2007 December 18 SEDS-USA Exec Transcript

From SEDSWiki

SEDS-USA Executive Board Meeting, December 18, 2007
Time: 9:00pm EST
Location: Babylon Chat
Attendance: Joshua Nelson, Kelly Mann, HaoQi Li, Ryan McLinko, Ryan Goodnight, Joshua Sosa, Brian Young, Darrell Cain
Josh1> Hey all
KellyMann10> Hello
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Josh1> sorry for the trouble. We'll not be using AIM.
Josh1> Anymore
HaoQi Li> ever?
mclinkor> well it seems to consistantly not work
Goodnight> Howdy
Josh1> prob no.
Josh1> this is their third strike
Josh1> lol
Josh1> now they're out
Josh1> hell, Second Life was more reliable than this
Josh1> as finiky as it was
mclinkor> but it is evil too
Goodnight> haha ohh gosh...i heard about the second life days
Josh1> just waiting on Brian Young I believe
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Josh1> Second life was an experiment, turned out to not be practical
Joshua Sosa> hm, when it comes to chats, have you tried using flashchat?
Josh1> You're webmaster, if you want to put up a better chat server,
feel free
Josh1> this one sucks...
Josh1> lol
mclinkor> does googletalk do chats
Joshua Sosa> lol, great
Josh1> Googletalk does I believe
HaoQi Li> I wonder what a Second Life meeting is like
btyoung> miserable if your computer isn't very fast
mclinkor> consider yourself lucky to not have experienced
Goodnight> haha...i downloaded that thing and got so frustrated that i
gave up on it
Josh1> ok
Josh1> lets get started
Josh1> Ryan, can you go first with an update on how the Endowment Fund
Telecon went?
mclinkor> ok
mclinkor> so we had both a good representation from exec board and from
some people that john gedmark put together
mclinkor> and we came up with a number of ideas as to how to proceed
mclinkor> so we're going to review those over the next few weeks and put
together some updated documents/etc
mclinkor> and then meet again
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Josh1> *kicks chat*
mclinkor> I will be in corrsepondence with those of you who attended for
dividing up any changes and other things that we need to get moving on
mclinkor> if any of you are interested in helping out who didn't attend
the meeting, then let me know
mclinkor> any questions?
Josh1> Any key points or things taken away from the meeting?
mclinkor> well, the biggest takeaway
mclinkor> ie difference from the previous plan
mclinkor> was to create the endowment as a searately incorporated
entitiy for the time being
mclinkor> which actually allows us to solve a lot of the accountability
issues
Josh1> Any questions for Ryan?
*private from KellyMann10*> Hi Ryan, if you need help I would be willing
to help out :)
Josh1> Ok in that case I would like to move on to the next (semi related
item) of the Advisory Board. One of the points brought up in the
Endowment Fund meeting was creating (as Ryan said) this seperate
incorperation
Josh1> And it was suggested that since we are trying to find purpose for
the advisory board
Josh1> and want to find a meaningful way they can be involved, and
provide positive reinforcement to those looking to donate
Josh1> that they might 'head' or lead this seperate corperate entity
Josh1> I'd like to open it to general discussion (with a time limit of
10 minutes)
Josh1> What do you guys think of this?
btyoung> i like it, it provides the kind of influence they said would need
make it a viable entitybtyoung> which for those who don't know, was one
of the big take-aways from the advisory board meeting at MIT
Josh1> Anyone else?
Josh1> In that case I move that we approve the formation of a seperate
entity (pending research as to the pheasibility and implications) for
the purposes of the endowment fund, to be supervised by the advisory board.
Josh1> Do I have a second?
mclinkor> yes
KellyMann10> seconded
Josh1> All in favor? (Aye/Nay/Abstain)
btyoung> aye
Joshua Sosa> aye
mclinkor> i
Goodnight> aye
KellyMann10> aye
HaoQi Li> aye
Darrell> aye
Josh1> Motion carries
Josh1> 7-0-0
Josh1> Next item on the agenda, update on the Lapel Pins, Brian do you
have anything new? ( I know you've been busy with finals)
btyoung> no, i just need to talk to Brian about what company his dad
uses, and then I'll look at a few other companies to be sure and go
ahead and get in contact
Josh1> Any questions for Brian on the lapel pins?
Goodnight> quick question...when it comes time to place an order on
these pins...will they be funded out of the general SEDS account or from
personal sources?
btyoung> general SEDS account
btyoung> when are you going to be back in CS?
Goodnight> ok just be sure to let me know what the cost is going to be
and after we all agree on the expenditure I can write you a check
btyoung> sounds good
Goodnight> i should be back the day after christmas or so
btyoung> all right, i'll be back a day or two after new years, we can
take care of it then probably
btyoung> assuming everything else goes forward as planned
Goodnight> sounds good...i am still waiting on the checks to get
made...as soon as that gets done it will be easy to keep good records
and distribute money when needed
Josh1> on that note, one item that was mentioned during the Advisory
board meeting is accountability
Josh1> it was recommended that we find some sort of accounting software
Josh1> to set up on our server
Josh1> all expenditures would be submitted/filed through that service
Josh1> Does anyone know of any good (free or cheap) systems that we
might be able to use?
Goodnight> yeah i like the recommendation of quickbooks...I think thats
what I will use for my personal records...as for the server I am not
sure what is best. Anyone have any ideas?
KellyMann10> i use the same software
KellyMann10> i think its pretty good
Goodnight> k
mclinkor> i don't think we can put it on our linux server tho
Goodnight> yeah that was my concern
mclinkor> but there could be a submission form on the website
btyoung> linux your stuck with something like GnuCash, which I've heard
aren't particularly good
mclinkor> and then you could be running quickbooks
Josh1> Could you guys look into it
Goodnight> ok...that might work...yeah thats fine...ill check it out and
get in touch with Ryan about it
Josh1> cool thanks
wJosh1> we should try to get this up before January 1st
Josh1> so we can officially be opening our books with it starting 01/01/08
mclinkor> agreed
Goodnight> yeah...Jan 1st is when I will be starting my official record
keeping
Josh1> Good. Ryan, could you see about setting up a seperate account in
whatever system we have for the Endowment Fund organization?
Josh1> be useful if we could show record keeping from day 1
Josh1> (Mclinko)
Goodnight> ahh ok...again ill be Goodnight to avoid confusion
mclinkor> yeah, that's one of the items to be done by me or delegated
that I was talking about before
Josh1> k
mclinkor> btw, for confusion, I don't mind mclinkor or mclinko as being
referred to
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Goodnight> k
Josh1> alright, next item: Expansion Packet
Josh1> HaoQi, how has the packet been going with you and Brian Z?
HaoQi Li> sorry
HaoQi Li> I am here
HaoQi Li> we're going to work on it a lot more during winter break
HaoQi Li> so no progress from last week
Josh1> k
Josh1> Rocket update... Me!
HaoQi Li> ah
HaoQi Li> and
Josh1> go ahead
HaoQi Li> Kelly I think you should tell them what you were telling me
HaoQi Li> about the high school chapters
KellyMann10> k
KellyMann10> so i contacted the old high school chapters from last year,
and they are all dead, except for mine, and they dont have any plans of
comming back
mclinkor> even monta vista?
KellyMann10> im not sure
HaoQi Li> were they particularly active before?
mclinkor> I just say since our old dir hs affairs was pretty active
KellyMann10> but i am asuming they are, because i havent gotten an email
response from them
mclinkor> but maybe it died when he graduated (I think he was a senior)
HaoQi Li> is the old hs affairs still at the school?
HaoQi Li> nvmd
HaoQi Li> was this last year?
Josh1> Well do the best you can to contact them
Josh1> worse case, lets form new ones
HaoQi Li> because if so, he might still know people from the school who
did SEDS stuff with him
KellyMann10> if someone knows the president personaly, it would be great
if they could contact him
KellyMann10> just to make sure it wasnt an electronic error
mclinkor> so I didn't know him all that well, but it appears he is
online (rohan ramadas): rramadas009
mclinkor> you can just introduce yourself as current dir hs
Josh1> Well see about messaging him Kelly ;-)
Josh1> no time like the present!
Josh1> :-)
KellyMann10> yeah, im on it :)
Josh1> Alright
Josh1> Rocket update: I've arranged a call with the FAA to discuss the
huge document they sent me
Josh1> Will let you guys know what the result is.
Josh1> Havent even finished reading all of their notes
Josh1> epic in quality
Josh1> and quantity
Josh1> Last item for the meeting: Constitution updates
Josh1> Our constitution is fairly old, and the organizational structure
really needs to be reworked
Josh1> in the next 2-3 weeks I want to have a teleconference to discuss
re-organizing SEDS more efficiently (and writing things like the
Endowment fund formally into the wording)
Josh1> Who here is interested in helping contribute to
such a 'constitutional congress'? mclinkor> yo
Josh1> ( If not, no biggie)
btyoung> i'll be there unless schedulings a problem
mclinkor> ok, there wasn't a newline for some reason
Josh1> (yuppers... Java joy
)Darrell> I'm interested in participating in the telecon
Josh1> Ok, an email will go out to everyone, but especially you guys who
expressed interest, I would suggest reading through the constitution in
its current form
Josh1> I would like to have us all on the same page before the
teleconference
Josh1> so probably a special chat session would be in order
Josh1> Last item: Next weeks meeting
Josh1> Does anyone expect to have anything to talk about next week,
given the holiday?
Josh1> In that case I move to cancel next weeks meeting of the Exec
Board. do I have a second?
btyoung> second
Josh1> All in favor?
KellyMann10> aye
mclinkor> Josh1> (Aye/Nay/Abstain)
i
btyoung> aye
Joshua Sosa> aye
HaoQi Li> aye
Darrell> aye
Goodnight> aye
Josh1> Motion carries
Josh1> (7-0-0
Josh1> In that case I'll see you all in two weeks
Josh1> Try to get some SEDS work done!
Goodnight> ok lata on dudes and dudettes
Josh1> I'd love it if we actually had updates from everyone :-)
Josh1> PleasE?
Josh1> Christmas gift to me?
Josh1> :-)
KellyMann10> sure :)
HaoQi Li> Won't disappoint you
Josh1> Meeting adjourned
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Josh1> Ryan, have you been in here the whole meeting?
Josh1> (I got kicked 3 times)
mclinkor> to me?
mclinkor> yes
Josh1> Can you take transcript?
Josh1> yeah
mclinkor> may be easer to refer to me as mclinko
btyoung> goodnight
Josh1> probably
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Josh1> so you can take transcript?
2007-2008 SEDS-USA Meetings
Exec Board Minutes: