Newsletter - January 1998
Serving the community of IBM Midrange users.
Membership: $100.00.
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Editors Note:
In January the Board of Directors Meets to Elect Officers for the coming Year. This year Don Rima was elected President replacing Jack Fugiel who had served as President for Five Years. I would like to personally thank Jack for his years of dedication to WAM. Without Jack's tireless work WAM would have folded years ago. Instead he hands over to Don a stronger, more vibrant group than he started with. The January News letter is in two parts: the first is the full regular newsletter and the second has Don's first Presidents Letter as well as a complete listing of the new board.
Hope you all enjoyed the holidays and are ready to move into 1998. I always get a good feeling when moving into a new year. There is something about it that is refreshing, a new beginning, and new opportunity. I hope you look at it that way and start it off by coming to our January meeting. As I have said in the past a user group is dependent on volunteers to run the organization and that often falls on the Board of Directors. This user group is no different. The board is made up of nine members who in turn elect the officers for the coming year. We will be doing that next week. I have been privileged the past two years to have a full board who understood the responsibilities of being a board member and met the challenge. The board can be a rewarding, yet trying position. A board member can't complain, nobody listens. On the bright side they can't get fired as they don't get paid. So why do we serve? The two reasons I hear the most is they want to give something back and this is one way to do it. Second they genuinely want to pass on to others what they have learned over the years. I would like to thank the entire board and committee members for their support and contributions and I would especially like to thank the following for the extra effort they put forward. Tom Jones, Newsletter Editor, who puts a lot of time and energy into preparing the monthly newsletter. Peter Maher, Secretary, who also oversees our web page and e-mails the news letter and is always on top of JAM business. Don Rima, Vice President, who is always there when needed and put a lot of effort into the Technical Conference. John Blum, President of the Baltimore users' group, who spearheaded the CD ROM for the Technical Conference. KB Soni, Treasurer, who is also our IBM liaison and did a lot of work for the Technical Conference. Pam Johnson, Vice President, and head of the Technical Conference. I would also like to thank John Rodrigues and Paul Lambert of the membership committee, Janice Cork of the Technical Conference committee, and board member Bill Brekke for their contributions during 1997. Each of these people stepped up when needed and got things done. I owe a lot to them for the time and effort they put into the group. Without these people being the President would be a much more difficult job. These people always find a way to fit time into their busy schedules to keep our activities moving. Thanks, folks for your efforts. As we move to a new year let us all look to our user group as a place to meet, discuss current topics, and pitch in when needed. That will make it a good year for all. See you at the January meeting. January Meeting"RPG IV/ILE A Practical View"featuring Paul Lambert, Consultant & WAM board member After a quick review of the new Opcodes, Paul will tell us of his own experiences using them. He'll also review his experiences applying Structured Programming techniques and how they are affected by the extended capabilities of RPG IV. Some of the other topics he'll cover are: RPG IV/ILE and Modular Programming, Maintenance and Performance Implications, Prototyping / Sub-Procedures, Binding Programs, Service Programs, Introduction to Service Groups. Finally, he'll give us his insights into "What's Next?". Paul, who was recently elected to his second term on the WAM board of Directors, has spent the majority of his career working with the IBM Midrange Family. Paul, who worked with IBM for over 20 years, has been working for the past few years as an independent consultant and also as an IBM certified instructor. He will bring to us a great deal of hands on "real world" experience. So, come and listen to "one of us" tell it like it is. Tuesday January 20, 1998 18:00
Tyson's Westpark
(Parking is FREE !) Board Meeting Immediately After !
Election Resultssubmitted by Peter Maher, SecretaryOn November 18th the Board of Directors held the annual elections as proscribed in the by-laws. The following members in good standing have been elected to serve on the Board for 1998: Jack Fugiel, Don Rima, Pam Johnson, Peter Maher, K B Soni, Tom Jones, Paul Lambert, John Rodrigues, and John Blum. This board will elect officers at the next Board meeting (Jan 6th) Mark your 1 9 9 8 W A M calendar !* 1/20 Paul Lambert, "RPG IV/ILE -- A Practical View"* 2/26 Steven Drew, "IBM Release V4R2: Support for Lotus Notes (Native) & JAVA Virtual Machine" * 3/17 Terry Dimka, "Lotus Notes" * 4/14 Carson Soule, "Thin Client plus Carson's Unique insight into whats really under the covers with V4R2" 12/04 WAM-BAM-JAM, A full day of electrifying events ! University of Maryland, College Park. Traditions ! Santa was very cross. It was Christmas Eve and NOTHING was going right. Mrs Claus had burned all the cookies. The elves were complaining about not getting paid for the overtime they worked while making the toys. The reindeer had been drinking all afternoon and were dead drunk. To make matters worse, they had taken the sleigh out for a spin earlier in the day and had crashed it into a tree. Santa was furious. "I can't believe it! I've got to deliver millions of presents all over the world in just a few hours -- all my reindeer are drunk, the elves are on strike and I don't even have a Christmas tree! I sent that stupid Little Angel out HOURS ago to find a tree and he isn't back yet! What am I going to do?" Just then, the Little Angel opened the front door and stepped in from the snowy night, dragging a Christmas tree. He says "Yo, fat man! Where do you want me to stick the tree this year?" And thus the tradition of angels atop the Christmas tree came to pass....... WAM Membership: To join send your Name, Company, Address, Phone, Fax, E-mail with $100.00 annual dues to our Treasurer: K B Soni, Systems Management Associates, 12023 Blackberry Terrace, North Potomac, Md 20878. Home Page Address: You can now reach us on the Internet ! Our home page is located at http://www.wash-midrange.org. Please feel free to send any suggestions to Peter.
President: Jack Fugiel 301/489-1103 F) 301/474-1609 fugielj@wdni.com
UPCOMING EVENTS - January 1998 through February, 1998
Treasurer's Message1998 Membership Dues Changes If you have not yet renewed your membership for 1998, it certainly is time to do so now. Our membership is on a calendar year basis and as such, all 1997 memberships expired on 12/31/97. Many members have already renewed their membership for 1998. However, we are still not at our goal of 100% renewal. If you are among the members who have not yet renewed, please take a moment now and get this task out of the way. 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. Several meetings with interesting topics are already in the works for 1998. So please renew your 1998 membership as soon as possible by sending in your checks for $100 at the earliest. The checks made out to WAM may be sent to:
c/o Systems Management Associates, Inc. 12023 Blackberry Terrace North Potomac, Maryland 20878 -K B Soni
President's Message from Don RimaQuality, our one job. Greetings! As we kick off a new year, I want to thank those that attended the JAM for helping us to have one of the best quality JAMs in history. In reviewing the session and conference evaluations for this past December's technical conference, I was impressed with how well the speakers and topics were received and how appropriate and timely you thought the topics were. Very special kudos go out to Pam Johnson, Peter Maher, KB Soni, Jack Fugiel, Tom Jones, John Rodrigues, and many others for their help in planning and running the 8th annual JAM. Special thanks to IBM's Anne Nelson for her help in arranging for our keynote speaker, Professor Frank Soltis. Let me be the first to announce that the date of JAM '98 will be Friday, December 4, at the University of Maryland University College. Watch the newsletter and web page for details and mark the date on your calendar. On Tuesday, January 6, the board met to review what we've learned from '97 and to start planning '98. We were happy to learn of Pam Johnson's plans to add a new son to her family this summer, and we congratulate both her and her husband Nelson. Please join me in wishing them best wishes as this happy date arrives. Pam has been the JAM coordinator since the first JAM (that's 8 JAMs folks!) and we will miss her "to do" lists at the board meetings. Fortunately for us, Jack Fugiel has stepped up to coordinate this year's JAM. I can think of no one (other than Pam) as qualified to run a successful JAM. The success of the last three years have been in no small part due to his wise counsel and leadership. Needless to say, we look forward to a superb JAM in December. Thanks Jack! And thanks Pam! Many hands make light work. Nowhere is that more true than in a volunteer organization. We are lucky in WAM to have a strong Board of Directors. In addition to Jack Fugiel, who will serve as Vice President/JAM Coordinator and Pam Johnson, who will serve at large, I am pleased to announce the following: Returning as Secretary for '98 is Peter Maher. Also returning are KB Soni as Treasurer, and Tom Jones as Newsletter Editor. Rounding out the remaining at-large board members are John Rodrigues, John Blum and Paul Lambert. This year in the spirit of Many Hands Make Light Work the board has approved the addition of "Associate Board Member". These are members that have an interest in joining board activities, on a limited basis, and the board feels that there is merit to broadening our range and depth enough to accommodate a few associate members. If you are interested in becoming an Associate Board Member, please email me at dr2@access.digex.com. We foresee Associate Members assisting with the JAM, helping the membership committee and other tasks as time permits. Looking Ahead: '98 at a glance. We kick off '98 with a great presentation from our own Paul Lambert. Paul's presentation will be a hands on approach to using ILE. Paul is a former IBMer and is a regular instructor for IBM on this and related subjects. Be ready to hang on and take lots of notes, as Paul's going to cover a lot of information that you can take back and use the next morning. See more about Paul's presentation in this newsletter. In February, we have a VERY special meeting: OS/400 V4R2. This is what the announcement is all about. At the request of IBM, we're holding this meeting on Thursday, February 26 at 6:00 pm. The reason for this is that the IBMers giving this presentation will be away attending announcement briefings prior to our meeting, and we all want this presentation to be as complete as possible. Again, special thanks to IBM and Anne Nelson for including us on this announcement. Mark February 26 and plan to be there for a very full evening. Rounding out the rest of the first third of '98 will be Terry Dimka and Carson Soule. Terry will present "Lotus Notes and Domino" on March 17. He has been with IBM for many years and is a frequent and welcome speaker and guest at our meetings. On April 14, Carson presents "Thin Client" and Carson's unique view of what is under the covers of V4R2. Carson is a regular speaker at WAM (He is the only speaker to be asked back to every JAM!) and COMMON and is widely regarded as an authority in the AS/400 Community. You won't want to miss these timely topics. We are Nothing Without You! Finally, things run the smoothest when we have a full board, as we do now. But, none of us has a monopoly on brains or ideas. We don't know where your shop is going or what your technical needs are. We can't plan and present meetings and topics which will help you today and tomorrow if we don't know what you're needing. Ergo, it's up to you to communicate with us. Let us know what you think the important presentation topics are and who you think would do a good presentation of it. Bluntly, we need your help to make '98 as successful as '97 was ... we don't intend on being strangers; we hope you won't either. "If it's happening, it's on the web...". Well, that's true with WAM also. Bookmark www.wash-midrange.org. This is our web page. In it you'll find the current newsletter and archived newsletters. You'll also find info and email addresses of the board members. JAM information will also appear here first. So, check it early and often. Again, thanks for your help in making '97 a quality success and we look forward to a #1 '98 year...and we thank you for your support. Mark your 1 9 9 8 W A M calendar !* 1/20 Paul Lambert, "RPG IV/ILE -- A Practical View"* 2/26 Steven Drew, "IBM Release V4R2" * 3/17 Terry Dimka, "Lotus Notes" * 4/14 Carson Soule, "Thin Client " 12/04 WAM-BAM-JAM, A full day of electrifying events !
President: Don Rima 703/742-3744 F) 703/742-0448 dr2@access.digix.com
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Latest Update - January 1998