Sime~Gen? Inc. New Years Chat - 2005 This is a record of the formal meeting of Sime~Gen participants for purpose of voting the Awards due for tasks accomplished during 2004, and for awarding Preferred, non-voting shares of stock in Sime~Gen Inc. Below is the log of the business meeting. The meeting was called to order by Jacqueline Lichtenberg & Jean Lorrah CAST OF CHARACTERS _irc_name -- 'real' name_ JL -- Jacqueline Lichtenberg Jean -- Jean Lorrah Patric -- Patric Michael, Sime~Gen Webmaster Karen -- Karen MacLeod Seanara -- Seanara Coyote _irc_name -- 'real' name_ kaires -- Kaires Tevesu N'omi -- N`omi Rose Lexie -- Alexis Pakulak Laurraine -- Laurraine Tutihasi MTZ -- Margaret Carr MaryLou -- Mary Lou Mendum (came in near the end) Session Start: Sun Jan 02 14:55 2005 EST Session Ident: #sgchat * Karen changes topic to 'Annual New Year's Chat Business Meeting Room' Hello everyone. It's time to call the meeting to order. Shall we begin with reports? Jacqueline? I think we have some department reports because we've had some considerable amount of activity lately. First I have a report to enter into the record from the Reviews Department. Laurraine Tutihasi filed this report. Sime~Gen Reviews Department Report - by Laurraine Tutihasi A NOTE FROM THE REVIEWS EDITOR: I took over the Reviews section at the end of 2003. During the beginning of 2004, I oversaw the introduction of the new Reviews section online. Since that time, about 390 reviews have been posted. Some of those are reviews that were copied over from the old sections; this process has not yet been completed. Older reviews are copied over only when the books are still widely available. Our currently active reviewers are: ** Amy Harlib Alisa McCune April May Rollins Martha Ann Della Camera Beverly J. Rowe Allie Bates Cheryl R. Houston Linda Nelson Darlene Kendall Kara Hash Diane Mason Flora Mobley Alice Klein Gloria J Magid Sheri Stanley Harriet Klausner Katherine Maria Scott Michelle Combs Jeanette Cottrell Margaret L. Carter Christy ONeal Nan H Doporto Chari R-Laurraine Tutihasi Miriam Jean Lamb Wanda Maynard Karyn Elizabeth Barrette Of those, the only ones actively reviewing are: *Amy Harlib, Martha Ann Della Camera, Kara Hash, Diane Mason, Flora Mobley, Alice Klein, Gloria J Magid, Harriet Klausner, Michelle Combs*, and *Wanda Maynard*. A few others have been assigned reviews that are overdue and we are trying to determine how may of those reviewers are still with us. Also a few reviewers only do occasional reviews. /Return to main Chats page/ I think that concludes the Reviews Department Report. They need to be nominated for some kind of award. Laurraine would you like to say a few words in addition to your annual report that I reposted for you? I can't think of anything to add. Plans for the future -- needs for the department? I've asked Patric to add sections for movie reviews and for author interviews. That's ambitious -- is there anything else you'd like to see happen with Reviews? Are you getting enough books in? Oh--I know someone to ask for some movie reviews. I'm also hoping to hand off the daily tasks to others and focus on making sure the reviews are posted properly. Author interviews had a section Carol Castellanos had up.... interviews should go there, I would think. That would be a good move. We get enough books in. The problem is not having enough reviewers. I think Laurraine is thinking to database the interviews the way reviews are. A lot of our reviewers are interested in doing interviews. So we need to recruit reviewers -- giving them something interesting to do would help. Good - that sounds like a plan for 2005! Reviewer recruitment is always most important to a volunteer organization. There is a high rate of turnover. Thank you Laurraine -- you're off the hot seat. The Sysadmin has a short report to cover a long and very productive year. Patric -- just hit the highlights. Laurraine -- I just posted your annual Reviews report! Sime~Gen System Administrator's Report - by Patric Michael Hi folks. This year has been mostly upgrades and the start of new projects.. Here's a list: Upgrades: Exim, spamassassin, perl, python, apache (concurrently running versions) logwatch, mailman, postgresql, pygresql (in progress) Installs: YaBB, MoinMoin (in progress) Current Projects: Reviews Dept, Control Panel, Spam deletion (in progress) Thats the highlights.. Its ALL a matter of doodling things concurrently. The best way y'all know I've been busy is when nothing goes wrong! The only real things you can see is the reviews department, since it shows at the surface.. :) /Return to main Chats page/ Absolutely we agree with that! Thank you Patric. Welcome.. * Karen smiles. "That's true. I've been helping assign reviewers passwords for Lauraine's new staff members. Thank you Patric--for the report and for all the work! Kaires -- can you tell us what's going on this year in Sime Center? I was afraid you would ask that. I don't have a report developed but I'll tell a few things. Sime~Gen SimeCenter Report - by Kaires Tevesu Most of the year our Recipient was Clarion writers Workshop, a group that JL found at TorCon3. Actually, it was Jean's idea and she got everyone together on it. I got a couple of stories to post from Clarion teachers! I also belong to BroadUniverse, a group for female F&SF writers, and they contributed several stories, too. The artwork this year came from our two faithfuls (love 'em!): Michael Cox & Ben Chew (who just moved back to California from Hawaii, so I got to meet him and his wife and son). The last two months, we've had two different Recipients: Red Cross in November, and Space Shuttle Children's Trust Fund in December. In January, I'm hoping to get stories and art for some charity focusing on the relief effort in S Asia. /Return to main Chats page/ Anyone have questions about SimeCenter? I have a suggestion. So have I. well. go for it You've seen me forwarding posts from Arthur C. Clarke -- I betcha he'd contribute for a contrib to the Sri Lanka charities. Haven't discussed this with JL yet getting our local Habitat for Humanity chapter on SimeCenter. Oooh. Cool idea! I think the money for Sri Lanka should be channeled (pardon the pun) through the Red Cross, if we can arrange it, for relief efforts. How would we get the money to Sri Lanka, et. al. otherwise? Yes, the Red Cross has a huge relief effort going there. No -- read Clarke's posts. We have an AWARD-WINNING Habitat for Humanity chapter here, too. Good idea. If we want him to contribute -- we need to approach it his way. Yes, Jean I like the Habitat concept. If Clarke has his own way, it can be worked out. Ok, so I stand corrected about the Sri Lanka suggestion. No problem. Would one of you famous folk be willing to ask him? But the Red Cross can come right after that. This crisis isn't going to go away in a few months. I think you should approach him, Kaires -- I'll see if I can scare up an email address. You're the dept. head. And boy do you have a head on your shoulders. We TRULY appreciate all the work you've done with Sime Center. Simecenter is your "baby." I agree with JL. He can always come back and ask you about it. Then, may I take your names in vain when I write? Oh, absolutely. Yes, definitely. Though don't be surprised if he doesn't know us. So that concludes the Sime Center report. We have a problem in the Publicity Department and the HR Department -- namely the people in charge have not done anything this year. But the recruitment would be a cooperative effort between those two departments -- which is mostly me right now. I've spent most of 2004 with my nose in a book -- namely THE FARRIS CHANNEL. I've also got a lot to keep me busy, but maybe I can help with both departments part time. It's now complete in second draft and that draft has passed one close scrutiny. It now has about all the scenes it needs. I think I solved most of the problems Jean found with the first draft -- what remains for the 3rd draft is to make sure it reads smoothly. Lots of word-work to do there. So that adds to the non-tangible assets of the Corporation. I'm working on COMPANIONS, with another week to work on it part time. Then I'll look at the new version of FARRIS. Writing & Publishing - Excerpt from the #talk log Yes, I've got the second draft of FARRIS CHANNEL done -- third should go faster. Jean's making progress on COMPANIONS -- had a big breakthrough yesterday. I'm working on COMPANIONS, which will come out in Fort Freedon, before FARRIS. And by February we should have the new publications schedule -- hope hope. They keep promising, but maybe this time they'll come through with actual dates. It's the third book that was supposed to go after FIRST CHANNEL and CHANNEL'S DESTINY, but never got written. I don't know how good the first draft will be -- so that could take a while too. We have another fan writer working on a fan novel, too. Who is it? Someone I know? No, someone totally new. Oooh! More input. Need more input! She checks in with me every once in a while. What sort of a story is it? But of course we'd all love a New MLM story. oh, good! another new voice to enjoy My latest bit of writing is "Somatic Embryos of Clonal Burbank", to be published soon in Walnut Research Reports. And I think Lexie mumbled something about an idea for a sequel to her novel. Lexie -- want to tell us about that? it's not one I'd originally intended to write, but it will be the direct sequel to CD... covering Willow's efforts to survive Zelerod's doom Oh, and while she's blushing -- I do have a suggestion for how you guys could award me and Jean something. WRITE an amazon.com review of the novels -- and/or give us a comment to post on the http://www.simegen.com/writers/simegen/ site working title is "Unnatural Acts" and don't expect to see it done any time before next fall or winter Do you want the Amazon report? Yes, I think so. Our fans have done really well purchasing their Amazon.com products through the simegen.com interface this past year. A total of 234 items were ordered through our interface, and you guys earned us over $240. Thank you! I believe that's an all-time record for us. Great! I just ordered some more things within the past week, through our interface. And to a little company like ours, it means a lot. We also have one student toiling mightily through the ESSENCE OF STORY COURSE and I believe she's been buying through our amazon account. I keep trying, but I can't seem to make the right connection... either I get to buy in three clicks OR I come in through Sime~Gen... but I can't do both. Lois Wickstrom isn't here but she could report on the new Cafe Press store she set up for us this year. Kaires -- you can use one-click through Sime~Gen -- just don't use the search boxes. Lois's Health and Yoga storefront also brought us some nice income. We get paid LESS when you use the search boxes, but it's still something, and makes a nice addition. Are there any more reports? Starred-Cross Jewelry - Excerpt from the #talk log Kaires.. How's your jewelry page coming? * Karen has to save up her $$ for the jewelry. Evil site that one will be. The silver Starred Cross jewelry we can BUY -- it's real jewelry. This is the first time in -- what -- 20 years? You can buy a sterling silver starred cross. kewl!! Where can you buy one? Online at the website Kaires and Patric are building. The page isn't yet fully built, Seanara. When they've done making the site, I'm sure it will be announced. oooh...and just in time for my birthday * N`omi is looking for the jewelry.. The site is almost finished...need a few last-minute updates from the artist... and to improve the visuals per yous'ns comments a coupla days ago and it'll be ready to fly I saw these items in person when Kaires brought them to Phoenix, and I'm impressed. I saw a couple items, too, that Kaires showed me when she visited last spring.. David is already taking orders, though. There are four pieces, two brooches, a necklace and a pin. cost? JL, is it okay to let people see the draft of the site? Alternatively, can I give David's URL (no prices there yet) Yes, I think so. Put up the URL of your draft so they can see the pictures. We need to see them, Kaires, so the page isn't yet ready for everyone.
http://www.simegen.com/simecenter/SC_jewelry/index.htm I think we're up to nominations, for work done in the 2004 year. Okay--non-stock awards, then. I'll nominate the reviewers for SOMETHING so they are all acknowledged. What achievement award would be appropriate. I second -- all Reviewers should receive something. Maybe one of the Yo-Yo awards....they sure did a lot of work for the domain. Yes and sometimes TWICE. OK, let's make it a *Golden Yo Yo for the Reviewers*. Ok, room is now open for voting. Aye. Aye on Golden Yo Yo for reviewers aye Aye aye Moderating has been lifted. AYE AYE Aye Aye Good -- then the Golden Yo Yo this year goes to our loyal hard working REVIEWERS! For the Silver Yo Yo -- I nominate *Tom Hufford, Karen's Computer Guru*. second Taking notes so Patric can update our awards page, down the road. Is there a second? Second All in favor of Tom for *the Silver Yo Yo* -- that's *the Companion In Zeor Award*. aye Aye Aye aye aye aye aye Aye Aye OK, Tom is hereby voted the Silver Yo Yo for keep Karen online this year. I'd like to nominate bae for an award of some sort for the incredible job she's been doing editing the co-op fiction. second Who is BAE? * Karen says "Thanks, on Tom's behalf. I don't do the co-op fiction. That's Beverly." Beverly Erlebacher second Good -- full name for the record. BAE = Beverly Erlebacher? * Karen nods I have a big lag getting into Unity from here. We need a suitable award for Beverly. Invent a new award..... Cooperative Fiction update award??? Its her site. No I don't think so. Are there any authors, playwrights, etc., in the SG universe? I think this is more a Ronnie Bob Award kind of thing -- getting the data up there and preserved routinely. Which are the awards that can go to several people? We could name an award after that person. I vaguely remember an award for offsite support Or maybe it's a Nager Award situation -- World Controller's Award. They can all go to as many as are voted. http://www.simegen.com/sgfandom/awards/ so what award should we offer to Beverly. I nominate *Beverly Erlebacher for the Digen Award for Meritorious Service* for her indefatigable updating of the co-op fiction site for Sime~Gen. second Aye All in favor? aye. Aye aye! aye aye aye Aye aye aye The Ayes have it and Bev is a DIGEN AWARD winner for 2004. I move we institute the Logan Award for Text Fan Fiction Is there a second? second All in favor? Aye aye! aye aye Aye nay Aye Note: After some discussion in another "room," the Logan Award was removed from consideration at Jean Lorrah's request. Logans, being her characters, Jean had final approval say-so. withdraw Aye changes vote to Nay withdraw aye How about a rename of award? The Nays have it. Companion in Zeor award for text fan fiction, instituted in 2005? The floor is open for suggestions for another name. amend to Companion In Zeor Open award to cover fic not published in CZ move Zeor! award be the name Change the name to Zeor Award. Yeah or Nay? amend to Zeor Open award to cover fic not published in CZ Is there a second? Hate to interrupt, but I just got some sad news. Kelly Freas died early this morning. Oh NO! Sad news about Kelly Freas. We are becoming the older generation as the ones we emulate die out. second third. aye amend to Zeor award aye aye...Zeor award aye Oh, the end of an era. Please, keep voting. Oy. Zeor award sounds good. Aye Zeor award... aye aye aye aye We seem to have 9 Ayes to *institute a fan fiction award called "The Zeor Award for Fan Fiction."* The Ayes have it. Nominations are now open for the first Zeor Award. Nominate "A Companion's Duty" for best fan story of 2004 Then, perhaps Lexie's "A COMPANION'S DUTY" may fit here. Second? second You've got your seconds already. All in favor? Aye aye!!! aye aye aye though I shouldn't vote, I guess...I put the story in CZ. aye aye abstain Aye 9 votes - 8 Aye for Companion in Duty *"A Companion's Duty" is hereby awarded the first "Zeor Award for Excellence in Fan Fiction."* Any further nominations? There wasn't much S~G fan fic this year. But there is Kip's art for another category. OK, I'd like to nominate Kip Grimes the artist who did the Sime Girl illo for Companion in Zeor for an Arensti Award. Second All in Favor? aye aye aye aye aye aye Aye aye 8 Aye's and *Kip Grimes wins the Arensti Award* for her artwork Sime Girl which appeared in CZ and is now available on Cafe Press items. Are there any further nominations for non-stock Awards this year? I call for a moment of silence in honor of the passing of the great SF/F artist Frank Kelly Freas. I'm adding another moment of silence for his wife who died a few years ago, Polly Freas. Our heartfelt condolences to his current wife, and his whole family. I'm hoping to be able to attend the funeral, which is tomorrow. January 3, 2005. Resolved: Laurraine should bring to the family our most sincere condolences. second Agreed... from all of us. aye If I make it, I will certainly be happy convey condolences from Sime~Gen. Thank you, Laurraine. The floor is open for discussion of an award item for outstanding fan fic. We are voting to decide whether to award the recipient of the Zeor Award with a material object, such as a mug or tote bag. Proposed "award" item is either (1) A signed tote bag or (2) signed mug. I decline to second, preferring to keep the awards virtual. To get Magic Marker signatures on an object it would have to be mailed around the country then mailed to the recipient. Could we create a cafe press item that is JUST for the Award item? Make a graphic file from our signatures and have it put on a Cafe Press item that they would pack and mail to the recipient? The graphic file sounds much better than mailing stuff all over the place. Where did this physical award come from? All our awards have previously been virtual. In the sgtalk window while we were discussing other votes they took off on this one. What makes this award so much above all the others that it deserves a physical award? Beats me. I already protested in #sgtalk and was ignored. I didn't see your post there. I propose we revise the current vote at hand to "Do we want to award the Zeor Award recipient with a physical, material item?" Is there a second? second--call for discussion I vote nay. Keep it virtual. second Patric's motion The Zeor award is no different from any of our other awards. I suggest certificates... for all the awards Agree with Patric...we rarely issued physical awards before in all these years. We could do a certificate for each award. It wouldn't cost much to make and print out and send. I don't think it's a good idea to give physical 'prizes' No, but I don't have TIME for that. Some awards had certificates...others didn't. I think the awards--in general--should stay virtual But I highly approve the idea of certificates...all awards Is that all the discussion? there may be a time when something is considered worth more than virtual, but ... The problem with certificates is someone to create them. can we afford the time/energy. etc OK, then the vote is -- do we award a material item for ONE of our awards but not the others? Nay No! nay nay I think the website mention is enough....NO nay What about creating a certificate to be e-mailed. The recipient can print it out or not. I can make them. that can be copied too easily. A recipient can print out the PAGE where we post the awards notices. ah, that's what is needed, a volunteer to do it no, an emailed can be copied too easily Perhaps we should just design the page so each recipient can print out their own mention -- or all of them if they want? why would anyone copy an email certificate? Who would bother to copy someone else's award? Ah, great minds... I agree with JL. That's a good idea. or a page I think the mention on the awards page is enough http://www.simegen.com/sgfandom/awards/ Virtual certificates are fine if you're willing to make them, N'omi. OK, the NAYS have it and there will not be a physical award for ONE of our awards but not the others. I would! Is there a motion to award a physical object for ALL our Awards? no no I offer that there will be a certificate created instead not this year no Too expensive and too time consuming, I'd think. I amend OK, then we table the issue of physical awards to accompany our non-stock awards. N'omi, we appreciate your offer, but we don't want to set a precedent. thanks you, I agree Okay, are we finished with non-stock awards? Patric is hereby appointed to oversee (and/or do) the project of making the Awards Page designed in such a way that the winners can print out their Awards to frame if they choose. I bet you'd like to quit this but... the other awards are: Risa Tigue Award, Nager Award, Tech-ton award, Non-Tech-ton Award, and Moveable feast award. I forget what most of these are, but folk should think a wee moment on them? Those are for specific things that don't happen every year. Are there any nominations for the other awards? Last call for nominations for the other awards? I think there are only the stock awards we have nominations for this year. Let me check my notes.... The Board has already voted the Stock Awards and Jean (our CEO) will be presenting them soon. No other nominees I've notes on. Floor should go to Jean. OK, it seems we have no other nominees. xanpet... Identify yourself please. Jean -- you have the gavel. (Yes, Xanpet I'm curious too). Preferred Stock Awards - by Jean Lorrah, CEO The Board of Directors of Sime~Gen Inc. have awarded stock to staff members who have been with us for at least one year and have been especially productive in 2004. Financially, Sime~Gen Inc. has just about enough more money than in 2003 that despite issuing 29 new shares, each share is worth approximately the same as last year. The following staff members (in no particular order) will be issued one share of stock each: *Amy Harlib, Lexie Pakulak, Bruce Gray, Doreen Dabinett, Eric Berlin, Ann Piccolo, Martha Della Camera, Ronnie Bob Whitaker*. The following staff members will be issued two shares of stock: *Lisa Saunders* and *Laurraine Tutihasi* The following staff members will be issued three shares of stock: *Lois Wickstrom* and *Gene Schneider (Kaires)*. *Karen MacLeod* will be issued four shares, and *Patric Michael* six shares. Those are the recipients of shares of preferred stock for work done in 2004. We greatly appreciate your many and varied contributions. /Return to main Chats page/ Congratulations simegen.com shareholders! Oh, no! I just remembered something. Jean didn't mention the *special award* the Board voted *for Chris Jacobs* -- a Second Year Award because she was "away" so much of this year on a ferocious 12 hour a day stint at work that a lot of the stuff she should have done didn't get done. So she couldn't get stock, but we appreciate her and expect NEXT year after she's moved and settled in a new job, she probably will qualify for stock because her coordinating efforts. Is there any other new business for us to discuss? Jean -- you can adjourn this meeting and we can PARTY! I move we adjourn. If there is no further business, then we will adjourn the official annual meeting. second Second Robert's Rules...a motion to adjourn requires no seconder aye Third then. :) adjourn. I will end the log at the formal closure. aye Aye aye The official meeting is adjourned. Chatting continues in #sgtalk. Thank you for being here. Logging is closed. Meeting Adjourned at 15:55 EST. /Return to main Chats page/ */ Session Moderated by Karen MacLeod /* */ Logs edited by Karen MacLeod /* */ Page posted by Kaires Tevesu /* *©2005 Sime~Gen Inc.* For questions or comments on the content of this page: contact the Historian . Send feedback about this domain to Sime~Gen Inc. For technical difficulties with this page, please contact the Webmaster . / Take a look at the Awards page. / ------------------------------------------------------------------------ / Return to Main Chat Page /