by Jack Kincaid / jkinca1@cugkc.cjb.net
It has become a little more official. On the news (2/8) there was a story about the Plaza library. One of two possible things could happen. The library is still looking for some large hotel or motel to build on the site and the library would be part of the building. The other possibility is to have the city council vote on a $14 million new building for the library. In any case they were predicting the closure date in late summer. A possible location for the interim library was UMKC during construction of the new building. So it looks like our months are numbered!
Those of you that have logged onto the BBS lately: have you noticed the speed now? Scott Heider has put to good use an old 486 computer that Frank Scott left me. It really did speed things up. Good Job Scott! Now if we can get some more people to logon and use it.
Hey! The CUGKC now has a Web page, thanks to the hard work of Scott Heider. Scott has been busy! Another job well done, THANKS. For those who can get on the Net, go to http://cugkc.cjb.net and look around.
We had no renewals or new members in February. Maybe next month will be better.
I went over to Leslie Lacy's home to help him get started on the newsletter but the only thing we accomplished was to trash his NovaTerm disk. If you really want something screwed up, call ME. I think we are going to need a little more help getting the newsletter started.
Is there anyone out there that would like to upgrade from a 64 to a 128? I have two or maybe three 128s; if someone wants one, call or see me at the meeting. Also available are monitors and disk drives, so if you want a spare or a second or third drive, now is a good time. I need to get rid of some of this stuff to keep peace in the household. Need an extra monitor? Another drive? A printer? Give me a call, we have them all! I have an Okimate 10 color printer with docs and interface.
Financial Report
Balance Feb. 2000.................... $288.76
Income: ............................. $ 0.00
Expenses:............................-$ 0.00
Closing Balance...................... $288.76
by Scott Heider / sheide1@cugkc.cjb.net
The Group meeting for February was held on Wednesday, February 2nd at the Plaza Library. The attendance was approximately 8 members.
There wasn't a lot of news to report this month, but the brief news is big. It took 20 years, but CUGKC is finally on the World Wide Web. Yours Truly has built a website for CUGKC, and a demo of it was shown at February's Group meeting. Highlights of the site include the beginnings of a Ryte Bytes newsletter archive, a link to CUGKC's new discussion forum on Delphi, posted meeting notices, and the opportunity for members to post their own classified web page. If you missed the demo, then please surf over to http://cugkc.cjb.net to check out the site. If you have questions or suggestions about the site, please email them to cugkc@cugkc.cjb.net.
There was no Disk of the Month at February's meeting because our software librarian Vance had not unpacked the club's disk library after his recent move. Look for a new disk (or perhaps 2) at March's meeting. If you would like to purchase any previous Disk of the Month, they will be available at the next Group meeting for the low price of $3 each.
Finally, a reminder about the next Group meeting. See you at the Plaza Library at 7:00 on Wednesday, March 1st.
by Lenard R Roach / lroach1@cugkc.cjb.net
What to write about... Did you ever get into that position? You sit down in front of your Commodore: the monitor is glowing brightly; the drive just finished loading up your favorite word processing program; you've got your favorite beverage sitting at arm's length from you, yet at a safe distance from your Commodore set up; waiting for something to pop into your head so you can jot down what has entered therein and -- nothing happens. When your vocation or hobby is writing it is deplorable when writer's block sets in. You could possibly go insane if you can't come up with even a little something to fill a page. Even a sentence or two will give the avid writer some form of mental relief for a short time, but writers must continue to scribble. For those of us who have a passion for the art, it keeps us sane.
Billy Crystal's character in the film, "Throw Momma From The Train" said a line that was echoed throughout the movie, "A writer writes." Writes what? I dunno. That depends on who possess the word processor. For the versatile writer, no subject is taboo. If you write for a magazine or newsletter, like this one, you have the restrictions of staying within a certain confine, therefore your material must be within said confine, in this case it is the Commodore 8-bit computer. I can't write about veterinary medicine and expect it to get published in "Ryte Bytes" now, can I? But if I rewrite the same article and make it about how veterinary medicine and the Commodore work together, then we have something of interest to the readers of "Ryte Bytes."
Jack Kincaid in the June 1999 issue of "Ryte Bytes" asked for article submissions to the newsletter. I hope with this article to encourage you to try something like that. I don't think anyone is asking anyone else to be a Mark Twain or an Ernest Hemmingway, but just take a moment to express an anecdote about the Commodore. Many of us have been working on Commodores a long time. Write about some frustrations or accomplishments that are associated with your relationships to your machine. Also there are some new users among us. I would personally like to know why, or what sold you on getting a Commodore over an IBM or Machintosh and how they are liking their new addition to the family, and also if there are any problems we as a group can help you with.
For an example of a problem, Frank Scott came to me one meeting and asked if I could write some sort of a screen saver for the Commodore 64 and Commodore 128 models. I have deliberated and considered his idea for quite some time and in response wrote an article concerning his suggestion. I uploaded it to the Commodore Central BBS newsletter file section, but if I understood right, there was a problem in the transfer protocol I used and I needed to upload the article again using a different protocol. But the point I'm trying to make is that I did write the article and submitted it for the editor's approval despite the problems in sending the material over the phone line.
But what if the article is bad? What if nobody likes it? If that's what's keeping you from sending something to "Ryte Bytes" then my suggestion to you is: STOP THINKING THAT WAY!! My experience has taught me there is always at least one person who will appreciate what you have written out of the multitudes that thinks your work is garbage. They may wish they would have done it themselves or they are grateful that you made this point of subject known. Maybe you made them laugh and put a spot of sunshine in their otherwise dreary day. Sometimes you'll never know if you've touched someone either positively or negatively, but you'll never know if you don't try. My dad told me that trying and failing is better than going through life never trying and wondering what the results would have been. I wouldn't be where I am today if it wasn't for me trying and failing; and getting up only to try again. Kind of like that falling off the proverbial horse thing. Yeah, you know what I'm talking about.
If you wish to give an article a try but want somebody to check it over before it goes to the editor, then leave me a message in the "C.U.G.K.C.-Talk" echo on the Commodore Central B.B.S. (816-415-2128), then upload your article to the "General Text" area of the file sections. If this isn't feasible, then mail me a hard copy along with your phone number. My home address is: 1915 Central Ave., Kansas City, Kansas, 66102-4812. I'll be glad to help you in any way I can.
That's it! Get those Commodore word processing packages loaded and start typing. Remember this as you start writing: The longest story starts with the first letter, of the first paragraph, on the first page.
The Commodore Users Group of Kansas City is a not-for-profit educational support group for persons using Commodore computers.
Membership benefits include a monthly newsletter as well as access to CUGKC's Bulletin Board System (BBS) open 23.5 hours every day, with upload and download privileges, plus electronic mail, and access to over 500 doors of the FidoNet (part of a world-wide network). Also, members receive access to a library of over 1000 public domain and shareware disks.
Dues are $30 the first year, $25 annually thereafter. Disks of the month and library disks cost $3 each for members.
Meetings are held on the first Wednesday of every month in the Lower Level Meeting Room of the Plaza branch of the Kansas City Public Library, 4801 Main Street, Kansas City, Missouri. Visitors are welcome to attend any meeting. For more information, contact any officer:
Email us at cugkc@cugkc.cjb.net
or visit our web site at http://cugkc.cjb.net.
Our snail-mail address is:
CUGKC
PO Box 36034
Kansas City, Missouri 64111