SPUG: Happy 4th Birthday, SPUG!

[Tim Maher]

SPUGsters,

Just a quick note to commemorate the fact that this group was born
four years ago today, at a meeting at a community center in Ballard
(a neighborhood of Seattle, WA, USA)!

Where did the idea for SPUG come from?  Well, while contemplating my
existence atop a smoke-spewing volcano in Java, Indonesia a few weeks
earlier, I had resolved to try to establish a local community to support
those using this fantastic language.  I wasn't sure if anybody would
show up to that inaugural meeting, but as it happened, about two dozen
gave up their inalienable rights as Americans to drink Green Beer and
attended this meeting instead.

There are hundreds of Perl groups now, but at the time, SPUG was only
the *sixth* ever formed.  (Incidentally, this is why we've retained
the SPUG moniker, despite the fact that later groups came to be know by
"Perl Monger" appellations.)

Thanks to all those who've participated in making SPUG a success!
In particular, please join me in thanking zipcon.net, our web-page
sponsor, the folks at Safeco, who provide our meeting space, along with
Andy Sweger and Dora Choi, who manage that resource, and Colin Meyer,
who frequently helps wherever necessary to keep SPUG running smoothly.
And, of course, Damian Conway ("The Damian"), who frequently ventures
halfway across the globe to inspire and terrify us with his strangely
deranged yet profound Perl musings.

We've had over 50 meetings thus far, which have featured many of the
most influential people in the Perl community, including Damian Conway,
Marc Jason Dominus, Gisle Ais, Nathan Torkington, Brian Ingerson, and
Randal Schwartz.  Not to mention presentations by many local members,
who have shared their Perl knowledge with us through long presentations,
short presentations, and "lightning talks".

For those of you who are interested in contributing to the group,
there are many ways to do so.  We are always looking for speakers for
upcoming meetings who can teach us something about the Perl language or
describe interesting Perl applications they've discovered or written,
so if you'd like to make a presentation, get in touch with me.

We're also always looking for volunteers to help with other tasks, like
recruiting speakers, maintaining the web page, coordinating job-ads,
setting up additional internet-based services, coordinating joint software
development activities, etc.

This is our group, and we can do whatever we want with it, so if anybody
has suggestions about improvements, especially if you're willing to help
implement them, let me know!

And happy "SPUG-Patrick's" Day!

======================================================
|  Tim Maher, Ph.D.            tim at timmaher.org      |
|  SPUG Founder & Leader       spug at seattleperl.org  |
|  Seattle Perl Users Group    www.seattleperl.org   |
======================================================

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