Log
Board Meeting
Feb 19, 2005

Session Start: Sat Feb 19 18:05 2005
(Roger) Let the February 2005 meeting of the Troubled Times Board of Directors come to order.
(Roger) The first item for discussion is the minutes from our last meeting. Any questions, comments or other discussion?
(Mary) None here.
(Gerard) none here
(Nancy) None here.
(Roger) The the minutes stand as correct. The next item is an official welcome to our new board. Nominations were held in January and since no offices were in contention, no elections were needed.
(Roger) The board stands as before with a change only in the office of Vice President from Steve to Gerard. Welcome Gerard!
(Gerard) Thank you
(Roger) The next item is project review.
(Roger) The CD and Booklet project is continuing. The requests are steady with between 6 and 10 each month. These usually come in a bunch after Nancy has an interview, though there are always a couple of random requests.
(Roger) Our stock is holding well with no immediate need for replenishment.
(Nancy) Often the snail mail requests to the PO here include a heartfelt note thanking us for these efforts.
(Roger) Those are nice encouragements. Occasionally I receive a similar reply to my shipment notices :-)
(Nancy) There is frankly no one else doing this type of effort. Just us.
(Roger) Paypal added an option to process shipping by USPS at a nominal fee. I have been using it for US domestic orders. I still take the international orders and the snail mail orders to the P.O.
(Nancy) Great!
(Roger) I also discovered that the booklet and cd's can be squeezed into a $5 Global Priority envelope. This is often cheaper than the slower airmail rate and I will be using it more on future orders.
(Roger) Any questions or comments?
(Nancy) Wonderful!
(Mary) None here. Good job Roger.
(Gerard) How many international orders do you get monthly?
(Nancy) None here.
(Roger) By the way, I received notice from Paypal this morning that the US government will be requiring additional information about investors in the Paypal money market fund. Currently we earn 2.4% interest on the funds in the Paypal account. I am not sure if they will only require my information or that of all of our directors. They may even ask for our tax id number. I will keep you posted on their requests.
(Gerard) ok
(Nancy) This should be no problem, they already have the inside skinny on us all, due to IRS. Except for Gerard, of course.
(Roger) I am not opposed to providing my personal information to continue to earn their interest.
(Nancy) Same here.
(Roger) Gerard, I typically receive 1 or 2 international orders a month (more often from Canada than anywhere else). Most recently, I shipped to your country!
(Gerard) ok
(Roger) If there are no other comments, let us proceed to the next project report.
(Nancy) No other comments here.
(Gerard) No comments
(Roger) The Acreage project is all but non-functioning. I have been too busy to spend any time at the site and Stan has also been very busy. I recently asked him about meeting and reviewing the project. I think we will meet next weekend.
(Roger) The Seed part of the project is idle as well. The planting season is coming and I hope to plant more of the herbs here around the house (the seed is getting quite old).
(Nancy) I likewise will continue to collect herb seeds and encourage those beds.
(Roger) My father has agreed to expand his garden some and allow my to plant some things there. I do not know what I will be able to plant there that won't overburden him in maintenance. Mayhap I will just plant potatoes and the like and concentrate on other things closer here to home!
(Roger) Questions? Comments?
(Gerard) None here
(Nancy) I think our role growing seeds was to 1. encourage others to do so, as we did on tt-seed and in the Troubled Times TOPICs, 2. grow and distribute seed which we did, 3. be prepared during the coming times to continue this distribution and counseling.
(Mary) no comments.
(Roger) Shall we call this project a success and place it into idle stasis? Maintenance of the stock and the occasional consultation need not be part of a general report each meeting.
(Roger) Instead these occurences can be mentioned as "good news" items.
(Nancy) I do agree. This is also because the drought and sunburn affecting plants makes results less than they used to be.
(Nancy) I found in 2002 that I could not collect more seed than I had planted.
(Nancy) Roger reported watering problems due to drought.
(Roger) What is your opinion Mary, Gerard?
(Gerard) i think it's a good idea Roger, to put the project into idle stasis.
(Nancy) I think this is a quiet moment in the seed project, which will become hot again when the Earth changes have alarmed a number of people, and they again get interested.
(Roger) Since I set the agenda, with input from the membership, I can remove it from the discussion list and add it when there is news to report. I suppose I should do the same with the Shortwave project as we have had a couple of meetings now without a report from Helena.
(Mary) Lets put the project in idle, as you suggested and only discuss it if there is a problem or event that needs the boards attention.
(Nancy) A very good idea. I MOVE we remove the Seed Project and Short Wave Radio Project from the monthly agenda, until there is activity.
(Roger) Since it is not a policy issue, just an agenda issue, we don't need to vote on it. I mentioned that since Helena's report is not available, we could skip the shortwave project and move on to the server report.
(Nancy) OK, I retract my MOTION
(Roger) I must confess that I have not been much better at getting the server up than Brent was in Hawaii! It is setting here next to my desk, waiting for me to turn it on...
(Nancy) I feel certain that by the time it becomes a pressing issue, needed for some service, you will find helping hands offering their help.
(Nancy) Angels have a way of operating that way :-)
(Roger) One of these rainy weekends when there is nothing else to do...
(Roger) So, is there any other business not mentioned on the agenda?
(Mary) None here.
(Nancy) None here.
(Gerard) None here
(Nancy) There is so little Treasurer’s activity to be reported. All major annual costs have been met, the major one renewing the Delaware agent annual fee, now up to $199 per year.
(Nancy) PO Boxes have been renewed for a year, and the Spring expenses are simply a $20 State of Delaware fee, and a $15 fee to do business in Wisconsin.
(Nancy) We have $234 this last bank account statement, after checking account fees, and this is adequate.
(Nancy) End of unscheduled Treasurers report.
(Roger) Well, I can add to that a little...we have $641.04 in the Paypal account and $45.61 in the postage fund here in Kansas. I have some receipts I neglected to send to the treasurer (will get them out in a day or two).
(Nancy) So we have adequate funds to continue our operations!
(Roger) If there is a need, we can easily transfer some funds to the Wisconsin checking account (just send me the routing+account number when needed).
(Nancy) I doubt the need, as the occasional snail mail order for CD or Booklet puts a check in the account.
(Roger) If there are no other issues or tidbits, I would entertain a motion to adjourn...
(Mary) I move we adjourn.
(Nancy) I MOVE to adjourn
(Gerard) I second
(Roger) Well there are two motions and a second! If there are no objections...the meeting is adjourned.
Session Close: Sat Feb 19 20:05 2005