President's Message from Peter Maher

As many of you know in my previous life I was a chef (and a pretty good one at that). I always felt that the secret to my success was planning. Thanksgiving was always my favorite holiday as a chef, even though it was one of the busiest days of the year. Now my Thanksgiving dinner is simply for my family and as my daughter and I made our shopping list and planned our cooking schedule for next week I was reminded once again of the importance of planning.

I am now also in the midst of another kind of planning, the planning of the next year for WAM. I need some help in this endeavor so I am asking all of you to help me out. What I really want to know is "What do you need, not what do you want". You see for the past two years we on the board have tried to present meetings that dealt more with what you want and therefore less of what you need. It is my opinion that when push comes to shove in our busy schedules if there is a WAM meeting that features a topic you want but don't need, you will not come to that meeting. So you see what I need is your help! Tell me what you need and I will do everything I can to make it happen. Nothing is too outlandish. I am willing to try just about anything once. This is YOUR users' group and the board and I are only here to serve your needs. So pick up the phone, drop me an e-mail or stop me at a meeting or JAM, just let me know what you think.

Let me tell you what we do have planned for next year so far.

In January our very own Paul Lambert will be returning to present a session on JAVA. Paul is one of the few certified JAVA teachers in our area and if you are interested in JAVA on the 400 you won't want to miss this!

In February Mary McConnell from IBM will be telling us what's in store with V4R4. Mary is one of our more popular speakers and my sources tell me that this release will be chock full of goodies.

In March we will dedicate a meeting to the Internet with Steve Drew. Steve, now with CAS, is always an entertaining and very informative speaker.

The rest of the year is open ... so what do you need?!!

Heading into the home stretch, JAM 98!

In less than two weeks we will be at the University of Maryland Conference Center for JAM 98! If you haven't already signed up now is the time. Never have I seen such an offering of TOP SHELF speakers for such an incredibly low price! For the best day of learning, networking and camaraderie in this area you must attend JAM 98. By the way, I have been told that we have so many goodies to give out this year that you better bring an extra bag!

Membership is key.

Elsewhere in this newsletter our treasurer KB Soni, will tell you more about the dues and renewal procedures but I wanted to take a moment to thank all of you who do pay your dues and are members. I have considered it an honor to serve on the board these past years and I am simply humbled by the board's selection of me as your president. Our members our raison d’ętre and I for one will pledge to do all I can to give you what you NEED!

-Peter

WAM Contacts:

President: Don Rima 703/742-3744 F) 703/742-0448 dr2@access.digex.com
Vice President: Jack Fugiel 301/489-1103 F) 301/474-1609 fugielj@wdni.com
Secretary: Peter Maher 703/834-3706 F) 703/834-3707 1stplace@crosslink.net
Treasurer: K B Soni 301/590-7121 F) 301/590-0213 kbsoni@aol.com
Newsletter Editor: Tom Jones 301/515-4438 F) - - twjones@erols.com
Director: John Blum 410/265-1300 F) - - jblum@bcpl.net
Director: Pam Johnson 703/978-5212 F) 703/978-5360 pjohnson@i-t-works-inc.com
Director: Paul Lambert 410/381-6396 F) - - pg_lambert@prodigy.com
Director: John Rodrigues 703/519-1569 F) 703/683-5100 majobo@aol.com
At Large ('99): Mark Grimley 703/264-0643 F) 703/264-1753 mgrimley@compuserve.com
At Large ('99): Ross massey 410/672-3783 F) 410/799-9066 rmassey@dpsolutions.com

Treasurer's Message

As you all know, WAM membership is on a calendar year basis and as such, all 1998 memberships will expire on 12/31/98.

This is certainly a good time to renew your membership for 1999. As you enroll to attend JAM'98, please take an extra step and renew your membership for another year. It is easier for you to take care of this at this time and it is certainly easier for us to handle both at the same time.

If you have not yet registered for JAM'98, please do so as soon as possible and also include $100 in your payment for your membership fee for 1999. If you have already registered for JAM'98 but have not renewed your membership, please take a few minutes now and take care of this important task immediately to help your Users Group move into 1999 on a firm membership base.

Sending in your checks for $100 for the annual fee can renew your 1999 membership. The checks made out to WAM may be sent to:

Washington Area Midrange
12023 Blackberry Terrace
North Potomac, MD 20878

-K B Soni
Treasurer

U P C O M I N G E V E N T S