[frgeek-michiana] Lab Notes, Th., July 17, 2003

Lab Notes, Th., July 17, 2003

Present: Goose, Olin, Mike, Tom; 6:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m.

:: Move material upstairs

   The plan was to move material out of the storage room upstairs into a
new, smaller room. Unfortunately the new room was not ready. The Sallie's
maintenance man, Dan, showed up some time between 7:00 and 8:00 p.m. and
began clearing out the room. 
   
   Goose helped Dan move some big items and delighted at the opportunity to
throw stuff off the top floor fire escape. But they didn't finish in time
for us to make the move last night. We did move everything stored in the
lab area. 
   
   Goose and I plan to meet at the church Sunday afternoon to finish the
move. We'll let you know what time in case anyone wants to join us.

:: New donors

   Two new donors dropped off computer systems last night. It occurred to
me today that we should have offered our donors a tour of the lab,
demonstrated a FreeBox and given them a flyer for the upcoming classes. I
will send them a flyer and apologize for not being more hospitable.

:: FreeBox classes

   The next FreeBox class is this Saturday, Jul. 19. And I scheduled a
class on Saturday, Aug. 2. The goal is to distribute six FreeBoxes at each
of the next two classes.
   
   I dropped off flyers at the Sallie. Capt. Jody Montgomery, co-minister
at the Sallie, will pass out the flyers to everyone who comes in the church
and will copy more to pass out in the immediate neighborhood. Jody will
also contact the River of Life church, which is close by. And I dropped off
flyers at Broadway Christian Parish, a quarter of a mile or so south of the
Sallie, and spoke with the church secretary. 

:: Prep FreeBoxes

   Mike, Goose, Olin and I cleaned six FreeBoxes, installed CD-ROM drives
and set up guest user accounts. 
   
   Our goal is to get the boxes out of the food pantry and distribute them
on July 19. What isn't given away on 19th will be added to the Aug. 2 class
inventory. The Health Department will probably re-inspect the church
mid-August.
   
   Adding the CD-ROM drives was a breeze with Vector Linux. But getting the
drives mounted was not always easy -- we need drive mount hardware for
several different chassis styles. 

:: IRC E-Scrap meeting in Indy

   OJ and Tom drove to Indy last Tuesday for the Indiana Recycling
Coalition (IRC) Indiana E-Scrap Action Program (INESAP) meeting. I have
bullet points from the meeting, but they are better-shared off-list. 

   The best part of the meeting was the end when participants hurriedly
networked with each other. 
   
   Another highlight was the statement by the president of the Indiana
Association of Solid Waste Management Districts that they desperately need
reuse alternatives. FGM is (believe this or not) the primary reuse
alternative in Indiana. We are ahead of the curve on reuse and by default
are the leaders. FGM is exactly what the 60+ waste management districts are
looking for as we planned.

:: Yard sale

   Goose, Juice and WageSlave manned the tables at the Wakarusa
Mile-and-a-Half annual yard sale last Saturday. The upshot is that
traditional yard sales are not the best venue for selling computer parts.
We made a little money, but we can probably do better at hamfests and
computer shows.

:: Email list on Indy server

   Since FreeLists is back up, the immediate pressure to set up our own
email server has abated. But there is a second priority driving an FGM
email server. FGM needs to be professional, and as I ramp up marketing, we
don't want personal email addresses on our marketing material.

   Gnubie is reading the original specs for email and Exim docs. Exim is
the default mta for Debian.

:: South Bend office/warehouse leads

   Juice has a contact, Henry (don't recall his last name), who loves what
FGM is doing. Henry wants to help, and he is looking for 2,000 sq. ft. or
larger office/warehouse space for us. 

   Henry has already found two spaces in South Bend and one in LaPorte.
Juice will follow up on the properties. Henry thinks we stand a good chance
of getting space in exchange for the tax write off. 


   When we find donated office/warehouse space, FGM will jump to the next
level of productivity. Go Henry!

:: Incorporation

   Gnubie collected the incorporation papers from our pro bono attorney in
Valpo, Richard (Rick) Busse, and sent them to me. Olin has agreed to serve
as the third. As soon as each incorporator signs the application, I will
cut a check for $30 and submit it.

//tom



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