May 11, 2018
Dear Everyone:
This has been a very busy week, ARMA-wise.
On Tuesday, we had our latest Chapter Meeting.
In all about 16 people showed up.
Our Chapter currently consists of only 22 members.
Of the 16 attendees, four were members of the Board, which makes
about 25% of the total turnout.
A few others were either members of the
Mt Diablo Chapter, or the
Silicon Valley Chapter.
The majority of attendees were people who found out about the
event through the
City Clerks’
Listserv.
It seems we may have found our target demographic:
People who work for cities and who are not actual ARMA members.
Let’s face it, the
East Bay abounds with little municipalities, mostly “commuter
towns”, which nonetheless generate a tremendous amount of recorded
material that must be managed one way or another.
The attendees were particularly interested in our guest speaker’s
presentation on how she bulldozed through 150-years’ worth of old paper
and newer electronic information to create a navigable system for her
water district.
Also, the lunch was free.
Then, this morning, we had a “cloud meeting” with ARMA International’s
head of membership
about the “New! And Improved!” website, to show us how to use certain
functionality available at the new website.
International has been promising a new website for over a year
now, so I was interested to see if it had, actually, been improved.
There were a few encouraging aspects that I’ll look into, once I
get our Chapter President to send in a request to give me
admin rights.
Since it means shifting work from her plate to mine, I don’t
expect she’ll object.
(I can hear "Richard" yelling, “What did I tell you?
Don’t volunteer for
anything!”)
In other news, we here in
California have a
Primary
Election coming up in a few weeks.
I already have my Ballot and Voter Information Guide.
It’s not unusual in California to have a few people campaigning for
political office and a whole flock of voter-initiated
Ballot Measures
to consider. But this year,
the opposite is true: Only
five Propositions and 27 choices for
Governor.
That’s right, 27 people are running for a single political office.
And we’re only allowed to choose one.
Mind you, this is just the Primary.
The
General Election isn’t until November.
By then, presumably the field will have been reduced to only one
Democrat, one Republican, one Green Party, one Libertarian, one Peace
and Freedom, and one “None of the above”.
Take the first volunteer on the ballot:
“Christopher N. Carlson, Puppeteer/Musician”.
Questions immediately arise.
Is he a puppeteer AND a musician; is he a puppeteer OR musician?
Or is he a puppeteer whose puppet plays a musical instrument?
In which case, which instrument?
Obviously he can multitask.
That may make him a
crackerjack when it comes to children’s birthday parties; but will
such a skill pan out with the
Legislature?
Next up: “Thomas Jefferson
Cares, Blockchain
Startup
CEO”.
Well, it’s nice to know that Thomas Jefferson cares about
something. As for his
occupation, blockchains are the latest
bugaboo for
Records Managers,
since each electronic piece is both a single record and a part of the
whole chain, which is a record in itself, except when Tuesday falls on
Thursday. As for “Startup
CEO”, translation:
Unemployed.
And that’s just the first two.
25 more to go. Plus,
of course, a write-in.
Next up, eleven candidates for
Lieutenant
Governor, plus write-in.
And eight
Secretary of State wannabees.
Five Treasurers. Four
Attorneys
General.
And a
partridge in a pear tree.
It’s going to be a busy weekend, voting for just one of each.
In the meantime, I purchased airline tickets for “Jeannie” and me to go
visit “Alice” next October, when the world-renowned (locally)
New York State Sheep and Wool Festival takes place in beautiful
downtown
Rhinebeck the weekend of the 20th.
It’s a chance to rub elbows with many fiber-arts enthusiasts
amidst lots and lots of hand-dyed wool and associated paraphernalia.
Not to mention the exciting (I kid you not) Sheep to Shawl
contest and sheepdog trials.
In the blink of an eye, it’s already turning into a
Family Reunion.
With Sheep.
Love, as always,
Pete
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