Nickel Creek's managment would be too happy seeing their cash go for something like this... =Þ

there are free ones that have passwording entry, pms, and user approve forums that you can only see if you are approved..

density.. let me know if you want to see how pimped the inner works of vbull are.. endless ways to make your users miserable. when you and i are at the same place, on the same computer... i will give you a quick tour:)


yuck- it costs $160 now to own

[DensityMan]

Yeah... the cost is prohibitive to me for Vanity/fun sites (personal use) and unecessary at work... /sigh

[matt the fiddler]

it has fun hacks though... read this :) http://www.vbulletin.org/forum/showthread.php?t=49810&highlight=hell+ban

[reeftechie]

i run a vbulletin site w/ vbportal and the sucky thing is that cost is per year :D but we have sponsors that pay approx $100/month so it makes it worth it, but I too love it.

RT

[ejsimcox]

I know this is really getting off-topic for this thread, but...

PHPBB has come a long way. It used to be very frustrating to write mods for it. The underlying code was not as good as VBull. However, v2.0 seems to have advanced the package quite a bit. I encourage you coders to DL it and look at the code. Plus, no charge to use it like VBull. It has complete customisation through a template system, fulltext based searching, advanced permissions system, powerful modularised administration controls, multiple database support, new moderator functions.

I would be willing to donate Web server and e-mail server space to INMAS for this project if somebody has time to install and config PHPBB/Nuke on our Web box. I am just slammed right now with work and new baby, or I would do it. I can help with admin, dba, and moderating, though. It would be on a Win2K box with about 20 other sites, which would be more than adequate for the amount of traffic the site would see. Either MYSQL or MSSQL would be available - whatever is most familiar. What does everybody think?

[reeftechie]

I will do it. let me know, I can install phpbb today if you set it up for me and give me the infomation.. ie. server access, passwords, etc.

email me at
reeftechie@gmail.com

Thanks for the help bro.

RT

[ejsimcox]

Sounds great. Will do.

[Jeremy B.]

Thanks Ed..........

We actually already have a website out there, http://www.indmas.org We just need someone who has the time to deal with it basically.

[matt the fiddler]

reeftechie let me know what you think...


vbull- we paid the flat forever licence rate... cheaper after just 2 years of operation. the lease is bad $$ in my opinion



is kyle the only one with admin login on the site?

[matt the fiddler]

jeremy- are you sure we still have that name registered.. a DNS/ samspade searchappears that that www. name is unregistered.... and the link you posted is dead...

[gobygoby]

tagging along

[ejsimcox]

Originally posted by matt the fiddler
vbull- we paid the flat forever licence rate... cheaper after just 2 years of operation. the lease is bad $$ in my opinion


I am recommending that we do PHPBB2 instead of spending the money. New ver is much better, IMHO and will do everything we need it to do.

[Jeremy B.]

As far as I know it is our domain name until Dec 17th, 04.

Domain ID:D103475576-LROR
Domain Name:INDMAS.ORG
Created On:17-Dec-2003 02:51:48 UTC
Last Updated On:15-Feb-2004 03:49:06 UTC
Expiration Date:17-Dec-2004 02:51:48 UTC
Sponsoring Registrar:R34-LROR
Status:OK
Registrant ID:DOT-W8AN3EFF6HY6
Registrant Name:William Craig
Registrant Organization:Indiana Marine Aquarium Society


www.indmas.org

[DensityMan]

phpBB2 is what I've been using for a while now as well.

The http://www.indmas.org/ link is working for me. Server may have been down momentarily.

[matt the fiddler]

it might be some bad dns routing.. lol mabye my computer was stupid.. lol


oh well glitch lol

[overflowin]

worked for me...

[matt the fiddler]

well it is working again.. not showing up in same spade- though the ping is going through now.... wierd..


anyways- i was not reccomending vbull for us.. other than it is pimped.. but why pay extra for fancy ways to bad people?

i agree lets get one of the open source chat clients... phpBB2 or any others.. if a few of us [not me- though i can learn] are familiar with phpBB2 and can set it up- the rest of us can learn- and we should be set to go.

can we set a test up on the site?

[matt the fiddler]

oh dua. samspade does not access any .org in the library. thus the did not have registration info...

[Jeremy B.]

Anyone interested in taking over the current website please contact cory @ cory@premiumaquatics.com

[reeftechie]

yep send Jeremy give me the info to log in and after lunch i will post up a test bed for us to work with.

Thanks
RT
reeftechie@gmail.com

[DensityMan]

At this point I don't even really care who gets "chosen" to work on the pages at http://www.indmas.org/ but can we get a couple people access to at least update info? As much as I hate comitees, maybe we could get all those interested in managing the web-space to meet sometime...

I just hate having a site and having it sit dead. The last update appears to have been back in March and "Coming Soon" for 4 months or so has gotta be irksome to even non-web people. ;)

Do we have the 'by-laws' typed in? If not, who has the original notes so we can.

A listing of members, if nothing else, at least creates a sense of belonging. Links could go to each members individual pages and we could ask that each individual linkback to the club pages.

Event details could live there in their final state after discussion on boards...

Just griping now for the sake of griping... and I'm not dumping on any one person (who ever has the site control right now) because I understand limited time, but if there were more of 'us' with access then maybe the site could feel more useful/alive.

I keep volunteering for web-aid and keep getting the feeling back that we don't need it... /shrug

[matt the fiddler]

i can do ocasionaly updates as well. and some design. posting photo albums from the meetings would rock too..
reeftechie- if he can get teh forum set up. that would rock


what is the potential for having a hidden subforum for only "members" to access.. IE contact info listings

[matt the fiddler]

i can do ocasionaly updates as well. and some design. posting photo albums from the meetings would rock too..
reeftechie- if he can get the forum set up. that would rock


what is the potential for having a hidden subforum for only "members" to access.. IE contact info listings

[ejsimcox]

Originally posted by Jeremy B.
Thanks Ed..........

We actually already have a website out there, http://www.indmas.org We just need someone who has the time to deal with it basically.

ReefTechie and I can deal with it. Domain is working. We can incorporate existing content. Again, I will host the site for free through my company unless we want to host it on Cory's account (where it is now). I will talk to Cory about it.

If you anybody is interested in doing some design, please let me know.

Thanks to all of you who have worked on the site up to now, especially Cory and Scott!:)

Ed

[ejsimcox]

Originally posted by matt the fiddler
i can do ocasionaly updates as well. and some design. posting photo albums from the meetings would rock too..
reeftechie- if he can get the forum set up. that would rock


what is the potential for having a hidden subforum for only "members" to access.. IE contact info listings

Thanks Matt! We will need the help.

We can have password protected forums as requested, or a little PHP script could be used to list everybody's contact info, etc. We could PW protect that. Great idea, BTW.:)

[coryc]

Sorry, I have been out of town and have not had a chance to respond.
I spoke to Ed today and I will be sending him all of the info on the site tonight. I just don't have the time to work on it so I asked Ed if he could take over and delegate. It doesn't matter to me if the site stays where it is or is moved to another server. I think all of the interest in the site is great and look forward to seeing some big changes.

Cory

[DensityMan]

Originally posted by ejsimcox
If you anybody is interested in doing some design, please let me know.

Yes. Still interested... again... ;)

[ejsimcox]

Originally posted by DensityMan
Yes. Still interested... again... ;)

Excellent. I will be contacting you once RT sets up the test bed.

[reeftechie]

downloaded and ready to install :D hit me up when you get that info :D

Look for this to be added to the front page of the current web page.

I will call it forum real orginal I know :D

[reeftechie]

Ed,
I am not sure if his hosting company has SQL ability. if you can shoot me the log in information to the server as well as the FTP, I am going to Shell in if I can to make it a little easier for me. I will setup the database name as well.


Thanks

[ejsimcox]

Sounds great, RT. Cory will be sending me all of the info this evening. I will forward ASAP. We should have an enhanced design and logo to "skin" the app with by next Tuesday.

[reeftechie]

Ed,
email me at reeftechie@gmail.com

[fkbsar]

Wow all this technical talk "skins and shelling". I love it. Glad to see some interest in getting the site back up. Keep up the enthusiasm.

[Scott Joniec]

Wow you ask for some new ideas and get shruged off and then it becomes about updating the website and nobody can get enough.. :D Just kidding. This is GREAT if we can have some of the allready setup structure (bylaws, contacts etc) I think it would really help. I was into programing begining with the old VIC-20 up until things got out of basic I wish I had stuck with it so I could help. Again I would be intereasted in doing what ever I can so please let me know. I also have a couple of old pieces of Pentium 1 machines laying around if that would help for a server (I really have no idea what I'm talking about I just know how they fit together.) & a couple of old laser printers etc. Thanks everyone that is contributing to this!

[reeftechie]

Originally posted by fkbsar
. Keep up the enthusiasm.


Exactly! Don’t want to spend time on the site if people aren’t going to use it. I think it will benefit us in more ways then you know, we can sticky things, and have more control then we can here. And post things for sale and not have to worry about breaking rules. I think it will have a great effect on the Club.

I for one will check it daily for sales, posts, helps, and needs.

RT

[overflowin]

we could also contact other reef clubs in the area, like cincy chicago and Ft wayne and have links to them and they could link us...maybe one day that midwest massive frag swap will happen!

donnie

[DensityMan]

Since we're still in the talking-out-loud phase... ;)

While private forums are a necessity (to sell things to members first... to announce LFS specials... to discuss closed meetings... etc) this forum on RC is also our friend.

As we've noticed in recent weeks alone we are getting attention here from our close neighbors in OH and IL. ;)

As long as the forum isn't set-up/designed to take the place of what RC provides here I think it's great. As soon as it becomes a clone of RC with all the same forums it has lost it's usefulness to many people (IME - it certainly loses appeal to me at that point. I can ask 10,000 people here or ten regular posters in a private forum in the hypothetical clone of RC there...)

Anyway, just more rambling...

I'd seriously like to take a shot at or at least advise for a change of design/color-sceme while we're chatting. While I'm all for freedom of (color) expression on vanity site meant to express one's own creativity/soul/etc. on a public/informational site the content should be readable first and accessible second with relevance in third place and artistic a distant 4th... *grin*

[reeftechie]

Scott do you need a hug? You never seem happy :(... I say on the 24th we all give Scott a hug ;)

Throw out some colors that you want to see.

In no way will indmas small forum even try to make RC go away, just a way to stick things we find important to us, and not so important here on RC. RC will never be replaced by anyone that much everyone knows. Just a way to have an area we can all go and chat and post information that RC may not like on here, ebay links etc. comes to mind.

RT

ps

dont go with black like your site, it makes it hard to read things and not that fun to look at. Nothing against your site, just going by what the experts say.

[DensityMan]

I'm the grumpy web-guy that has to try and keep usability rules enforced on a large portion of an enormous web-site.

I'm the happiest guy I know most days. ;)

As someone else said above, tone isn't easy to convey over the web in text. I try to insert the minimum-necessary 'smilies,' but alas I seem to fall short more often than not. *grin*

That being said I do take usability much more serious than I used to when doing web-pages was just part of my job as Network Support. When I started teaching web-theory to High School students I developed a knack for noticing and pointing out things that make others look down on a site because of its appearrance or worse yet errors/choices that make it less likely for people to use a site at all or at best inefficiently. Now that most of my job is controlling visual images, ADA compliance and information-flow it's starting to bleed over into vanity and hobby sites as well.

I honestly wasn't trying to sound harsh. My site is black because my eyes are extra light sensitive. What normal people see well (dark text on light background) makes my eyes want to bleed (I'm not 'color-blind' or classifiably 'disabled' for this, but it is something I have to deal with, in this case by reversing the norm). I wouldn't suggest that for most sites and the vast majority of the pages I work on do indeed make my eyes want to pop straight out of my head. ;)

All things being equal though, even normal-sighted people have to have issues seeing light-blue text on a blue background with dark-blue and purple links, no? ;) On a 'vanity' site I wouldn't pay it any mind, because vanity sites shouldn't be lorded over with ADA-compliance or design rules. I only mention it at all because it isn't a vanity site, it is an informational vault (in theory) for our collective knowledge and a window from which the rest of the world will initially 'judge' us by.

See... I went all grumpy-sounding again... Hrmph

Insert these where appropriate: ;) :) :D

( ;) )

Apologies again if this is too much info... it's just what I do. I'm attached to it in ways I used to mock... :lol:

[DensityMan]

Loiusville seems to have a great layout/template/scheme going while using the Nuke for phpBB2 add-on(s)...

http://www.lmas.org/

[reeftechie]

thats not bad, I am so use to vBulletin, I may donate one to indmas, its so much better to work with then Nuke. I do like there site though.

[matt the fiddler]

hmmm


" I may donate one to indmas"


we can install different color templates very easily in vbull - user choosable- so scott, if we get it donated.. : you can be black-and the rest of us norm...


we could each donate a frag or 2. auction the lot, and put the auction money to the site... :)


reeftechie- do you do a lot of hack installs? there are some potential hacks from vbull.org i could see helping us.. if we get vbull.

but freer programs works great as well :)



scott .. here you go...


"I'm the :uzi:grumpy :crazy1: web-guy:jester: that has to try :hammer: and keep usability rules :furious:enforced on a large portion of an enormous web-site.:blown:
"

[matt the fiddler]

Loiusville is nice...

[reeftechie]

haha do I install hacks :D nope isn’t that illegal hahaha.. I will email you the site I own.

RT

You tell me if its hacked :D
I own a few styles so Scott will be ok since he is going blind.. you know what caused that dont you, what your mommy told you.. You play with that thing and you will go blind ;)

[reeftechie]

matt the fiddler create and account there its free, and look at the forums area you will notice a arcade hack, its hella fun :D

[overflowin]

i don't know what they're using, but their site is nice at the cincy reefers...

http://www.cincyreef.com

[reeftechie]

Powered by phpBB 2.0.6 © 2001, 2002 phpBB Group

[DensityMan]

I have to shave my palms nearly daily... 8)

phpBB2 or Vbull... once they are installed they allow the same kinds of functionality to admins/designers (or so I'm told - never had the op to admin a Vbull site yet)...

I like the frag-auction; It just seems like a fun way to generate some club-cash... of course RT donating Vbull outright is also cool. :lol:


Matt - LMAO. That is a great representation of what goes through my mind during most meetings at work... :lol:

[reeftechie]

I am up for anything. If you all want to have a little frag for cash to help with the site, I am all for that also. I am cool either way we go.

Going with vBulletin, is like going from a 10 gallon salt tank to a 400 gallon full blown reef tank with everything you ever wanted.

While the 10 gallon is cool and functional. The 400 just kicks a** :D

I would be will to buy some frags to help fund the website/club.

This is stuff we can discuss on the 24th for the 15-20 people that are coming thus far :D

[DensityMan]

Sounds like a plan...:D

[matt the fiddler]

sweet. agreed on the 400 gallon system :)vbull

we probably would need a declared sec. plus soem one to keep close watch on any $$ that goes through- for exempt NPO etc.

[overflowin]

maybe someone should setup a paypal account in the clubs name, then the money would be in a secure spot and paypal actually pays pretty decent interest if you have a "savings account" set up...

donnie

[catdoc]

Off the topic of the web site, but getting back to another post about meeting schedules. I don't know how it works for everyone else, but for me, it's critical that the date of meetings not jump from one month to the next. In fact, we just had an office meeting today where they wanted me to switch my schedule to being on call on the second weekend of the month and I actually refused it b/c I thought that was the regular meeting day for INMAS. How sad is that, that I'm trying to get my work schedule to fit INMAS?? :D

Then again, maybe you want to have it be a rotating schedule so people who can't come the first weekend can come the next month when it's the third weekend. Just spouting off since this seems like the time to do it and thought I'd mention it in support of those of us who have to work weekends. ;)

[ejsimcox]

RT, your 400 gal point is well-taken. I love VBull, too, but the new PHPBB is very good. Go check out the demo at phpbb.com. Unless we can get a license donation for both vbPortal and VBull, we should use Nuke/PHPBB. If anybody knows of a feature or mod that we really need that PHPBB v2.0 doesn't have, please speak up. I am not aware of any. Seems pretty robust to me.:)

The idea of rasing money through frags is interesting, but will delay this rollout significantly. I am not even sure that it would effectively raise the required funds. My suggestion, unless there is functinolaity missing from PHPBB, is to go the free route and save money for other things (like possibly a photo gallery or auction script down the road).

Please be aware that this Website will in no way displace ReefCentral or our club's presence there. I, for one, will continue to visit RC on a daily basis.

Comments please!:)

[Scott Joniec]

So are IT department was born.... 8) Hey since there isn't a heck of a lot to look at around greenwood and you guys are going to be real busy going to Inland how about I host a membership meeting? (since I started the thread I thought I would continue to be involved I hope I'm not stepping on any shoes)

[justgettinstarted]

i will play the otherside! i volunteer to do absolutely nothing! haha

[matt the fiddler]

SSo what all do we have?have we sealed the deal on the vbull?or do i have to learn a new program?

[ejsimcox]

Originally posted by Scott Joniec
So are IT department was born.... 8) Hey since there isn't a heck of a lot to look at around greenwood and you guys are going to be real busy going to Inland how about I host a membership meeting? (since I started the thread I thought I would continue to be involved I hope I'm not stepping on any shoes)

I think that's fine as long as it is scheduled at least a month or more in advance.

On the new site, we can have a forum dedicated to corporate (club) governance. This forum could be used to nominate officers, as well as to sticky-post the by-laws, charter, etc. We could also use surveys to elect officers. This would allow more people to participate in the democratic process. Comments?

[DensityMan]

Sounds like the beginnings of a solid plan, Ejsimcox.

(I'm still gonna need a special, private area of the forum to list all club members with pictures, names and contact info... my brain is mush...)

;)

Oh! Maybe too, a list of people to look for and watch out for in the local LFS scene? LOL

With mugshots and specialities/issues... :lol:

[Scott Joniec]

I can just imagine wanted posters with thier most updated crime now. :D To keep it postive what might be a good idea is to have a picture and name of the goto girl/ or guy at each store. What I would also like to bring up is that if we are real orginized and can put out some type of official membership card maybe we could negotiate discounts at least one local store for most locations.

[DensityMan]

Hey! That's what I said... "look for" (good) or "watch out for" (bad). :lol:

;)

[Scott Joniec]

a couple of questions for everyone following this thread does it sound like a good idea to have a membership meeting at my place? IF so would Aug 21st or 28th be better? Should I be asking for official confirmation from Shaw or bigreef? Will you or most of you support it if I do? I will again offer a big Tent like stucture, Chairs, tables, Garage where we could hook up a tank (tank not included) and Grill. I even have name tags!! 8)

[DensityMan]

What is a "membership meeting?"

[Scott Joniec]

Sorry Scott, I guess I need to slow down when reading...:)

[Scott Joniec]

Membership meeting = I'd love for everyone to give me their two cents about my tank an trust me I'd be there with pen and paper but after that I don't have anything as impressive to offer such as Inland so in addition to tank discussion we can discuss ideas for the club.

[reeftechie]

You must have a great house, you are determined to get us all there, or are you a serial killer? That’s it, you want to kill us and steal our reefs :D

[Scott Joniec]

Thast the plan I am hoping that you will bring your tank with you cause Brazil is just to far for me to go to pick it all up.

No actually it will just be nice to not have to burden the wife with tank talk for an evening. After about my 3rd conversation in an evening about the tank she kinda starts rolling her eyes...

[overflowin]

you get 3 per night? my wife usually walks away when i start the second...

[Scott Joniec]

I guess thats a sign I'm still pretty much a newbie.

[reeftechie]

Newbie huh. How long you been in it? And what is your tank I see 45 g reef tank, what is in your "reef tank" post some pics of it. And when are you going to up grade to a bigger tank? :D start talking to your wife about upgrading, I bet she will start to pay attention, I know my wife does haha. But I am one of the lucky ones, she loves the tanks and would never Not want one.

I am building her (actually she is doing it, I am just there to help if she needs it) a 37 gallon Sea Horse tank. She wants one so I am more then happy to help out :D

She knows about most fish, and inverts, she isn’t too sure about the names of the corals other then I love that blue thingy, and wow that orange thingy is getting large, or why is that bright purple looking thingy touching the green thingy. She is learning everyday so it’s a lot of fun to have a person there to help you at all times.

I called her yesterday and said holy S*** I left the RO/DI Unit (haven’t hooked up the shutoff yet :D)on can you go turn it off for me, so she ran down stairs and shut it off (cleaned up the 5 gallons of water for me without even telling me it overflowed until I saw some was this am, god love her). And then there was the time (2 weeks ago) I needed the size of the johnny guest fitting on the Calcium Reactor and she was like cool, its 1/2 " haha I was like my god I have created a MonSter!

[Scott Joniec]

I've got pic's but they are just a little to large to post here. Can you suggest a piece of software that easily adjusts the file size of jpg's? My tank will be 5 months old in two days. Funny that you mention upgrading my wife actually brought it up two weeks ago (I think she needed to see that I was serious about this) and said she wouldn't mind me going to a 90-120. Of course she would really rather not know the cost to do so. Yea she kind of gets into the colors of the fish and corals and she wants a nice piece of furniture if you understand. Beyond that she just hears blah blah blah. I enjoyed the other two stories we aren't quite there yet.

[reeftechie]

send me the pics to reeftechie@gmail.com i have no limit so send away, and I will host and post them :D

[Scott Joniec]

They are on their way. These are as of 6/30 I have two new corals and made a little changes to the rocks but I'm going to wait until something begin to grow out before I take any more pics

[castor]

I am glad to see the site is going to get some work. When I first visited it I did notice it was a bit..... lacking. ;) I'd love to help with the technical stuff, but unfortunately I've never gone as far as learning any of the nuke/php or vbull programs. I guess I'm oldschool with things, I still like to write out all the code myself. Never used any programs or anything really though I never got into the more advanced stuff that would need it.

I did take a semester of computer tech in college, but after I realized I'd rather beat my head against the desk repeatedly rather than do that as a living, I decided it wasn't for me. :p

If there are some things I CAN help out with, let me know, but I'm thinking it will be minimal.

Oh, just cause check out my site - http://www.angeltowns.com/members/castorn/index.html (don't worry, no popups or anything)

It's my personal fishsite - but I haven't updated it (or really ever finished it) since January (lots of other things in life became WAY more important). Tell me what you think though, and I did write the code all out myself. :D Okay, maybe that's the really long way to do things, but it's my way. :rolleyes: Ooo, and be sure to check of my Tropheus!

Hmm...I have more time now, I think I may do some major updates on my site....... :artist:

[jzzkwz]

New to the forum/hobby, but am really enjoying the reading. If someone could let me know about the above "club" and meetings when they happen I would be glad to attend and pick someone's brain about the many questions I have...
Thanks!

[reeftechie]

Welcome to the club my friend. July 24th people from the club will be coming to Terre Haute to visit Inland Aquatics home to over 30,000 gallons of salt water :D come on down tomorrow starting around noon, we are going to go eat afterwards to discuss the club, and have a beer and some food :D

Email me at reeftechie@gmail.com if you have any questions about anything, directions, etc.

RT

[castor]

Err, just pointing a little something out. reeftechie, you did say the 27th, but then said tomorrow.... Just so jzzkwz doesn't get confused and develop a brain tumor it is next weekend, the 27th. :D

[DensityMan]

And then to further confuse the issue Castor said the 27th, when Next Saturday is actually the 24th...

:lol:

Read the links in the first place you asked this questions:

Inland Trip
Saturday, July 24th @ 12noon
Terre Haute, IN

:D

[ejsimcox]

These issues will soon be gone b/c the new Website will have a interactive calendar feature. :)

[castor]

Sheesh, go me, I think we have some here with a few screws loose. :spin2: :D

Yeah, the 24th...