I’d like to start by thanking everyone who contributes articles to the newsletter. I hear nice things about Bits of Blue all the time, and it’s because of everyone who pulls together to make it a great newsletter. William LaMartin works very hard as the editor. He needed more help last month than he had when it came time to assemble and mail the newsletters. If you can help with this, please contact William and find out when and where you need to go to volunteer.

The president of the Clearwater group is compiling a list of available presenters for the local user groups. We should hopefully be able to benefit from this. However, I thought member William LaMartin did a great job with his "hand held" presentation last month. Thanks, William!

The FACUG Fall Conference is October 14, 2000 at the Sunlight Community Church in Port St. Lucie, Florida. If you’re interested in attending, just let me know and I’ll be glad to tell you how to register.

Things seem to get a little slower and more sluggish in the summer, and the User Group is no exception. Fewer people attend the meetings, and it’s more difficult to get presenters. The Board didn’t meet last month because of vacations. So enjoy the summer and get ready for things to get livelier in the next month or so.

The theme for COMDEX/Fall is Technology Decisions for the New E-conomy. The dates are November 13-17, 2000 in Las Vegas, Nevada. If you have plans to go, check out the APCUG web site for discounted rooms and information on the conference that the APCUG holds at the same time as COMDEX.

If you have an opinion as to whether or not there should be snacks at the regular meetings, please email me at mcpease@mindspring.com. There hasn’t been much money in the snack donation basket, and I don’t know if it’s a good thing or a waste of time. I’d also like to know how important the quality or quantity of the ‘raffle prizes’ are. Thanks in advance for your input.

I’d like to express my sympathy to the Harrell family. Frank was a gentle, sweet man, and he will be missed.

The next meeting of the Board will be on August 3, 2000 at BAE (unless that location becomes unavailable). Everyone is invited to attend. Just let a Board member know in advance that you plan to be there, so your name can be included on the list for security reasons.

Thanks to everyone for making it fun to be part of the group. u