More Info About Club

Jen D · #1 12/23/2007, 10:55 PM

Hi, everyone!

I've been on RC for a while now and I visit your forum relatively frequently. I've noticed that most of the people who post on this forum seem to be from Waterloo/Cedar Falls, Cedar Rapids, and Iowa City. I'm interested in joining GIRS, but I'm from Des Moines and am worried about driving long distances to meetings on a monthly basis.

So, I was wondering... How often does the whole group meet and where are these meetings typically held? How often do the regional groups meet? Also, what usually goes on at meetings (i.e. speakers, frag swaps, general socializing, etc.)?

From visiting the GIRS site and this forum, it seems there is a solid internet presence, which I like.

Thanks for the info,
Jen D

Jen D · #2 12/23/2007, 10:57 PM

Sorry, my computer just freaked out and re-posted this thread. Not sure what happened. Please, see the first posting.

davidm199 · #3 12/24/2007, 02:39 AM

There is a good number of people from des moines area too. The group gets together state way ever couple months or so, and the areas try to meet every month. THe next state wide event is got to be in the middle of jan(like the 16) In cedar rapids or iowa city.
We try to have an event in a different area every time.

seanndenise1 · #4 12/24/2007, 09:13 AM

just last night there was another person in the chat room on the girs site asking about any des moines reefers in the club, was that you?

dascharisma · #5 12/24/2007, 09:31 AM

To be honest, a lot of the activity in the DM area is conducted off the forums. A bunch of us in town have become friends, and now adays we call each other on the phone instead of posting threads.

In the past there have not been as many club events in the DM area, but I am hoping that will change this year. There are usually 3 or 4 big meetings a year. We usually have at least one big name speaker, one frag swap, and one BBQ/food outing. That being said, I don't know what the plans are for 2008.

The regional meetings are setup whenever enough people show an interest. There is usually a tank tour once a year, and a few less formal get togethers at a pizza place or some place like that. These smaller events are the best way to meet other local reefers.

Brad

xroads · #6 12/24/2007, 09:46 AM

I have been contacting alot of people about joining GIRS & have found out a good part is from DM, Ames, Ankeny, & so on. Ryan has some good plans for DM this year. Alot of people car pool to the out of town events too. Not only have I learned a ton about saltwater, but I have also made some friends as well.

Craig

ZLTFUL · #7 12/24/2007, 10:12 AM

Philby and Ryan and myself have been trying to take a pretty active role in local DSM area stuff. Our first monthly meeting turned out to be a blast and there were only 5 of us who were able to make it.

We met up at Hessen Haus and ate dinner and drank a little bit and talked about reefing. We then headed over to Ryan's (the club trustee here in the DSM area) house and checked out his and Rachel's tanks. We then went over to Phil's house and admired his curing rock. After that, we went over to Wayne's and gazed in awe and amazement at his Kenya Tree farm (just kidding Wayne!) and his massive Volitan.
After that, we left Wayne to explain to his wife why he had brought over a group of drunken reefers to corrupt his children and hit on his wife...and we headed off to Carl's in Sherman Hill...Carl's is a bar not a reefer. And one of the better neighborhood hole-in-the-wall bars I have seen.

All in all, it was a fun gathering and we are hoping to make it a monthly event. It was way too much fun not to...

If you have any questions or need any help locally just post up or feel free to PM one of us local folks. We are always more than willing to give a helping hand. Just be careful of JJ...he tends to convince people that they can't live without 300 gallon+ in wall tanks with 4 400w MH with custom chillers and.... ;-)

Ryan #3 of the DSM area

musty baby · #8 12/24/2007, 11:54 AM

Hi Jen. As Ryan #3 said, we met up in the Des Moines area just this month and had a ridiculously good time. A tank tour was held in the couple months prior.

This January I'm planning to arrange another meeting, this time starting somewhere that is a little less dependent on beer sales and on a week night so that a couple of other folks that I know can't attend on weekends can possibly make it (jtesdall, justcuz).

When that is arranged I'll be sure to post the event on both this reefcentral forum and the Des Moines forum on the GIRS web site. Look forward to seeing you down the road!

Ryan #not 3