Acceptance Speeches for 2004

This Year’s Officers — 

Bruce Aguilar, Yahoo! Co-Chair 
  “I’ve been a member of QMUG for two out of its ten years and was honored to be asked to contribute this year.  It’s been a lot of fun.  Thanks for the opportunity!  Here’s to another ten years of fun, friends, learning, great presenters and most importantly the Mac!”

Doan Stafford, qmug.org Chair 
  “Being an officer of QMUG/LA for the past ten years has been an honor and a pleasure.  QMUG/LA could not and would not be here today w/o the generous support and contributions from all of our officers, presenters, significant others, members, Apple, and 3rd-party companies.  I think QMUG/LA is incredibly unique and special in so many ways, and this way in particular where we acknowledge and thank those who have helped us out each year makes me incredibly proud to be not only an officer of, but a member of this intersection of the gay community, the Mac community, and the Los Angeles community that is QMUG/LA.  For these ten years of having fun and helping people, I thank you all very much.”

Gil Dawson, Yahoo! Co-Chair 
  “While I am very greatful for such a fine honor, I feel I have really done very little.  The real thanks goes to Doan Stafford, whose incredible energy holds it all together.  Congratulations to QMUG, and especially to Doan, for pulling off a full ten years of unparalleled Mac worship!”

Frank Manis, Marketing Chair 
  “Wow, ten years of QMUG, and I have been here off & on for most of it, all the changes that have happened, the history.  To put things into a historical perspective with the internet, when QMUG started the ‘Net’ was just a bunch of dial up command line BBS’s on high speed 16.6k modems.  And there were the big four internet portals: Compuserve, Oracle, AOL & Delphi.”

Some of This Year’s Presenters — 

Christian Boyce, Mac Consultant* 
  “I say thank you to QMUG, and congratulations too.  Sorry that I don’t have a talking fish to donate to the raffle.  Maybe next year.”

Deborah Shadovitz, GoLive guru* 
  “You come to these meetings to learn more cool stuff about the world’s greatest computing system — not to hear long acceptance speeches.  So... I thank my parents for encouraging me to explore new things.  And I thank you all for inviting me here.  I learn from you as you learn from me — and that’s the way I love life to be.  Thank you for inviting us.”

Doug Glenn, of swbydesign.com* 
  “Thanks for the opportunity to be of service.  It’s always a joy to present to QMUG.”

Garr Reynolds, of Japan* 
  “Congratulations on your tenth year!!!  I am really impressed with your energy, commitment, professionalism, and attention to details.  Your group is wonderful and it has been a pleasure to attend two of your meetings.  I wish I could attend meetings more regularly, but it is a little tough from Japan.  Other user groups can learn a lot from the way you run your group and make it feel like a very cool, warm community.  Congratulations again!”

Mario Salinas, of Amazon Networks* 
  “What [Deborah] said.  Well, she’s the writer.  :)  Thank you for inviting us.”

Stephanie Gans, of About Your Macintosh...* 
  “Thank you, for providing me the opportunity to speak with your group.  You guys were really fun to speak with, and kept me entertained the entire evening (certainly not your priority, but one of mine — grin/wink).  I hope I was able to provide some useful information and entertainment to you, as well.  I thoroughly enjoyed my experience, and look forward to any opportunities to present to you, in the future.  Thank you.”

And Some of This Year’s Significant Others — 

Chuck Joiner, Apple User Group Advisory Board Chair* 
  “You and your group are most generous.  We all do it for one reason — it is fun!  Thank you for your thoughtfulness.”

Jeff Mosqueda, Apple User Group Program Manager* 
  “Wow!  Congratulations to Doan and all of QMUG/LA on your tenth anniversary.  It’s always a pleasure to see Apple user groups like yours that are so active and engaged in the community.  Here’s wishing you best of luck in the next ten years.”

Trish Huffman, User Group Chat Host* 
  “Thank you, QMUG/LA and Doan, for selecting me to receive a Certificate of Appreciation during your 10th Anniversary and Awards Ceremony.  I am most humble and appreciative; however, the kudos go to YOU for being such an active and integral part of the Apple User Group program.  Warmest and best wishes for your continued success.”