President's Message from Jack Fugiel

For your users' group it is indeed a time of new and exciting things. The new meeting format, a super speaker with a very timely subject, and it's time to sign up for our 8th annual Technical Conference that is being held on December 5th.

New meeting format - This is the month we are changing the meeting format to give you more time to talk with other members, get something to eat, listen to a wonderful speaker and get out before 9:00 PM. Sound good? Why not give it a try. The meeting is Tuesday September 16th at the Holiday Inn in College Park, Md.

The new format includes a light buffet, served from 6:00 to 7:00 to give you plenty of time to eat and visit with other members. That means you have a full hour to arrive and still get something to eat before the speaker begins.

Speaker - This month's topic is "Year 2000". Yes many of you are probably tired of hearing about it and wish it would go away. This presentation will be different than the normal Y2K talk. Our speakers are Y2K pros that are working with many companies in the DC area and will be bringing a wealth of information on the subject. This is going to go beyond the computer program dilemma; They will discuss and answer your questions on many things related to the year 2000, like elevators, heating and air conditioning systems and many other things that many people are just beginning to think about.

The presentation is titled "The Day The Earth Stands Still". Now if that doesn't tickle your curiosity nothing will. Plan on coming, bring a friend and learn about a subject that will be the ruin of many companies and a bonanza for others.

JAM - Our 8th annual technical conference is scheduled for Friday December 5th at the University of Maryland Conference Center and is jointly sponsored by the Washington and Baltimore Midrange Computer users' groups. The committee has put together a great program with twenty sessions for you to choose from. A group of outstanding speakers that include Dave Prescott, Skip Marchesani, Susan Gantner, Jon Paris, and Carson Soule. The topics will cover the current AS/400 and PC related issues along with some management sessions of interest. The topics will include AS/400 Systems Management, JAVA, Y2K, Windows NT, Introduction to ILE, and many others.

Information on the conference is available on the Internet at http://www.wash-midrange.org Why not take a peek ?

Your cost will be $150.00 for members, or $195.00 for non-members.

Included in this price is breakfast in the morning and luncheon served in the banquet room, where our keynote speaker, Dr. Frank Soltis will be discussing the future of the AS/400.

There are other conferences ... but none like this one.

The brochures will be out in a few weeks so make sure you have it on your calendar and call, fax, or e-mail any of the board or committee members with any questionsJack

September MEETING

featuring Jack M. Moore and Ron White

Keane Federal Systems, Inc. is the leading company involved in Year 2000 development with over 400 employees in the DC area working on more than 300 projects. Mr. Moore, Keane's Director of Business Development will relate their real world experience working with many of the Fortune 1000 and government agencies such as the Departments of Justice, Defense, Commerce, Energy, Veterans Affairs, Treasury, Transportation and State and the intelligence community.

Jack, a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and Naval Postgraduate School served as an infantry officer and data processing officer in the Marines. Before his two years with Keane, he worked for NCR, Datapoint, Altos Computer Systems, Harris Corp., BETAC Corp, CASDE Corp, and Verdix Corp.

Ron, is currently the Y2K manager for GEICO. He will share with us some real world information such as what to look for "under the covers" and beyond the data base.

Tuesday September 16, 1997 18:00 Holiday Inn U S Route 1 College Park, MD

(Parking is FREE !) Board Meeting Immediately After !

18:00 - 19:00 = Light Buffet & Happy Hour
19:10 - 20:10 = Speaker's Presentation
20:10 - 20:30 = General Business / Announcements
20:30 ====== Adjournment

RSVP (by Friday 9/12) to Peter 703/834-3706 or 1stplace@crosslink.net

$25.00/member $30.00/non-member

WAM Membership

K B Soni
Systems Management Associates
12023 Blackberry Terrace
North Potomac, Md 20878.

Newsletter Deadlines

NEWSWire/400, a weekly e-mail newsletter from the NEWS/400 Newswatch staff, delivers the latest news right to your monitor. Every Wednesday afternoon, we deliver NEWSWire/400 * FREE OF CHARGE * ! For new subscriptions, call 800/621-1544, fax 970/663-3285, or fill out the subscription form in the Newswatch Weekly section of NEWS/400's Web site http://www.news400.com/nww/wire-sub.htm

Upcoming Events

August through December 1997

When	What	Where	Contact
08/05-07	AS/400 Communications Introduction Workshop	Washington, DC	800/IBM-TEACh
08/11-13	AS/400 System Operator Workshop	Washington, DC	800/IBM-TEACh
09/15-16	AS/400 Security Implementation	Washington, DC	800/IBM-TEACh
09/17-19	AS/400 Advanced System Operator Workshop	Washington, DC	800/IBM-TEACh
09/21-26	COMMON	San Antonio,TX	800/399-2282
09/28-10/1	Year 2000 Technical Conference	Orlando, Fl	800/IBM-TEACh
10/12-17	IBM AS/400 Technical Conference	Orlando, Fl	800/IBM-TEACh
10/13-17	AS/400 Peer Communications Workshop	Washington, DC	800/IBM-TEACh
10/20-24	AS/400 RPG IV Workshop	Washington, DC	800/IBM-TEACh
10/21-24	AS/400 Concepts and Facilities Workshop	Washington, DC	800/IBM-TEACh
12/08-12	ProjectWorld '97 Conference	Santa Clara, Ca	800/426-7576

Tip Sheet From NEWS 3X/400

Quick File Browse

You can use the RUNQRY (Run Query) command to quickly display a file's contents. The display includes field formatting, and Query/400 is not required, nor do you need a preexisting AS/400 Query definition. You can display the contents of any physical or logical file with the following statement:

RUNQRY *N filename

-- Michael Otey, Senior Technical Editor NEWS/400

Humor Column courtesy of but not created by Peter Maher

Eagles May Soar But Weasels Aren't Sucked Into Jet Engines,
If At First You Don't Succeed, Destroy All Evidence That You Tried.
A Conclusion Is The Place Where You Got Tired Of Thinking.
Experience Is Something You Don't Get Until Just After You Need It.
For Every Action, There Is An Equal And Opposite Criticism.
He Who Hesitates Is Probably Right.
Never Do Card Tricks For The Group You Play Poker With,
No One Is Listening Until You Make A Mistake.
Success Always Occurs In Private, And Failure In Full View.
The Colder The X-Ray Table, The More Of Your Body Is Required On It.
The Hardness Of The Butter Is Proportional To The Softness Of The Bread.
The Severity Of The Itch Is Proportional To The Reach.
To Steal Ideas From One Person Is Plagiarism; To Steal From Many Is Research.
To Succeed In Politics, It Is Often Necessary To Rise Above Your Principles.
Two Wrongs Are Only The Beginning.
You Never Really Learn To Swear Until You Learn To Drive.
The Problem With The Gene Pool Is That There Is No Lifeguard.
Monday Is An Awful Way To Spend 1/7th Of Your Life.
The Sooner You Fall Behind, The More Time You'll Have To Catch Up.
A Clear Conscience Is Usally The Sign Of A Bad Memory.
If You Must Choose Between Two Evils, Pick The One You've Never Tried Before.
Change Is Inevitable...Except From Vending Machines.

Treasurer's Message

Since last month's newsletter, several members have already renewed their membership for 1998. I do expect everyone to renew at the earliest.

As you all know by now, the membership dues structure has been changed effective January 1, 1998. The annual dues will now be $100 and this amount will include the cost of attending the monthly meetings throughout the year. You no longer need to pay an additional $25 to attend each meeting. The feedback we have received from members has

been very positive and we hope it enhances member participation.

With the changes we are making we expect considerable growth in membership as well as attendance at the meetings which in turn will enable us to get even better speakers at the meetings.

The Board expects all current members to renew their membership for 1998. However, we are giving an added incentive to the current members to renew early. Since the members will not have to pay to attend meetings in 1998, once you renew your membership, you will not need to pay to attend even the remaining meetings in 1997. There are still 3 remaining meetings in 1997. So this incentive may be worth as much as $75 to you. This offer is available only to current members.

To make the best use of this incentive, please renew your 1998 membership as soon as possible by sending in your check for $100. The checks made out to WAM may be sent to:

Washington Area Midrange
c/o Systems Management Associates, Inc.
12023 Blackberry Terrace
North Potomac, MD 20878