SPUG: The State of the SPUGion: Big Changes

Tim Maher tim at consultix-inc.com
Sat Jan 3 18:43:31 CST 2004


SPUGsters,

Happy New Year -- now get ready for some really SPUGstantial news!


END OF AN ERA: SPUG leaves Safeco Auditorium

I've just learned that Feb. 17th will be our last meeting at the Safeco
auditorium. I'm sorry to hear that, because it's vitally important to the
health and productivity of a users group to have a stable meeting place
(just ask London.pm), and we've been very fortunate to have had the use
of this *very nice meeting place* for /so very long/.

Please join me in a virtual salute to the "powers that be" over at
Safeco for their generosity in making their auditorium available to us,
and especially to fellow SPUGsters Dora Choi and Andy Sweger for hosting
the meetings and making sure everything works:

	csh -c 'repeat 3 echo "Hip, hip, hooray!"'

  ("repeat" is literally the ONLY feature I ever use the C-shell for!)


JOB OPENING: SPUG Leader

As it happens, I've been planning an announcement of my own, and given
this recent development, I've decided to make it coincide with the change
in venue.  Specifically, I'm stepping down as SPUG leader, effective Feb.
17, at 9pm (i.e., immediately after I finish the talk I have in mind
for that meeting).

I'm delighted that we've achieved worldwide recognition with our
achievements in SPUG, and I'm proud to have played a part in that.
Most of all, I'm glad we've been able to establish a local community of
mutually supportive Perl mongers that has as much depth and breadth in
technical matters as any other Perl group on the planet.

So why am I stepping down?

I feel that I've accomplished with SPUG what I set out to do, and having
met that challenge, I'd like to have more time to spend on other pursuits
(viz., my Perl book, my training business, developing Perl programmer
certifications, my hobbies, and charity work). 

So it's time for others, with untapped reserves of enthusiasm
and ideas, to step forward and guide SPUG into the future.


THE TRANSITIONAL PERIOD

I'll continue to manage the mailing list, web page, and speaker
arrangements through the Feb. meeting.

On the other hand, I'll leave the process of finding a new home for
SPUG meetings to others.  In this regard, I heartily recommend that a
"Venue Search Committee" be established ASAP to address this issue. 
(I'll be happy to offer suggestions based on my copious experience of
dealing with this problem *way too many times* in the past.)


SEE YOU SOON

I'll see you at the January and February meetings, and I look forward to
celebrating SPUG's 6th birthday with you all at the new (to be determined)
meeting place on March 16th!

All the best for 2004,

-Tim

*******************************************************************
P.S. Action Item: SPUGsters need to form a "Venue Search Committee"
*******************************************************************

==============================================================
| Tim Maher, Ph.D.                    tim(AT)teachmeperl.com | 
| SPUG Founder & Leader              spug(AT)teachmeperl.com |
| Seattle Perl Users Group        http://www.seattleperl.com |
| SPUG Wiki Site               http://spugwiki.perlocity.org |
| Perl Certification Site      http://perlcert.perlocity.org |
==============================================================



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