From mojo at whiteoaks.com Wed Sep 4 14:22:53 2002 From: mojo at whiteoaks.com (Morris Jones) Date: Sat Sep 30 03:57:16 2006 Subject: [SJAABoard] Re: Henry Coe State Park In-Reply-To: Message-ID: Rick, I'll forward your note to the SJAA board for starters. I know we'll come up with something. Spring is a while away. :) Best regards, Mojo On Wed, 4 Sep 2002, Richard Nolthenius wrote: > Hi, > I'm trying to contact someone in your group who has been > observing at Henry Coe State Park. I teach astronomy at > Cabrillo College and need to schedule 2 weekend field > classes for the Spring. There's a graze going through Henry > Coe and I'm thinking about doing one of the weekend trips > around this event. I'm hoping it's not generally populated > and that it's a nice place to be during the day as well as > evening. > > Many thanks, > > Rick Nolthenius > (831) 423-6715 > 479-6506 M,W afternoons > rickn27@hotmail.com > -- Morris Jones <*> San Rafael, CA mojo@whiteoaks.com http://www.whiteoaks.com From wb6yru at aenet.net Thu Sep 5 01:24:34 2002 From: wb6yru at aenet.net (Gary Mitchell) Date: Sat Sep 30 03:57:16 2006 Subject: [SJAABoard] SJAA having a Paypal account Message-ID: <3D7714C2.7C03@aenet.net> Regarding the topic of the SJAA getting a Paypal account... The board wanted more info: If we want people to be able to use credit cards (and we do), then we'll have to get a premium or business account. Each payment made to those accounts costs 30 cents plus 2.9 percent. So, for basic $15 dues payments, we'd get $14.27. For the $45 renewals that include S&T, we'd get $43.40. There's no cost to set up the account. The difference between the two is that business accounts allow for more than one person to access the account and they provide for a business logo. (?) (They've got a couple of other bells and whistles for businesses that wouldn't do us much good.) The premium account is for individuals who want to accept credit card payments. I didn't see anything about non-profit discounts. If we wanted to, we could charge a little more for on-line payments... maybe even split the cost? It's up to the board to decide our policy on that. Gary From north at znet.com Thu Sep 5 09:30:35 2002 From: north at znet.com (Dave North) Date: Sat Sep 30 03:57:16 2006 Subject: [SJAABoard] SJAA having a Paypal account References: <3D7714C2.7C03@aenet.net> Message-ID: <3D7786AB.6080905@znet.com> > So, for basic $15 dues payments, we'd get $14.27. While there's no doubt the club could stand the financial blow (less than $200/year if _everybody_ paid that way) it seems a bit stiff for a public service organization. If there were no better option, I'd say go for it, but I wonder if some of the rest of us shouldn't get off our heinies and help Gary out; see if we can't find a bit more ideal deal? Dave From mgw at resource-intl.com Thu Sep 5 09:54:08 2002 From: mgw at resource-intl.com (Mark Wagner) Date: Sat Sep 30 03:57:16 2006 Subject: [SJAABoard] SJAA having a Paypal account In-Reply-To: <3D7786AB.6080905@znet.com> References: <3D7714C2.7C03@aenet.net> Message-ID: <5.1.0.14.2.20020905095116.00b631b0@mail201.pair.com> At 09:30 AM 9/5/2002 -0700, you wrote: >>So, for basic $15 dues payments, we'd get $14.27. > > >While there's no doubt the club could stand the financial blow (less than >$200/year if _everybody_ paid that way) it seems a bit stiff for a public >service organization. > If there were no better option, I'd say go for it, but I wonder > if some of the rest of us shouldn't get off our heinies and help Gary > out; see if we can't find a bit more ideal deal? > Why not simply recoup the difference by adding $1 to the membership for PayPal processing? Seeing that membership dues cost most people $15.37 anyway (included cost of mailing a check), its not *that* much more for a lot of convenience. From jane at whiteoaks.com Thu Sep 5 10:39:54 2002 From: jane at whiteoaks.com (Jane Houston Jones) Date: Sat Sep 30 03:57:17 2006 Subject: [SJAABoard] SJAA having a Paypal account References: <3D7714C2.7C03@aenet.net> Message-ID: <3D7796EA.20500@whiteoaks.com> Our membership fee is among the lowest in the clubs in the bay area. If you board folks are interested, I could tell you the rates of all the other clubs. Most clubs charge in the $25 - 30 range, I think. I'm not trying to suggest you raise the SJAA membership fee rates, just offering to share some other club info with you. Jane - off to Hawaii in a couple hours. Gary Mitchell wrote: >Regarding the topic of the SJAA getting a Paypal account... >The board wanted more info: > >If we want people to be able to use credit cards (and we do), >then we'll have to get a premium or business account. Each >payment made to those accounts costs 30 cents plus 2.9 percent. >So, for basic $15 dues payments, we'd get $14.27. For the $45 >renewals that include S&T, we'd get $43.40. > >There's no cost to set up the account. The difference between >the two is that business accounts allow for more than one >person to access the account and they provide for a business >logo. (?) (They've got a couple of other bells and whistles >for businesses that wouldn't do us much good.) The premium >account is for individuals who want to accept credit card >payments. I didn't see anything about non-profit discounts. > >If we wanted to, we could charge a little more for on-line >payments... maybe even split the cost? It's up to the board >to decide our policy on that. > >Gary > >_______________________________________________ >SJAABoard mailing list >SJAABoard@sjaa.net >http://www.sjaa.net/mailman/listinfo/sjaaboard > > -- Jane Houston Jones San Rafael, CA jane@whiteoaks.com http://www.whiteoaks.com From bhavner at earthlink.net Thu Sep 5 13:16:07 2002 From: bhavner at earthlink.net (bhavner@earthlink.net) Date: Sat Sep 30 03:57:17 2006 Subject: [SJAABoard] SJAA having a Paypal account Message-ID: > Why not simply recoup the difference by adding > $1 to the membership for > PayPal processing? Seeing that membership dues > cost most people $15.37 > anyway (included cost of mailing a check), its > not *that* much more for a > lot of convenience. I agree an extra dollar would be worth it for the convenience of PayPal. Bob From north at znet.com Thu Sep 5 13:36:19 2002 From: north at znet.com (Dave North) Date: Sat Sep 30 03:57:17 2006 Subject: [SJAABoard] SJAA having a Paypal account References: Message-ID: <3D77C043.6020106@znet.com> Bob: > I agree an extra dollar would be worth it for the convenience of PayPal. Really, me too. On the other hand, the club's bank balance could support the difference for most of this century, so ... I'm not sure it's in the best interest of the membership to charge when, really, the club doesn't need the money! Though I doubt anyone would complain. d From Jim.Bartolini at monterey.army.mil Thu Sep 5 13:42:29 2002 From: Jim.Bartolini at monterey.army.mil (Bartolini, Jim) Date: Sat Sep 30 03:57:17 2006 Subject: [SJAABoard] SJAA having a Paypal account Message-ID: <7FFFE5F732B8D511B89E00306E00F0A9D6AB1A@POMMAIL1> No complaints here....... Jim .............. :-) ================================================== Jim Bartolini ================================================== > -----Original Message----- > From: Dave North [SMTP:north@znet.com] > Sent: Thursday, September 05, 2002 1:36 PM > To: sjaaboard@sjaa.net > Subject: Re: [SJAABoard] SJAA having a Paypal account > > Bob: > > I agree an extra dollar would be worth it for the convenience of PayPal. > > Really, me too. On the other hand, the club's bank balance could support > the difference for most of this century, so ... I'm not sure it's in the > best interest of the membership to charge when, really, the club doesn't > need the money! > Though I doubt anyone would complain. > > > d > > _______________________________________________ > SJAABoard mailing list > SJAABoard@sjaa.net > http://www.sjaa.net/mailman/listinfo/sjaaboard -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: application/defanged-1450 Size: 2691 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://www.sjaa.net/pipermail/sjaaboard/attachments/20020905/f1fbc377/attachment.bin From jvn at svpal.org Fri Sep 6 00:09:50 2002 From: jvn at svpal.org (Jim Van Nuland) Date: Sat Sep 30 03:57:17 2006 Subject: [SJAABoard] SJAA having a Paypal account References: <7FFFE5F732B8D511B89E00306E00F0A9D6AB1A@POMMAIL1> Message-ID: <3D7854BE.1154@svpal.org> Bartolini, Jim wrote: > > No complaints here....... I complain. As Dave points out, the treasury can carry it for a while, so (if I agreed with getting Paypal) I'd say to try it a while and see how popular it gets. But on the original question, I'm nervous about the concept, partly because I'm unfamiliar with it, I suppose; but mostly because we've seen so many dot-coms fall into the toilet. I worry about losing money when/if Paypal follows the others. -- Jim Van Nuland, San Jose (California) Astronomical Association JVN's home page From bill at nineplanets.org Thu Sep 5 23:33:17 2002 From: bill at nineplanets.org (Bill Arnett) Date: Sat Sep 30 03:57:17 2006 Subject: [SJAABoard] SJAA having a Paypal account In-Reply-To: <3D7854BE.1154@svpal.org> Message-ID: <8729C123-C162-11D6-88C7-0030655A4BEC@nineplanets.org> On Friday, September 6, 2002, at 12:09 AM, Jim Van Nuland wrote: > ... I'm nervous about the concept, partly > because I'm unfamiliar with it, I suppose; but mostly because we've > seen > so many dot-coms fall into the toilet. I worry about losing money > when/if Paypal follows the others. Not to worry. PayPal is (has been?) being bought out by EBay, the one dot-com that's making lots of money. (This is a sensible move on EBay's part since PayPal is a big part of their business.) Anyway, it would be a simple matter to keep the club's PayPal account at a very low level by transferring the money out when it gets above some threshold. OTOH, I would expect few members to use this option at first. It might be several years before our PayPal balance exceeded $100. -- Bill Arnett bill@nineplanets.org http://nineplanets.org/ Emerald Hills CA USA 37 27 N 122 15 W From wb6yru at aenet.net Fri Sep 6 02:57:39 2002 From: wb6yru at aenet.net (Gary Mitchell) Date: Sat Sep 30 03:57:17 2006 Subject: [SJAABoard] SJAA having a Paypal account References: <7FFFE5F732B8D511B89E00306E00F0A9D6AB1A@POMMAIL1> <3D7854BE.1154@svpal.org> Message-ID: <3D787C13.750E@aenet.net> Jim Van Nuland wrote: > But on the original question, I'm nervous about the concept, partly > because I'm unfamiliar with it, The basic deal with PayPal is it's sort of like a bank. You set up an account with them. You attach your regular bank account to your PayPal account and a credit card too if you like. Then you can pay or get paid on line. It's a way for a regular Joe to do business on-line, like an on-line store. To pay someone on-line (e.g. a Ebay purchase), you log into your Paypal account, enter the email of the recipient and the amount. You can have money already in your Paypal account or you can have them (Paypal) get the money from your regular bank account or credit card (if you activated that option). The recipient gets an e-mail from Paypal saying "you got $$$ from xxx." When they look in their account, they'll see your payment has been deposited. In our case, we'd probably almost never pay out, but members could pay their dues this way. Gary From wb6yru at aenet.net Fri Sep 6 02:59:43 2002 From: wb6yru at aenet.net (Gary Mitchell) Date: Sat Sep 30 03:57:17 2006 Subject: [SJAABoard] SJAA having a Paypal account References: <8729C123-C162-11D6-88C7-0030655A4BEC@nineplanets.org> Message-ID: <3D787C8F.40F2@aenet.net> Bill Arnett wrote: > > On Friday, September 6, 2002, at 12:09 AM, Jim Van Nuland wrote: > > > ... I'm nervous about the concept, partly > > because I'm unfamiliar with it, I suppose; but mostly because we've > > seen > > so many dot-coms fall into the toilet. I worry about losing money > > when/if Paypal follows the others. > > Not to worry. PayPal is (has been?) being bought out by EBay, the one > dot-com that's making lots of money. (This is a sensible move on > EBay's part since PayPal is a big part of their business.) Anyway, it > would be a simple matter to keep the club's PayPal account at a very > low level by transferring the money out when it gets above some > threshold. OTOH, I would expect few members to use this option at > first. It might be several years before our PayPal balance exceeded > $100. I'm not positive about this, but I believe you can have Paypal payments directly deposited to your regular bank account. In that case, mostly likely we'd just use our normal checking account and not worry about anything building up anywhere. If security were a concern, we could always open another bank account just for Paypal use. We already have three accounts anyway, what's one more. Gary From north at znet.com Fri Sep 6 10:32:20 2002 From: north at znet.com (Dave North) Date: Sat Sep 30 03:57:17 2006 Subject: [SJAABoard] SJAA having a Paypal account References: <7FFFE5F732B8D511B89E00306E00F0A9D6AB1A@POMMAIL1> <3D7854BE.1154@svpal.org> <3D787C13.750E@aenet.net> Message-ID: <3D78E6A4.4030802@znet.com> Gary: > You attach your regular bank accoun > to your PayPal account and a credit card too if you like. Oh, one other thing (and is this a hassle!) Most people think it's a Very Good Idea to start a small account specifically for this purpose, so the account that's "exposed" is inconsequential. Then you just transfer the balance out of that account into your main one. d From koopm at koopm.best.vwh.net Fri Sep 13 15:02:23 2002 From: koopm at koopm.best.vwh.net (Michael Koop) Date: Sat Sep 30 03:57:17 2006 Subject: [SJAABoard] SJAA Houge Park Issues Message-ID: Hi Ray, Here is the follow up email I promised you. It was a pleasure talking to you this afternoon. A) Telescope Making Class Dates We need the four brown fold-up tables in Building 1 to support the class. Here are the dates for the rest of the year: Thursday Classes: Sept 26, Oct 24, Nov 21, and Dec 5 Saturday Classes: Sept 14, Oct 12, Nov 9, and Dec 21 B) Extra Chairs needed for October 19th Date We have a well know speaker coming to our general meeting on Saturday, October 19th. We anticipate other members from local astronomy clubs to be in attendance. There are 50 chairs in the room currently, and I think an additional 50 chairs should cover it. I'll email you a week before the event to remind you. C) Storage Cabinet for the SJAA I know you are trying to clear out the room, but please keep us in mind for getting a storage space for some of our materials. Just a simple double door metal cabinet similar to the ones there would work just fine. We do hold six events monthly at Houge Park and having some storage there would be a big help for us. We have our 1st Quarter Moon Star Party tonight at the park starting at around 7:45. Stop on by if you get a chance. Thanks! Mike Koop President San Jose Astronmical Association http://www.sjaa.net email: koopm@best.com phone: WK (408)473-6315 HM (408)446-0310 From mojo at whiteoaks.com Mon Sep 16 00:32:11 2002 From: mojo at whiteoaks.com (Morris Jones) Date: Sat Sep 30 03:57:17 2006 Subject: [SJAABoard] October Ephemeris shipped to printer Message-ID: Okay Circulation department -- time to do your thing! :) Here's the preview PDF: http://ephemeris.sjaa.net/0210/EphOct02.pdf Mojo -- Morris Jones <*> San Rafael, CA mojo@whiteoaks.com http://www.whiteoaks.com From koopm at koopm.best.vwh.net Mon Sep 16 11:23:46 2002 From: koopm at koopm.best.vwh.net (Michael Koop) Date: Sat Sep 30 03:57:17 2006 Subject: [SJAABoard] Calendar Problem in October Ephemeris In-Reply-To: Message-ID: There is a problem with the Activites Calendar. Jay will be giving his Cosmic Bird Watching talk on Sept. 27. It was correctly stated in the September Ephemeris. October 27 is a Sunday. There is no class for the month of October since we do not have a 3rd Qtr Star Party at Houge. I have not arranged a teacher for the November 1st Class yet. I dont know how things got confused from this simple message. http://www.sjaa.net/pipermail/sjaaboard/2002-August/001325.html Change it if you can. Mike On Mon, 16 Sep 2002, Morris Jones wrote: > Okay Circulation department -- time to do your thing! :) > > Here's the preview PDF: http://ephemeris.sjaa.net/0210/EphOct02.pdf > > Mojo > -- > Morris Jones <*> > San Rafael, CA > mojo@whiteoaks.com > http://www.whiteoaks.com > > _______________________________________________ > SJAABoard mailing list > SJAABoard@sjaa.net > http://www.sjaa.net/mailman/listinfo/sjaaboard > From koopm at koopm.best.vwh.net Mon Sep 16 11:23:46 2002 From: koopm at koopm.best.vwh.net (Michael Koop) Date: Sat Sep 30 03:57:17 2006 Subject: [SJAABoard] Calendar Problem in October Ephemeris In-Reply-To: Message-ID: There is a problem with the Activites Calendar. Jay will be giving his Cosmic Bird Watching talk on Sept. 27. It was correctly stated in the September Ephemeris. October 27 is a Sunday. There is no class for the month of October since we do not have a 3rd Qtr Star Party at Houge. I have not arranged a teacher for the November 1st Class yet. I dont know how things got confused from this simple message. http://www.sjaa.net/pipermail/sjaaboard/2002-August/001325.html Change it if you can. Mike On Mon, 16 Sep 2002, Morris Jones wrote: > Okay Circulation department -- time to do your thing! :) > > Here's the preview PDF: http://ephemeris.sjaa.net/0210/EphOct02.pdf > > Mojo > -- > Morris Jones <*> > San Rafael, CA > mojo@whiteoaks.com > http://www.whiteoaks.com > > _______________________________________________ > SJAABoard mailing list > SJAABoard@sjaa.net > http://www.sjaa.net/mailman/listinfo/sjaaboard > From north at znet.com Wed Sep 18 11:41:55 2002 From: north at znet.com (Dave North) Date: Sat Sep 30 03:57:17 2006 Subject: [SJAABoard] Membership References: Message-ID: <3D88C8F3.9030702@znet.com> Big month, good news! Only four memberships expired this month (everybody else lagging from June finally paid up) but we had 16 signups! That leaves a net of 13, and a bulk list of 305 -- the first time the gross list has been over 300 for quite some time (the net list of paying members is, of course, a tad smaller). Of course, we get one new membership in some months because of the Speaker bonus, but that ain't the point: this was a great month for the club. I guess we're back to taking over the world again. Microsoft, watch out! d From koopm at koopm.best.vwh.net Fri Sep 20 11:29:44 2002 From: koopm at koopm.best.vwh.net (Michael Koop) Date: Sat Sep 30 03:57:17 2006 Subject: [SJAABoard] Possible December Speaker Message-ID: FYI. Mike ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Fri, 20 Sep 2002 18:18:22 +0000 (GMT) From: Michael Koop To: Michael Carlowicz Subject: Re: [AANC Contacts] December Speaker? Hi Michael, My name is Mike Koop and I am the president of the San Jose Astronomical Association. It turns out we need a speaker for our December meeting on the 14th. Could you possibly extend your trip for the Saturday stay over? Our general meeting is usually coordinated with the full moon weekend to allow our members to go out and observe, but the holidays forced us to move it a week up to 1st qtr weekend. Let me know asap if you can make this. If you can not extend your trip, please let me know if you are in the area during a full moon weekend. It looks like a great talk. Mike Here is the usual info I send to speakers: Some Facts about the San Jose Astronomical Association (SJAA) Who is the SJAA? The SJAA is a non-profit organization to promote astronomy in the San Jose Area. We host star parties for the public at various sites in the south bay area. We frequently support schools for special events or classes. We also run a beginning astronomy class and have a successful telescope loaner program with many different types of telescopes. For our general meeting, we have a speaker talk about a subject of astronomical interest. For more information, visit our website at http://www.sjaa.net Where is the SJAA General Meetings? The meetings are held at Houge Park, which is near the intersection of Highways 85 and 880. For a detailed map and directions see http://www.sjaa.net/houge.html How many people typically show up for the general meeting? Typically, we have about 40 people attending the meetings. We do publicize the meetings through our website and newsletter. We also have email contact with many amateur astronomers through out the Bay Area. What Equipment can the SJAA provide for speakers? We can provide a slide projector, overhead projectors, a TV/VCR, and two screens. A computer screen projector is also available. Please let us know what you need in advance. Can I sell stuff at the meeting? Authors are encouraged to bring their books to sell at the meeting. What time do the general meeting start? The meetings start at 8 PM. We request that you arrive at 7:45 PM for any setup. We also provide all speakers with a check for $25 for compensation for gas and food in addition to a complementary one year membership. On Fri, 20 Sep 2002, Michael Carlowicz wrote: > [...forwarded by Alan Gould] > > Are you ... interested in [a speaker] on space weather and solar > activity in December? I will be at the AGU meeting in SF from roughly > December 7-12 (though I am busy on the evening of the 12th). I am > available in the evening, of course, and all day on the 11th if a > daytime activity is better. > > I am prepared to give a multimedia talk on space weather -- with video > and powerpoint. But I could also lead a simple hands-on science activity > if your groups tend to be students and teachers. I used to run teacher > workshops in my past life at Goddard, and I helped develop/write/design > the Space Weather Center exhibit that passed through your place last > year. > > ... I have been having some fun with sharing the history and human > impacts of space weather with the unsuspecting but interested public. > .... > > I have just published a popular science book entitled "Storms from > the Sun - The Emerging Science of Space Weather." My co-author for > the book is Dr. Ramon Lopez, a space physicist at the University of > Texas at El Paso and the former head of education for the American > Physical Society. > > ...We could do a simple book signing, but since we both have hosted > teacher workshops and have led other public events, we could also > offer something more...a talk or slide show, or some sort of > educational show-and-tell. In any case, we would travel to you at our > own expense. > Looking forward to your response, > Mike Carlowicz > > > ****************************************************************** > Michael J Carlowicz Science Writer and Editor > Fenno House, Mail Stop #40 Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution > Woods Hole, MA 02543 Phone: (508) 289-3771 > =93Theory is when you know everything, but nothing works. > Experiment is when everything works, but you don=92t know why. > In here, we mix theory and experiment. Nothing works, and no > one knows why.=94 -- posted on the door of a WHOI scientist > ******************************************************************* > _______________________________________________ > Contacts mailing list > Contacts@aanc-astronomy.org > http://mail.aanc-astronomy.org/mailman/listinfo/contacts > From bhavner at earthlink.net Fri Sep 20 12:02:38 2002 From: bhavner at earthlink.net (bhavner@earthlink.net) Date: Sat Sep 30 03:57:17 2006 Subject: [SJAABoard] Possible December Speaker Message-ID: Sounds like a good topic. I prepared to contact Sheila Johnson at NASA about a speaker for Dec. but I'll put that on hold for now. I have confirmed Tony Misch for the Nov. meeting. He will speak on the early Lick observatory solar eclipse excursions. I will send an abstract for the calendar at a later date. See you Saturday Bob From north at znet.com Fri Sep 20 13:00:18 2002 From: north at znet.com (Dave North) Date: Sat Sep 30 03:57:17 2006 Subject: [SJAABoard] Possible December Speaker References: Message-ID: <3D8B7E52.4010307@znet.com> No Christmas Party this year? d From koopm at koopm.best.vwh.net Fri Sep 20 13:37:06 2002 From: koopm at koopm.best.vwh.net (Michael Koop) Date: Sat Sep 30 03:57:17 2006 Subject: [SJAABoard] Possible December Speaker In-Reply-To: <3D8B7E52.4010307@znet.com> Message-ID: Unfortunately, Michael can not make it. I did leave an open invite if he is in the Bay Area. From wb6yru at aenet.net Fri Sep 20 20:44:42 2002 From: wb6yru at aenet.net (Gary Mitchell) Date: Sat Sep 30 03:57:17 2006 Subject: [SJAABoard] lap-top at Slide & Equipment night? Message-ID: <3D8BEB2A.7741@aenet.net> Does anyone know if there will be a lap-top available at the Slide and Equipment meeting this Saturday? I *may* have a video (MPEG) to show. I'm working on making a video from a series of still photos I took of the lunar eclipse in 1996. This is the first time I've done anythng like this and I don't yet know how it will turn out. However, I don't have a lap-top suitable for showing it at the meeting. By the way, a while back we were talking about buying a film scanner. Did that ever happen? Gary From bhavner at earthlink.net Sat Sep 21 14:33:06 2002 From: bhavner at earthlink.net (Bob Havner) Date: Sat Sep 30 03:57:17 2006 Subject: [SJAABoard] FW: pix tonight Message-ID: Jane asked if I could get some pics of Slide and Equipment night. Unfortunately I have to leave after the board meeting. Can someone else bring a camera to get some pics for the Ephemeris. -----Original Message----- From: Jane Houston Jones [mailto:jane@whiteoaks.com] Sent: Saturday, September 21, 2002 1:56 PM To: bhavner@earthlink.net Subject: pix tonight MOjo and I have a wedding this afternoon and so we can't make the meeting. If you or someone else could take some pictures (with the names of the exhbitors) that would be great! We like to put Slide and Equip pix in the Ephemeris, but just can't be there tonight. Jane -- Jane Houston Jones San Rafael, CA jane@whiteoaks.com http://www.whiteoaks.com From billosh at accesscom.com Sat Sep 21 23:50:27 2002 From: billosh at accesscom.com (William O'Shaughnessy) Date: Sat Sep 30 03:57:17 2006 Subject: [SJAABoard] SJAA Board minutes 9/21/2002 Message-ID: <200209220650.XAA28361@shell.accesscom.com> SJAA Minutes September 21, 2002 as recorded by Bill O'Shaughnessy Board Members Present: Jim Bartolini Paul Mancuso Mike Koop Gary Mitchell Dave Smith Minutes of previous meeting were approve by acclimation The treasury report was given by Gary Mitchell: Checking .65% $10155.19 Savings .65% $ 395.89 Money Market 1.0 % $ 2819.72 Mike K. sold a donated oscilloscope for $60 and a check was given to Gary M. Gary was asked to pick an accounting method he would feel comfortable with and possibly get a donated laptop from the Computer Recycling Center. It is CRC.ORG and is near Mead and Walsh in Santa Clara. Using PayPal as one method of dues payment was discussed and was moved by Gary to authorize PayPal to pay dues with its expense passed on to those who use it. Jim B. seconded and the motion was passed unanimously. Mark Wagner reported on CalStar preparation and noted that we might need $200 more deposit for the Food Service. It was decided from Mark's information that we need the food service most Saturday night of CalStar. Jim B. moved to authorize $200 more for the food catering deposit. Paul M. seconded the motion and it was passed unanimously. Membership was discussed. We are now up to 305 members including 16 new members. We discussed what we were doing right to get more members and decided to continue passing out SJAA cards at Star Parties and that a vigorous loaner program also helped increase membership. Loaner program report: Scope exchanges are numerous now Mike K. reported. He also noted that we have an old 10 inch Coulter that need repair. Jim B. volunteered to fix it after calstar. Observational astronomy class report: numbers at the class have decreased, but with Jay Freeman's talk this Friday attendance should improve. ATM class report: Mike K. bought a key and a hose so that we can have water at the ATM class. We are also looking for a new instructor/mirror reader for the class beginning in January. We discussed have to ATM class sequences a year: one maybe starting in September and another starting in February. GM Programs were discussed. Nick Kanas may be available to do a talk on the golden age of astronomical cartography. Brother Guy will be the speaker in October. We discussed the possibility of having an astronaut as a speaker. A local astronaut who worked on the Hubble missions was mentioned as a speaker. Houge SP report: Mike K. reported that everybody vanished at 10pm this past Friday and we could not figure out any cause for this unusual happening. School SP report: Gary M. reported that only three astronomers showed up for the Almaden SP(I had broken car. Bill O.) Gary suggested we cone off our area early at Almaden. Bill O. requested that we buy the Tour of the Universe Slides from ASP for use at school star parties. Bill O. moved that we spend approximately $200 dollars on various slide sets from ASP. Jim B. seconded. The motion was passed unanimously. Gary M. was asked to buy the slides. 2003 Calendar report: Jim Van Nuland forwarded the most recent revision of the 2003 calendar to Mike K. He will add final touches and email it to board for final approval. Leonind 02 planning: Renting a bus to help the public come to Henry Coe for the Leonids. There was no concensus in support of this idea. It was remarked that the Sheriff should be warned of a possible traffic problem that night. Also it would be nice to know if the Coe rangers have plans for that night. Mike K. will be flying in an observation plane over Spain to observe the Leonids along with other amateur astronomers. Fall Swap: We need a coordinator for the Fall Astronomy Swap. There were no volunteers at this time. The board discussed the possible FPOA SP at Henry Coe. Coyote Lake was discussed with affirmation that it is a good star party site(if mosquito prevention measures are taken). At 7:55 pm the meeting adjourned. From mgw at resource-intl.com Tue Sep 24 16:13:45 2002 From: mgw at resource-intl.com (Mark Wagner) Date: Sat Sep 30 03:57:17 2006 Subject: [SJAABoard] CalStar food catering is set. Message-ID: <5.1.0.14.2.20020924160544.02797e88@mail201.pair.com> I spoke with Shirley Silveira of Valley Catering in King City today. She was recommended by Ranger Tom Shephard, head ranger at Lake San Antonio. She will cater a dinner for CalStar on Satuday October 5, 2002. I will provide her an approximate head count by Wednesday October 2, and she will bring some extra in case there are more "takers" than I know about. We need to send her two checks: 1. $100 for transportation costs. 2. $300 deposit for meals. Send the checks asap payable to: Valley Catering 212 Grove Place King City, CA 93930 Shirley will hold the deposit check, to be returned to me (or Koop if he is planning on attending) when she reaches her minimum ($300). I think this will be easy - $13.50 per meal means 23 people are needed to surpass the minimum and receive the deposit back. Last count we had 31 people and I expect that number to grow once I make a confirming announcement about the meal and ask for people to confirm their interest in participating. The cancellation policy is 1 day notice, which should be no problem for us. I ask the Gary send these checks immediately so we avoid a payment glitch. Once I have confirmation from Koop and Gary I will make the announcement on TAC, on the SJAA mailing list, and by private e-mail to those who have registered to attend. Any questions let's get them hashed out now. Thanks, Mark Wagner From koopm at koopm.best.vwh.net Tue Sep 24 16:29:51 2002 From: koopm at koopm.best.vwh.net (Michael Koop) Date: Sat Sep 30 03:57:17 2006 Subject: [SJAABoard] CalStar food catering is set. In-Reply-To: <5.1.0.14.2.20020924160544.02797e88@mail201.pair.com> Message-ID: Mark, It's a go! IIRC, the board approved another $200 (for up to $400) for the deposit. See Bill's Minutes: http://www.sjaa.net/pipermail/sjaaboard/2002-September/001383.html Do you know what the canellation cost will be? Mike BTW, Whats for Dinner? On Tue, 24 Sep 2002, Mark Wagner wrote: > > > I spoke with Shirley Silveira of Valley Catering in King City today. She > was recommended by Ranger Tom Shephard, head ranger at Lake San Antonio. > > She will cater a dinner for CalStar on Satuday October 5, 2002. I will > provide her an approximate head count by Wednesday October 2, and she will > bring some extra in case there are more "takers" than I know about. > > We need to send her two checks: > > 1. $100 for transportation costs. > 2. $300 deposit for meals. > > Send the checks asap payable to: > > Valley Catering > 212 Grove Place > King City, CA 93930 > > Shirley will hold the deposit check, to be returned to me (or Koop if he is > planning on attending) when she reaches her minimum ($300). I think this > will be easy - $13.50 per meal means 23 people are needed to surpass the > minimum and receive the deposit back. Last count we had 31 people and I > expect that number to grow once I make a confirming announcement about the > meal and ask for people to confirm their interest in participating. > > The cancellation policy is 1 day notice, which should be no problem for us. > > I ask the Gary send these checks immediately so we avoid a payment glitch. > > Once I have confirmation from Koop and Gary I will make the announcement on > TAC, on the SJAA mailing list, and by private e-mail to those who have > registered to attend. > > Any questions let's get them hashed out now. > > Thanks, > > Mark Wagner > > _______________________________________________ > SJAABoard mailing list > SJAABoard@sjaa.net > http://www.sjaa.net/mailman/listinfo/sjaaboard > From mgw at resource-intl.com Tue Sep 24 16:47:25 2002 From: mgw at resource-intl.com (Mark Wagner) Date: Sat Sep 30 03:57:17 2006 Subject: [SJAABoard] CalStar food catering is set. Message-ID: <5.1.0.14.2.20020924164626.00b74fd8@mail201.pair.com> At 11:29 PM 9/24/2002 +0000, you wrote: >Mark, >It's a go! >IIRC, the board approved another $200 (for up to $400) for the deposit. >See Bill's Minutes: >http://www.sjaa.net/pipermail/sjaaboard/2002-September/001383.html Yes. I recall. I guess the club is actually going to pay $100 for the transportation cost. How does that sound? >Do you know what the canellation cost will be? None was mentioned. I'll leave that up to you, Mr. Prez. >Mike > >BTW, Whats for Dinner? Spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, beans, spam and spam. or BBQ tri-tip or chicken breast, salad, beans (no spam), fruit, garlic bread. unless you want the spam plate. ;-) plates and utensils provided. Mark From koopm at koopm.best.vwh.net Tue Sep 24 16:57:52 2002 From: koopm at koopm.best.vwh.net (Michael Koop) Date: Sat Sep 30 03:57:17 2006 Subject: [SJAABoard] CalStar food catering is set. In-Reply-To: <5.1.0.14.2.20020924164626.00b74fd8@mail201.pair.com> Message-ID: On Tue, 24 Sep 2002, Mark Wagner wrote: > Yes. I recall. I guess the club is actually going to pay $100 for the > transportation cost. How does that sound? > Sounds fine. > >Do you know what the canellation cost will be? > > None was mentioned. I'll leave that up to you, Mr. Prez. I suspect they would want the $300 deposit. One day cancellation should reduce that quite a bit. A $200 total cancellation would seem reasonable. > >BTW, Whats for Dinner? > > Spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, beans, spam and spam. > Ah, that's whats for dinner on Thursday and Friday, but the beans are off. :-) From wb6yru at aenet.net Wed Sep 25 01:22:29 2002 From: wb6yru at aenet.net (Gary Mitchell) Date: Sat Sep 30 03:57:17 2006 Subject: [SJAABoard] CalStar food catering is set. References: <5.1.0.14.2.20020924160544.02797e88@mail201.pair.com> Message-ID: <3D917245.5D60@aenet.net> Mark Wagner wrote: > > I spoke with Shirley Silveira of Valley Catering in King City today. She > was recommended by Ranger Tom Shephard, head ranger at Lake San Antonio. > > She will cater a dinner for CalStar on Satuday October 5, 2002. I will > provide her an approximate head count by Wednesday October 2, and she will > bring some extra in case there are more "takers" than I know about. > > We need to send her two checks: > > 1. $100 for transportation costs. > 2. $300 deposit for meals. > > Send the checks asap payable to: > > Valley Catering > 212 Grove Place > King City, CA 93930 > > Shirley will hold the deposit check, to be returned to me (or Koop if he is > planning on attending) when she reaches her minimum ($300). I think this > will be easy - $13.50 per meal means 23 people are needed to surpass the > minimum and receive the deposit back. Last count we had 31 people and I > expect that number to grow once I make a confirming announcement about the > meal and ask for people to confirm their interest in participating. > > The cancellation policy is 1 day notice, which should be no problem for us. > > I ask the Gary send these checks immediately so we avoid a payment glitch. > > Once I have confirmation from Koop and Gary I will make the announcement on > TAC, on the SJAA mailing list, and by private e-mail to those who have > registered to attend. > > Any questions let's get them hashed out now. Yeah, I've got a question... Do we have an order form or a contract of some kind? It's poor business practice to just send off $400 by itself. Our name and address is on the check, but that's not enough. If you could e-mail me some kind of agreement that I could print out and send with the check (and keep a copy), that would be fine. I don't mean to be difficult and I'm not suggesting anything about anybody's integrity, just trying to be good treasurer, folks. :) Gary From mgw at resource-intl.com Wed Sep 25 07:00:30 2002 From: mgw at resource-intl.com (Mark Wagner) Date: Sat Sep 30 03:57:17 2006 Subject: [SJAABoard] CalStar food catering is set. In-Reply-To: <3D917245.5D60@aenet.net> References: <5.1.0.14.2.20020924160544.02797e88@mail201.pair.com> Message-ID: <5.1.0.14.2.20020925064318.02797e88@mail201.pair.com> At 01:22 AM 9/25/2002 -0700, you wrote: >Yeah, I've got a question... > >Do we have an order form or a contract of some kind? No, not this year. What we do have is the recommendation of Tom Shephard, the head ranger at Lake San Antonio. This is a guy accustomed to dealing with crowds of over 10,000 people (not just people, but boaters) during the summer, and Valley Catering is a known entity to him... his recommendation. I think that time constraints may make it such that we trust these people. I'd feel differently if Tom didn't contact them himself on our behalf. That's my take on it. If the board wishes to have some formal written agreement, it can write one and send it with the checks. But I will not announce the meal plans publicly until this issue is resolved (meaning a signed agreement). We have one week remaining as of today until the star party. Mail there and back may take most of a week. I'll wait for an answer from the board before doing anything. Mark From jvn at svpal.org Wed Sep 25 15:01:57 2002 From: jvn at svpal.org (Jim Van Nuland) Date: Sat Sep 30 03:57:17 2006 Subject: [SJAABoard] CalStar food catering is set. References: <5.1.0.14.2.20020924160544.02797e88@mail201.pair.com> <5.1.0.14.2.20020925064318.02797e88@mail201.pair.com> Message-ID: <3D923255.226@svpal.org> Mark Wagner wrote: > > At 01:22 AM 9/25/2002 -0700, Gary wrote: > > >Yeah, I've got a question... > > > >Do we have an order form or a contract of some kind? > > No, not this year. > > What we do have is the recommendation of Tom Shephard, the head ranger at > Lake San Antonio. This is a guy accustomed to dealing with crowds of over > 10,000 people (not just people, but boaters) during the summer, and Valley > Catering is a known entity to him... his recommendation. I think that time > constraints may make it such that we trust these people. I'd feel > differently if Tom didn't contact them himself on our behalf. > > That's my take on it. > > If the board wishes to have some formal written agreement, it can write one > and send it with the checks. There are a number of trustworthy, experienced people involved, all who want this to run well: -- Head Ranger Shephard, who has worked with large and small groups; -- Shirley Silveira of Valley Catering, who per Shephard has delivered the goods, and knows that to mess up on this will cost future bigger contracts; -- Mark Wagner, with a proven track record as an organizer; so I'm not afraid of sending the checks immediately. what Gary wants is to send something along with the checks, stating what they are for. Would it be sufficient for him to write the club's name and mailing address, event location, name of event, date, and estimated number of meals? Along with a request to Valley Catering that she mail back a receipt and/or agreement? We don't have time to wait for the mail to go back and forth. -- Jim Van Nuland, San Jose (California) Astronomical Association JVN's web site From mgw at resource-intl.com Wed Sep 25 17:20:26 2002 From: mgw at resource-intl.com (Mark Wagner) Date: Sat Sep 30 03:57:17 2006 Subject: [SJAABoard] CalStar catering update. Message-ID: <5.1.0.14.2.20020925170303.00b74fd8@mail201.pair.com> All good news. SJAA Treasurer did his job well and we have agreement with the caterer. A letter (original and copy) from SJAA will be sent with payments. Copy will be signed and returned to SJAA from Valley Catering. Include such information as date, time, place, menu, deposit amount, transportation amount. Mike Koop is drafting this. But we need to get the payments out asap (maybe post office 2-day delivery or overnight?). Caterer will try to have food ready at 5:30 p.m. The original time I asked for was 6 pm. with sunset at 6:40. I am hoping we can have a bit more daylight during dinner although most may be done eating by 7 p.m. (before dark). $100 transportation fee is non-refundable. $300 food deposit will be returned if any cancellation is by Friday evening. I suggested noon, caterer said evening. So, let's use sunset. Caterer will take money from each individual buying a meal. We do not need to collect money. Upon 23 dinners served, we are beyond the $300 deposit, and the deposit check will be returned on site. Dinner consists of: BBQ Tri-tip or chicken breast Baked beans (oh boy!) Salad Fruit Garlic bread Forks, knives and sturdy plates I will ask people to confirm their participation to me again, by e-mail, and this time to say what their choice is (beef or chicken) so I can let the caterer know how many of each (approx). She will be bringing some extra as well. 1Mark From wb6yru at aenet.net Wed Sep 25 23:33:25 2002 From: wb6yru at aenet.net (Gary Mitchell) Date: Sat Sep 30 03:57:17 2006 Subject: [SJAABoard] donated lap-tops? Message-ID: <3D92AA35.1B9F@aenet.net> At the last board meeting, someone suggested applying for free lap-tops from the Computer Recycling Center. I downloaded their form... They want to know the minimum configuration needed. For my purposes (as treasurer), Win 98 and moderate speed would be fine. Bill said I should be sure to get something with NTSC output (standard TV video). We probably would want to run some kind of prestation software. How much horsepower does that take? Anything else? Gary