As those of us who
showed up before 7pm for our Monday, January 12th meeting found out, Dr.
Rawstock let us know at that time that they have trimmed their hours of
operation for the new year from being open ’til 9pm to now being open
’til 7pm, which meant we couldn’t meet there that night or for
the foreseeable future.
Dr. Rawstock let us use their phone and phone book to call around and
see if we might be able to find a place to meet that night on such short
notice, but not finding anything, we all carpooled to one of QMUG/LA’s
officer’s bachelor pad and held the meeting there. Our apologies
to anyone who showed up after 7pm and didn’t know where we went.
While this comes to us as an unpleasant surprise, QMUG/LA totally thanks
Dr. Rawstock for presenting “Digital Video Editing” for us in
October 2000, saving our butts meeting-space-wise a couple of times thereafter,
and then being open to having us continue to meet there from June 2001
through December 2003, 2 1/2 years!
QMUG/LA found out about Dr. Rawstock because one of our members worked
there. QMUG/LA officers met w/ Dr. Rawstock management which led
to that first presentation. We think Dr. Rawstock may have been a
little unsure as to what to expect — a gay Mac user group? drag queens?
dykes on bikes? — but quickly felt at ease w/ us, as we did w/ them.
We want to explicitly state that Dr. Rawstock’s decision was based
purely on their own business needs and not on any kind of misbehavior on
the part of QMUG/LA, like loss, theft or damage of any of their equipment.
QMUG/LA has a great professional relationship w/ Dr. Rawstock, and we’ll
depend on good words from them to find a new meeting space.
So now that we need to find a new meeting space, we turn to you, our
members, and even our presenters, to help us do that. We aren’t
overly worried, after 9 1/2 years, because we believe lots of spaces are
out there, and they’re much more technologically advanced now than
they were 2 1/2 years ago. Our new space should embody the following
six qualities:
1. Is in the West Hollywood, Hollywood or Silverlake
area
2. Is open (or at least
open to us) on the 2nd Mondays of each month, 7pm-10pm
3. Has parking and seating for 25-30 people
4. Is accessible from MTA trains and/or buses
5. Has a projector, and
6.
Has an Internet connection (at
least a phone-jack for dial-up)
So please keep your eyes open: around where you work, at where other
organizations are meeting, businesses, schools, churches, etc. QMUG/LA
can tackle questions of Macs at meetings, potential rental fees, etc.,
as they arise, but to the question, “Why should a place open itself
up to QMUG/LA?” we offer the following supported answers:
1. We’re a very unique and special group, as
we detailed last year ->
2. We’re a long-running
group, meeting for over 9 1/2 years now ->
3. We have a great organizational
history, 9 1/2 years worth ->
4. We have our meeting dates,
topics and presenters confirmed through July 2004 ->
5. We generate and provide valuable
information for and at our meetings ->,
and
6. We say “Thank
You” w/ our annual Certificates of Appreciation ->
We’re a great group of people who meets only once a month.
We’re also happy to help promote our new meeting space from our website
and at our meetings. We’d like to finish up our year, our *10th*
year, and then from there decide if we’re up for another. Thank
you for your help in finding the right place, and we’ll see you at
our next meeting!
Sincerely,
Doan Thiel Stafford
Co-Chair—QMUG/LA
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http://www.qmug.org
QMUGLA@aol.com
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(323) 860-8842
(323) 860-7340 fax
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