Glenside Club Meeting: Thursday October 21, 2021 @ 7:30PM Central

Posted on | by Jim Brain

As we’re less than 3 weeks away from the 29th Annual “Last” Chicago CoCoFEST!, we’re making last minute preparations for the show, and we hope that you are as well. We’re also less than 1 week away from installing our 2021-22 Glenside Color Computer Club officers, and we hope you cast your vote before the polls close at 6:30PM Central on October 21, 2021.

This month, we’re back to our regular meeting time (7:30PM), but we will open the call early at 6:30PM as in previous months for some time to catch up and say hello to new faces.

We have a few business items on the agenda, though I am happy to add items of discussion interest. We’ll leave plenty of time for additional questions and thoughts on the upcoming show.

October Meeting Agenda

To join the Meeting:
https://bluejeans.com/889394355

You can call in: Phone Dial-in
+1.408.740.7256 (United States)
+1.408.317.9253 (Alternate number) (Global Numbers)
Meeting ID: 889 394 355
Room System: 199.48.152.152 or bjn.vc

Want to test your video connection?
https://bluejeans.com/111

For those unable to join us on BlueJeans or have prior commitments, we will livestream and have a replay available on our Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/groups/290791956162) and our Youtube channel (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFk2dMxcjJcX2qbSqFHQMbA).

Shares

One Month Until CoCoFEST!

Posted on | by Jim Brain

As the countdown timer on the home page of glensideccc.com shows while I type this, we’re 30 days away from converging in Elk Grove Village (our NEW larger location) just outside Chicago, IL for the 29th Annual “Last” Chicago CoCoFEST! We’re making final arrangements to host you physically and virtually at our belated Tandy Color Computer 40th birthday celebration (there will be cake!)

As we pass under the 30 day mark, help us put on a great show by considering the following items:

  • If you are planning to attend in person, make sure you have made your reservations at the Elk Grove Village Holiday Inn. We have a block rate available until the rooms sell out, so don’t delay.
  • Also, if you are planning to attend in person, please make sure to skip the entrance lines and pre-register.
  • If you’re planning to exhibit, make sure to send a note to Tony Podraza with information on the exhibit. Though the show is nominally focused on the Tandy Color Computer, we love all Tandy machines, and we’re excited to see more Dragon representation as well.
  • If you can’t join us in person, be sure to bookmark our Facebook Page or our YouTube channel where we’ll be live-streaming the event on both days (technology and Internet capacity willing, of course)
  • Do you have a great idea for an in-person or virtual presentation? Contact Tony or myself so we can find a home for it in the schedule. We don’t want to pack it too tight, but we do want opportunities for folks to share
  • Stop by your ATM. We need to dispose of quite a few club items this year (lots of excess inventory and donations) that need to get into the hands of fellow enthusiasts and kept out of landfills. As Mark Marlette of Cloud-9 reminds us, “They don’t make this stuff anymore.”

Whether you attend physically or virtually, we hope you join and enjoy the festivities. Help us usher in the event in our new venue after the long absence.

Shares

Reminder: Glenside 2021-22 Elections Close on October 21 @ 6:30PM Central

Posted on | by Jim Brain

I wanted to quickly remind folks that there’s still time to cast your ballot for the 2021-22 Glenside Officer elections. As you may recall, we vote electronically (no hanging chads here), using tandylist.com, and each member can log in to https://www.tandylist.com/ and then click on the “Vote” icon at the top to cast your ballot. As noted, make sure you cast (or recast, as you can change your ballot at any time before the polls close) by 6:30 PM Central on October 21, 2021.

The Glenside 2021-22 officer candidates are:

  • President
    • Jim Brain (incumbent)
  • Vice President
    • John Mark Mobley (incumbent)
    • Grant Leighty
  • Secretary
    • Richard Bair (incumbent)
    • Brian Goers
  • Treasurer
    • Eric Canales

Thanks in advance for helping select the 2021-22 officers!

Jim

Shares

Glenside 2021-22 Elections are Open!

Posted on | by Jim Brain

I would like to thank everyone who joined our September virtual meeting and participated in officer nominations. The nomination process seemed to go very smoothly and we quickly ran through the list of nominations. I also appreciate those who were nominated for the various positions and wish each person in a contested race the best as voting opens.

Concerning voting, GCCC conducts polling virtually, using tandylist.com, and each member can log in to https://www.tandylist.com/ and then click on the “Vote” icon at the top to cast your ballot. The polls will stay open until 6:30 PM Central on October 21, 2021, as we prepare for the monthly meeting where we will announce the new slate of officers. We do have some uncontested positions this year, but I am told “Abraham (Ab) Stain” could stage an upset.

The Glenside 2021-22 officer candidates are:

  • President
    • Jim Brain (incumbent)
  • Vice President
    • John Mark Mobley (incumbent)
    • Grant Leighty
  • Secretary
    • Richard Bair (incumbent)
    • Brian Goers
  • Treasurer
    • Eric Canales

Voters may update their ballot at any time prior to poll closing by simply filling out a new ballot.

Thanks in advance for helping select the 2021-22 officers!

Jim

Shares

Glenside Club Meeting: Thursday September 16, 2021 @ Special Time (6:30PM Central)

Posted on | by Jim Brain

As noted last week, we have dipped below the 2 month countdown to the 2021 29th Annual “Last” CoCoFEST! and we’re in the home stretch of planning and organizing for the show. I want to thank Terry Steege again for his early 2021 work concerning presentations, and I’d like to thanks Tony Podraza who is handling much of the detail work concerning the show.

I also want to make sure folks know we’re soliciting nominations for the 2021-21 GCCC officer slate this month. We’ve enjoyed a very productive year of change, and I’d encourage each of you to consider running for one of our positions (even mine :-). I think helping manage the work of the club like GCCC (who has adequate financial footing, a well respected following, and a well-attended yearly event) offers significant rewards, and the work is pretty light.

On the first point, here’s some CoCoFEST! updates prior to our meeting, though I’m happy to answer questions about them at the meeting:

  • As per last month’s decision, we’ve rented a third room at the venue to hold the presentations (we’ll use the next larger room as the auction space). The venue was nice enough to rent the room for $200/weekend, though I think it’s normally $200/day.
  • A number of folks took a tour of the facility last weekend after the conclusion of VCF-Midwest. I’ll try to attach some pictures to the posting. I think we’ll have plenty of room for all of the activities and exhibits
  • Power should be relatively plentiful, and they have 2 220V outlets int he room they will convert to 110V AC for more outlet action. But, exhibitors should definitely bring a power strip or three
  • And, speaking of power strips, the organizers of VCF-Midwest believe they will have some of the long 6-8 ft TrippLite industrial power strips to lay at the edge of the room, which should put an outlet much closer to the tables. Many thanks to Michael Lee for the willingness to help. We will probably still buy some of our own strips and I’m suggesting we have VCF-Midwest folks store the strips and allow them to use them for future VCF-MW shows (they are bulky and hard to store, but VCFMW organizers Jason Timmons and Michael Lee bought a building very close to the show site which makes storage easier).
  • A number of Glenside members attended the VCF Midwest show in person last weekend. As some have noted, there’s nothing that truly replaces a physical show (though I am glad we’ve all been able to stay connected virtually in the interim). I thoroughly enjoyed myself, and there were significant crowds. I can only theorize that people are eager to socialize and the cost of wearing a mask was not a significant concern. Kudos to the show attendees, as compliance was very high, and I didn’t see any altercations. This bodes extremely well for our November show, assuming the situation doesn’t change drastically.
  • That said, we are going to livestream the show for those too far away to attend or who find themselves unable to attend for other reasons. It won’t be the same, and I’m still encouraging everyone to make attempts to visit in person, but we will try to put the presentations and auction online for everyone to enjoy.
  • We still need to finalize exact times, but we do have the venue on Friday afternoon/evening for early setup. We will announce Friday setup times in the coming month.
  • If you’re an exhibitor, note that each table will be adorned with a lovely black tablecloth, courtesy of the venue. Color code accordingly
  • Folks who pre-register will have their badges already printed and ready to grab and go. Skip the line and pre-register at https://www.glensideccc.com/cocofest/ .

Now, while we prepare for this great event in November, we must turn our attention to elections in October 2021. As noted before, we’re actively soliciting for nominations for President, Vice President, Secretary, and Treasurer. There’s no onerous work needed to put your name in the running. Make sure folks know you’re interested, and I’d encourage you to attend this Thursday’s discussion to express your desire.

As I noted in a previous communication, secretary Richard Bair officially requested someone take over his position in the coming year. He’s faithfully held the office for some time, and I think he’d like to pass the baton to a new face in the crowd.

Once nominations are made, we will be sending out via our various channels the full list and voting will commence on TandyList. We will close the voting right before the October meeting and announce the new officers in October.

To ensure we have plenty of time for nominations and also to answer any questions about CoCoFEST! planning, we’re starting the meeting an hour earlier at 6:30PM. I hope you can join us for part or all of the discussion.

To join the Meeting:
https://bluejeans.com/889394355

You can call in: Phone Dial-in
+1.408.740.7256 (United States)
+1.408.317.9253 (Alternate number) (Global Numbers)
Meeting ID: 889 394 355
Room System: 199.48.152.152 or bjn.vc

Want to test your video connection?
https://bluejeans.com/111

For those unable to join us on BlueJeans or have prior commitments, we will livestream and have a replay available on our Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/groups/290791956162) and our Youtube channel (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFk2dMxcjJcX2qbSqFHQMbA).

2021 CoCoFEST! Venue
Shares

Less than 60 Days Remaining!

Posted on | by Jim Brain

As you can see from the countdown timer at the top of glensideccc.com, we’ve just passed below the “60 days to event” mark. With that in mind, I wanted to give folks some additional details on the upcoming show:

  • The show is still happening! I’ll admit I expected the skies to fully clear by this time such that the show dates would be a largely normal time. It doesn’t look like that’ll quite be the case, but the BOD sees no current issue with holding the event on our scheduled dates.
  • That said, there are some realities that will intrude on our normalcy. We’re obligated to comply with local statutes in our venue. Currently, the state of Illinois has instituted an indoor masking policy. We’ll let you know if the situation changes as we creep closer to our show dates, but I’d recommend ensuring a mask or 2 follow you to the show. Since there’s some time yet, I’d recommend splurging for a custom printed mask with your favorite computer adorning it. Neil Blanchard has some CoCo-themed masks for sale at (https://www.facebook.com/commerce/listing/332771551273852/?ref=share_attachment) and if I find others I’ll link to them. The venue confirmed they’ll have a few masks on hand for compliance, but I’d not recommend assuming they have plenty for everyone. Likewise, we will arrange for some to be available at the show as well.
  • We will also arrange to have hand sanitizer at various locations for use by our attendees.
  • To both help speed up entrance at the show and to cut down on people standing in lines, we’re encouraging attendees to pre-register. If you do so and the show cannot be held, we’ll process a refund or your ticket will continue to be valid for our next CoCoFEST! face to face event.
  • To both cut down on paper currency handling at the show and enable pre-payment options, we’re encouraging folks to use electronic and/or credit card payment options this year, even for day-of registrations
  • The Saturday evening dinner is still a GO! The venue did not feel the current compliance requirements created any concerns. I will soon post an informal poll on our buffet serving options for some feedback.
  • While we obviously want to make this a safe and enjoyable experience for everyone, we fully understand if you are not able to attend. We are working to provide some virtual “presence” options for those folks, and we will try to stream all of the presentations and the auction to YouTube and Facebook.

There’s still a few tables left for late exhibitors, and we can always squeeze one more presenter into the lineup. But, time is indeed growing short, so work to finish your projects and plan to join us in early November!

Shares

Glenside Club Meeting: Thursday August 19, 2021 @ 7:30PM

Posted on | by Jim Brain

I hope everyone stepped away from your Color Computer 1 chicklet keyboard long enough to enjoy the Summer weather, especially as some of us now hunker down for the Fall, especially as school discussions now fill the air. We’ll all have to adapt to younger children returning to school, young adults navigating college, and many of us needing to adjust to that part of the year when Summer help leaves and businesses start closing earlier.

While I am rather glad my principal educational career has long ago completed, I do try to stay engaged on new developments all over the spectrum. And, with the continued challenges in the world encouraging hobbies and projects that focus on individual contributions, I’m eager to see all of the developments the CoCo community has kept under wraps for the past year or so. Some have been unveiled, but I think others will make their appearance at shows like the 2021 CoCoFEST!

Speaking of the show, we’re less than 3 months away from congregating in the Chicago area for some community and collaboration. It’ll be the first year in our new venue, and I do hope you’ll consider joining us, if you can. I know politics intrude in the hobby at times, but I hope a majority of our membership (and visitors) can join us to belatedly celebrate the Color Computer’s 40th anniversary.

Even as we focus on the 2021 show, we’re making plans for our 2022 show in mid-May next year. I’m sure that will present its own specific challenges, but we’ll rise to them as well!

We’re fast approaching the general vintage computing festival period, with shows like the Vintage Computer Festival Southeast occurring this weekend, VCF Midwest kicking off in September, followed by Tandy Assembly and VCF East in October, and CoCoFEST! in November. For those of us attending multiple shows, it’ll be a wild few months of activity.

Please join us this Thursday, August 19th, to get updates on the club and activities. And, if you’re interested in more social perspectives, please consider joining the call at 6:30PM Central (1 hour prior). It’s a great opportunity to visit with far flung members, watch some demonstrations, hear about projects, and just enjoy some humor.

To join the Meeting:
https://bluejeans.com/889394355

You can call in: Phone Dial-in
+1.408.740.7256 (United States)
+1.408.317.9253 (Alternate number) (Global Numbers)
Meeting ID: 889 394 355
Room System: 199.48.152.152 or bjn.vc

Want to test your video connection?
https://bluejeans.com/111

For those unable to join us for the meeting, we hope to have a replay available on our Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/groups/290791956162) to help you catch up.

Prior to the formal business meeting at 7:30PM Central, we’ll be enjoying a time of demonstrations and discussion. If you’d like to show a project you’re working on, please consider joining us starting at 6:30PM.

Shares

Glenside Club Meeting: Thursday July 15, 2021 @ 7:30PM

Posted on | by Jim Brain

Months that start on a Thursday always mess up my announcement timing, and I apologize for the late notice. I trust no one will be completely blindsided by the upcoming meeting. They come regularly, like clockwork, though you’d think I’d put a reminder on the calendar to ensure I didn’t get surprised by the date.

It’s roughly 4 months until our November in-person CoCoFEST! In fact, webmaster Eric Canales placed a countdown timer on the main web page showing the time left before show opening on Saturday morning. Project and presentation creation time grows short, but excitement builds as we count down to our first in-person show since April 2019. As I noted at the last meeting and in the recent newsletter, I’m eager to share this new venue with attendees, as I think it offers even more community and collaboration options than Heron Point.

Along with some more discussion around the upcoming show, we should start thinking about the 2022 show schedule and the options. As well, I’d like to gauge interest in a Q3 physical or virtual get together. In years past, the annual picnic/cookout happened in this quarter, though other options are also possible. Obviously, not everyone can drop by the Chicago area in the next few months, but perhaps a physical party with a virtual component might be of interest.

I hope everyone received the most recent club newsletter. I continue to revel in the work folks put into the quarterly publication, and I hope you found at least something of interest in the latest issue. As always, Steve his team eagerly appreciate submissions by our membership. No writeup is too small!

Please join us this Thursday, July 15th, to get updates on the club and activities. And, if you’re interested in more social perspectives, please consider joining the call at 6:30PM Central (1 hour prior). It’s a great opportunity to visit with far flung members, watch some demonstrations, hear about projects, and just enjoy some humor.

To join the Meeting:
https://bluejeans.com/889394355

You can call in: Phone Dial-in
+1.408.740.7256 (United States)
+1.408.317.9253 (Alternate number) (Global Numbers)
Meeting ID: 889 394 355
Room System: 199.48.152.152 or bjn.vc

Want to test your video connection?
https://bluejeans.com/111

Prior to the formal business meeting at 7:30PM Central, we’ll be enjoying a time of demonstrations and discussion. If you’d like to show a project you’re working on, please consider joining us starting at 6:30PM.

Shares