General Meeting Minutes
Posted by Eric Warnke in Meetings on March 7th, 2010
Call to order by Michael Kulpa at 1:02 PM.
Space Naming
- It was proposed that we rename the physical ENTS building to “neurode”.
- Eric Warnke motioned that we table the item for a future meeting with more information being sent out to members.
Elections – Current Nominations
- Norman Lorrain
- Linda Mahoney
- No objections to the nominations. Linda and Norman are now ENTS directors.
Tools Distribution
- Special tools were distributed
SProjects Update
- We decided to run with a Joomla installation for our new website. Darryl demonstrated it for us.
- The website is almost complete and we are looking for volunteers.
Arduino Group Update
- A few people will be getting together to play with the arduinos that were sent out.
Photography Group Update
- Photography groups meets every Wednesday for a weekly challenge.
- The group will start blowing up great photos they take and decorating the space with them.
Brads Course + Supplies
- Supplies were passed out.
Dirty Room
- Work tables have been shortened and clamps and bench grinders have been added.
- Allan brought in supplies for a welder.
- We need to reinforce the floor to handle the weight of the welder and potential damage it can caught. We will look for sheet metal to clad it with.
- Allan is interested in offering a physical design course to teach the basics of construction and design.
Inter Office Machine Cleanup
- The tenants below us have been kicked out. They have abandoned a ton of old photocopier suppliers.
- Most of it will be recycled this week. If you want to salvage things please do so immediately, however, you must wear a coverall suit because you will leave covered in old toner.
Bohemians
- There are new tenants below us. They are similar to ENTS but focused on arts.
- At the beginning of April they will officially move in.
- They intend to set up a cafe/arts collective/live music performances.
“Cafe”
- Our own little coffee area has an automatic coffee machine running. Everything is set to $0.50. Please use it!
Infrastructure
- Dave explains how our network infrastructure has been continually upgraded.
- There tons of files on a shared drive that members can all access.
- We should have a working internal VoIP system by the end of the week.
Space Changes
- The computers that are working and set up aren’t meant to be dismantled or hacked beyond repair.
- We might set up some LAN games on then so members can have some fun 
Group Meetups
- The presentation space is available for use at any time during the week.
- The Solid Works group meets regularly at ENTS.
Corporate Sponsorship
- To keep ourselves afloat we need to gather some corporate sponsorship.
- We are gathering volunteers to for a Corporate Sponsorship Committee.
- To join the committee please contact grant@ents.ca
Open Edmonton Update
- Devin gave us an update about his City of Edmonton involvement with the Open Data/Gov/City movement.
- The City of Edmonton will be hosting a contest called Apps for Edmonton with $50,000 in prizes.
- The SProjects team might enter the competition.
Events
- Ben Zittlau wants to host an introduction to electronics
- Allan wants to host a workshop safety course prior to any dangerous courses
- The next general meeting will occur on the second Sunday of April since it normally conflicts with Easter Sunday.
Safety
- We need to procure some better first aid kits
- We also will compile a list of first aid certified members. If you are first aid certified please contact directors@ents.ca
Meeting adjourned at 2:19 PM.
General Meeting Minutes
Posted by Eric Warnke in Meetings on February 12th, 2010
Meeting start: 1:21
20 members in attendance
Michael K is chairing
Grant B taking minutes
The Sewing Area
There are now:
2x sewing machines.
2x Irons
1x Steamer
General sewing supplies in Michael’s cubby, please ask before searching through his stuff.
Consumables for the sewing area are hard to sell because they are cheap per-use. If you are planning a big job or find yourself using the station often please replenish supplies.
Jenna may supply small amounts of fabric but is well within her right to charge members for material. There is no inventory of her supplies, if you would like to contact her about a project please check with the directors as they have her contact info.
The Photo Area
The photo area is complete to a usable state. Currently it is just a whitebox, Kulpa will be doing some more work on it. There are tripods and lights etc. right now but there will soon be more. There are storage units behind the drop cloth but you must walk around! Do not go under the cloth, for many reasons, just dont do it.
Be careful not to get dirt in there because it’s pure white right now.
Depending on use we may have to start booking the pod if it gets popular.
Michael is considering hosting a monthly photo night if members show an interest. Anybody interested in teaching, learning or just practicing their photography please contact Michael.
The Dirty Room
Still to complete:
The overhead lighting needs to be upgraded
2x Grinding benches
Cleaning
Rob has a buzzbox (light welding) that he has agreed to bring in once it is safe to do so. Allan M is also intending to bring in equipment when his schedule permits it. The dirty room can be used for painting in the mean time. There are four pairs of safety glasses in the dirty room (they are found under the white TV), please use them! Remember to return them under the TV. We hope to acquire welding smocks for protection before taking the weldling equipment live.
Matt F has offered to bring his CNC on the condition that the dirty room gets cleaned up.
All the steam equipment has been removed from the room and taken downstairs, thank you to everyone who helped out with this.
New Workstations
Rob brought in three all-in-one IBM machines. They are perfectly usable and will be installed for member use shortly. These machines are on loan and as such are not for parts. Do not wreck the hardware. The software is yet to be decided but they are licensed for XP pro.
Room Names
There is an open discussion about renaming the rooms at ENTS. Rob prefers the functional names (Office, Dirty Room etc) but Michael would like something more creative. If you have ideas please write them down, mail them to directors or let them be known somehow.
Server Update
Some members have asked about hosting content on ENTS’s servers, we have decided against doing this as we cannot offer a realistic SLA
Members are free to host projects or personal content on our servers but are strongly discouraged from hosting production as the servers can be turned off for many hours by an accidental breaker trip.
The equipment is being treated as a dynamic lab. Unless otherwise noted nothing will be “saved” If a member needs router changes for external access please contact the directors, they will be happy to assist you with this.
Slepp may be able to host production content for members depending on their needs. Please speak with him directly if you’d like further information.
Andrew S has brought lent his Cisco lab to ENTS for learning/certs/such. This is on loan and should be treated with respect.
The server room was cleaned up recently and is much more functional. Feel free to browse around and use anything that’s not already in use but please don’t make a mess.
Security Update
There are now IP cameras placed around ENTWS. These are recording both locally and offsite, keep in mind to act in a way that would not embarass you or the rest of the membership. These have been installed for two reasons, partly to address security concerns as well to allow members the ability to see who is at the space remotely.
Please ensure all doors shut and lock behind you. The key fob activated doors unlock for 5 seconds, please wait for them to lock before walking away. Be aware of strangers in the space and do not hesitate to call or mail a director right away if you have concerns. If you see anything requiring emergency service please contact those services and then update directors once you have placed a call with the appropriate agency.
There is no reason for the ENTS front door (upstairs) to ever be unlocked unless we are having a public meeting or event. Always lock it!
Sprojects Update
Devin is the project lead for the ENTS web pressence project but is currently quite busy. There is a base Joomla install that is available to the SProjects team to work on.
New volunteers are asked to e-mail sprojects@ents.ca
Ben is thinking about creating a Swoopo scrape project under the Sprojects helm. Please speak to him if you’re interested in helping.
Kulpa created a Flickr account for us. Members with photos they would like uploaded are asked to contact him
New Software Projects are still welcome, if you have a software project in mind please speak with Ben, he is the SProjects committee chair and will help you organize a team.
LAN Party
Mack M suggested ENTS make contact with local LAN groups. Most of them already have deals with halls but we have extended an offer to them both none the less. Ben also pointed out that our power is likely insufficient to host a full size party anyways.
If anyone’s interested in hosting a party or bringing people in to play, let us know.
Sparkfun Group Order
No members reported any success with SparkFun’s “Free Day” We have decided to place a group order to be shipped to the space. Depending on participation we may be able to get a group discount. We will at least save on shipping. There has not been an order date set at this point but if you’re interested please talk to Kulps or Dave. This will be a prepaid order, no credit will be offered.
Electronics Recycling
ENTS is now accepting E-Cycling materials that will be picked up by ERA on March 15. Please bring in your old equipment before then so it can be sorted.
Craig reccomends we scavenge printers as they often have motors which are great for robotics.
ENTS Logo Contest
Michael has placed a call to the membership to design a logo for ENTS. This would be used in our promotional material and to help solidify our identity as an organization. Rob expressed that he would rather retain the current wordmark because a logo often ties too strongly tocertain ideas an gives us less flexibility as an organization. Members are still asked to submit logos to the directors.
ENTS Cell network
Kulps brought in some cellular antennas. These are retired from Telus’ old analogue network. Some still operate in licensed space and as such cannot be used until we confirm the legalities,
These are a straight donation and if there is no way to make practical use of them members are invited to open them up and mke use of anything inside.
We currently have no radios to power them but Kulps is trying to get some for ENTS.
We really don’t know what we could do with them but they’re just neat.
They may have value on Ebay if a member would like to list them for sale. Proceeds from the sale would be expected to go to ENTS.
Member Work Areas
There are project cubbies for parts/tool storage. If you would like one feel free to claim it. There are plans to add locking doors but they won’t be ready for a couple weeks. While we are waiting for the doors to be installed please treat these as private space and not go through the.
Lightning Thoughts
The event went pretty well for a first run.The current plan calls for monthly talks staring 1 hour after the general meeting concludes.
Rob suggests that there be a vetting process to ensure presentations are topical and prepared.
Some members have asked that time be more strictly enforced next time.
HU-Con
Members are invited to the Humanities Computing Conference on Feb 26. The conference will feature HuCo grad students presenting their research. Almost half of the presentations are expected to be related to video games.
Keynote Speakers: Yin Liu and John Bath from USask.
Coin-Op Coffee Machines
Graham has two coin-operated coffee machines that available to ENTS if we can arrange to help move. The current owner wants to reclaim the space their are taking up.
Solidworks User Group
Edmonton Solidworks User Group is moving their monthly meetings to ENTS. This is a free event and anyone is welcome. Meetings happen on the 3rd Thursday of every month. There are Solidworks tutorials, reference material and verteran users.
Events:
Monday night SQL has been canceled for Feb 8th as Linda is unavailable. It will resume next week.
Edmonton Linux Users Group is hosting a KDE release party Tuesday night at 7pm
Ben has offered to host a general Electronics course pending interest.
Slepp might teach a course on using the Oscilloscope scope
Membership reminder:
Members have the option to pay $500 a year, saving $100. Members who are interested are asked to speak with a director.
All members should receive and e-mail if they are submitting payments by hand (in any form) This is treated like a receipt.
Meeting adjourned: 2:45
Lightning Thoughts
Posted by Eric Warnke in Events, Space on January 25th, 2010
Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010, 6:30-8:30 PM
ENTS.ca Space (10575-114th street, Edmonton, Alberta)
- 5 Minute Talk, Up to 5 Minute Discussion & Questions
- 10 Persons Per Session
- PowerPoint not required
Speakers (and Topics)
|
Name |
Topic |
|
Ben Zittlau |
“Entertainment Shopping” – Making you enjoy giving us your money |
|
Rob Davy |
A Surprise! |
|
Eric Warnke |
A Portable Office |
|
Brad (Render) |
The Internet is for Porn |
|
Keith Howe |
All about my Kindle |
|
Quick 5-10 minute break |
|
|
(Secret) |
(Secret) |
|
Dave T. |
Bluetoothing my Roomba |
|
Grant Bowering |
An Inspirational Video |
|
Linda Mahoney |
How to Give a 5 minute Talk |
|
Devin Serink |
A Nifty Tool… |
|
Done! |
|
General Meeting Minutes
Posted by Eric Warnke in Uncategorized on January 3rd, 2010
Thanks to everyone who came out today!
Meeting start: 1:05 p.m.; Meeting end: 1:57 p.m.
Emails to know
- ENTS Directors – directors@ents.ca
- Library Requests – michael.kulpa@ents.ca
- Software Projects – sprojects@ents.ca
Membership Dues
- Here is the link to the $50 recurring PayPal link:
https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=10643052
Membership Updates
- We’ve dropped the drop-in fee.
- You can pay yearly for $500 (saving $100)
- We can accommodate anyone of any financial means, please come talk to us if the monthly fee is too high for you.
Network Infrastructure
- Working on
Keycard Access
- The building has RFID access.
- We are exploring how we’ll do internal access. Please fire ideas our way.
- Members in good standing (you’ve paid your dues) will receive fobs/keys.
Library Updates
- We have a deal with O’Reilly publishing where members can order books for free as long as we agree to write a review. The books can be borrowed but ultimately live at ENTS.
- O’Reilley has many other partnerships so the availability is huge. Anything you can find on http://oreilly.com we can have.
- If you want to order a book find it on O’Reilly’s website and then talk to Michael Kulpa (michael.kulpa@ents.ca)
- If you have any old or awesome books you want to donate, please do.
Common Room
- We still need to provide power to the walls, however, network jacks all work.
The Presentation Centre
- The purpose of this room is to be USED! Any members who have a club, meeting, or group that needs a nice big room with a projector screen we want you to use it!
- If you’re meetup is free then you can use it for free!. We only charge for the room if you charge for the room.
- We need to still rewire the room so the lights work properly.
- We are also removing the old sink at the back that doesn’t work!
Web Update from SProjects
- Software Projects is the umbrella management group for any software projects at ENTS so we don’t duplicate things.
- If you have any ideas you want to start or you want to help with please talk to us at sprojects@ents.ca
- The website revamp project hasn’t moved much. We had a meeting two weeks ago and are working on redoing the entire implementation of the ENTS website.
- If anyone is interested in learning, or has web dev/design experience, please contact us to help
- If anyone is interested in learning, or has web dev/design experience, please contact us to help
The Dirty Room
- We’ve cleared out all the legacy equipment from the dirty room.
- We will need a lot of help moving the equipment into Rob’s truck to move to a museum, it is very heavy.
- Grinding stations should be set up today.
- Welding equipment and drill presses will be available in the near future so we will have a usable machine shop.
- If you have tools to donate please bring them in.
- Please write your name on tools that you don’t want to lose! Any unmarked items that have been lent to us aren’t guaranteed.
- The dirty room will be dangerous and therefore we will have policies and restrictions to who has access to the room.
Class Scheduling
- Brad’s Class (Brad Hanes) – Waiting on equipment, times will be announced.
- Windows Azure (Devin Serink) – Times will be announced.
- Arduino Boards and General Purpose Micro Controllers (Mike Brown) – Waiting on equipment, times will be announced. See http://hackaday.com for cool examples of what you can do.
- Lightning Talks – Talk about anything interesting for 5 minutes. Discuss a cool tool, website, or experience. Check calendar for events.
ENTS Cat
- Some people want to have a cat to take care of the minor mouse problem (we’re an old building and it’s cold outside so mice like our kind of building).
- Cats are nice and a fun idea, however, we have to consider allergies, taking care of it, and keeping it safe.
- We voted to solve the mouse problem right away by buying some traps.
Sewing Machines
- We rescued some sewing machines from the old sewing machine factory that used to occupy our space.
- These are industrial sewing machines and very nice. Any sewers at ENTS are welcome to use them.
Photo Studio
- We are putting a semi-permanent photo studio in the back of the common room. It will be a white drop and usable by all members.
- We have some studio lights that are being donated.
Contact Preferences
- The ENTS Facebook Page will be deleted in favour of the ENTS Facebook Group.
- Future events will be duplicated on Facebook.
Tonight: introduction to SQL databases!
Posted by whisk in Uncategorized on December 7th, 2009
Hello all! Quick update for you. Here’s an email from Linda Mahoney, a member who is putting on an introductory database class tonight.
There isn’t a time listed on the ENTS calendar for the talks to start
tonight, so I’m going with 6:30pm based on past events.
Agenda
========================
This is a two-hour presentation split into two sections:
Hour 1: Introduction to SQL and Databases
No prior knowledge of SQL or databases is assumed.
Topics covered:
- what databases are and what they are good for
- brief survey of popular relational database management systems (RDMS)
- SQL tutorial (SELECT, INSERT UPDATE, DELETE) based on W3Schools:
http://www.w3schools.com/sql/sql_intro.asp
- Q & A (15 minutes)
Hour 2: Intermediate SQL and RDMS topics
Minimal experience with querying, creating, or managing databases is
assumed.
Topics covered:
- simple database creation and design (CREATE and ALTER statements)
- database normalization
- may vary according to attendees’ wishes
- Q & A (15 minutes)
========================
As an experiment, I’m going to try running this as a DimDim conference
for those who can’t make it in person. To join, go to
http://www.dimdim.com/registration/Dimdim_join.html and enter meeting
room ‘lmahoney’. There is a maximum of 20 participants.
The keyword is ‘experiment’, as in, ‘this may not work’. Showing up in
person is the safer bet if you really want to see this presentation.
Linda Mahoney
General Meeting Minutes
Posted by Eric Warnke in General, Meetings, Membership, News on November 29th, 2009
Meeting called to order at 1:13pm on November 29th, 2009.
Michael Kulpa leading. 17 members attending.
We apologize to any members that did not receive notice of this meeting. We are aware of some communication errors on our end and we’re working to fix them!
Keycard Access:
- We need something like 12 readers, might be financed by landlord.
- Servers are up and we can start getting fingerprints and handing out cards to members.
- More discussion needed by directors.
Book library:
- We have a book sponsorship with O’Reily.
- We can order any book from O’Reily for free including free shipping.
- Only catch is we must write a review of the book within 90 days of receiving it.
- Books must remain in our library, not for you to keep.
- Kulpa is creating the FreeLibrary system to manage our catalogue which will be tied to your card.
Presentation Centre/Room/Theatre:
- The back room is now ready for meetups and presentations and is bookable.
- We had our first paid conference, the iPhone Dev School there last week
- The room is open for any members to meet there for free as long as they aren’t making money on their event. If someone wants to host a big event or conference there that they charge for we need to take a cut.
- This is on a case by case, first-come-first-serve basis to book the room.
- We need to arrange some sort of booking system.
- The space still needs to have some electrical work done.
Dirty Room (workshop):
- We created a workshop for grinding, welding, etc.
- The space is at the back of the building with a venting hood.
- There is some old machinery to take out that we need volunteers for.
Member Social Network stuff:
- We’re thinking of having a membership book or poster or website with photos and contact info.
- We’ll look into Facebook connect to create something neat.
Network Infrastructure:
- We have 4 blades running and a VM running.
- XP box is running to control the door locks.
- Members need to give suggestions for what network infrastructure they want to see.
- Enterprise wifi is still under development.
- Going to develop a “burning centre” with a bunch of distros that any member can burn.
- Scheduling software for booking stuff is in the works.
Admin Stuff:
- Graham Batty resigned as a director last week, he nominated Michael Kulpa to replace him and the directors decided to streamline it and just make him a director.
- There were no objections to Michael’s appointment.
- Money:
- We are getting by on the skin our teeth.
- We have two offices rented and are looking to rent another one.
- Several directors have lent ENTS a lot of money (to the tune of around $5000) and that can’t get any bigger.
- We have a bit of residual income and we only need a few members to pay.
- Member haven’t been paying, and that is the directors fault, not theirs because we have not provided the proper means or encouragement to pay.
- Payments can be made via PayPal on ents.ca, or via cash or cheques to directors… or Canadian Tire money.
- We might not make it to the new year if we don’t get some stuff together soon.
- We will work on getting a better information management system because members aren’t getting emails.
- Google Wave might be used… might.
- We have tons of invites available for anyone who wants one.
Event Stuff (More detailed followup will happen):
- Anyone who signs up to teach a course or something please teach it at least twice! The more times you teach the better it will be and the better the turnout. So teach something one week and then do it the next month too!
- We are going to record all talks and host them for people to see.
- We have some Defcon videos we are going to give out as well.
- Events to come (stay tuned for dates):
- December 3rd is the “Arts Loft Christmas Party” at the space. It’s for all the tenants including ENTS.
- December 9th 6:00. Stuart Collum, director of NOVA Nait will be visiting the space. Please show up.
- Recurring: Wednesday IPTV nights. Michael Kulpa hosting.
- Recurring: Tuesdays. This week in Technology ENTS (TENTS) will be a regular meeting that we are going to have. Will have some sort of story propagating system so everyone is on the same page.
- Recurring: Saturday/Sunday afternoons. Linux study group either Tuesday or Wednesday afternoons. If you need help with Linux come by. Guided installs.
- Recurring: Some weekend. Lightning talks. 12 people, 5 minutes each.
- Recurring: Mondays. Linda Mahony Introduction to SQL Server and databases.
- Recurring: Mondays. Linda Mahony Database design and optimization.
- Recurring: Thursdays in the new year. Grant Bowering. Intro to .NET.
- Recurring: Date TBD. Craig Macarowski: Rocket talks, WX Widgets, Midi Digital Interface stuff, Astronomy.
- Recurring: Tentative dates. Web designer meetup. Potential $5 charge. More presentation based. Less sucky.
- Course instructors should be on time, some members have expressed concern with people not showing up when they said they would.
- Ben Zittlau is going to be our Programming Coordinator to work with software projects.
- Mike Brown is going to be our Make Coordinator for physical projects.
Photo “Booth”:
- Several members have expressed an interest in a photo space.
- The back of the middle space has been proposed to hang some backdrops and such for photographing.
Meeting adjourned at 2:16pm.
Cleaning party this Monday, November 16th, 7PM
Posted by whisk in Uncategorized on November 13th, 2009
ENTS director Eric Warnke just dropped this email to the ENTS membership mailing list:
Hi all ENTS members and friends of ENTS!
Renovations are practically complete! We have all the walls up and the back space is being prep’d for it’s future purpose as a dedicated presentation space for all your meet-ups and mini-conferences that you want to hold
On Monday the 16th at 7 PM we are asking (pleading) for all hands on deck to help clean the ENTS space from top to bottom. There will be buckets, there will be rags, there will be brooms, there will be pizza, and (if you bring it yourself) there will be beer!
Afterwards we’ll all be able to kick back and play some games, socialize, or watch a movie on the nice new screen and projector that have been graciously donated!
This would be a great opportunity to bring that friend you were thinking of showing ENTS! Looking forward to seeing everyone there.
Cheerio,
Eric Warnke
ENTS Director
780-993-1367
Directors’ meeting notes – Nov 6 2009
Posted by whisk in Uncategorized on November 7th, 2009
(Minute taker: Matt Mercer. Called to order 18:55.)
~18:55
- Eugene: idea for event
- you have a roster w/list of folks
- can present something (can be something inspirational, quick/consumable, 5-minute target)
- generate interest and conversation in as little time as possible
- good way to bring in new faces
- reduces barrier to entry for presentation/interest
- low attendance @ existing sessions
- topics might be too focused/heavy; doesn’t appeal to general membership
- Eugene happy to help w/driving activities that will bring people through
- similar to: http://ignite.oreilly.com or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pecha_Kucha
- 5-minute talks can act as seeds for longer-format talks down the line
- *need to get people IN here*
- “Geek Jam?”
- Eric: we should get well-known speakers into ENTS for the first rounds of talks
- Eugene is happy to call/follow up w/potential presenters (will CC us/get our approval on written material whenever possible)
- e.g. Mack, Cam, Chris Moore @ City of Edmonton?
- Eugene will connect w/Grant (events committee head) to coordinate efforts
~19:20
- Grant will create (or maintain, if it’s set up already) Facebook group for ENTS members
- slePP will give Grant admin privileges right now
- our facility is not prepared to have spontaneous events
- we can be *the* space for user groups but it’s simply not ready
- need to arrange another bin for garbage from space
- Eric moves to organize a day to move stuff into Rob’s space before we toss it off the balcony into a bin
- we’ll mop/clean and set up for iPhone Dev Camp (“Bucket Day”)
- push for 20 people armed with buckets on Monday, November 16th starting @ 19:00 – 21:00
- Chris will buy 20 buckets
~19:35
- Chris will get lease and rent cheque from Eric for new tenant
- Mike Kulpa has done a great job cleaning up central space
~19:40
- discussion about obscuring steam gear in “dirty space”
- Grant: would like to build a mobile screen/full AV setup (specific brand of lino might work for this)
- some discussion about amenities (particularly food)
- Matt will look into ALIX single-board machine for info. display/”kiosk” purposes
~19:45
- Eric: Shaw basically a success; he and Rob there all day Monday and some time Wednesday
- we *need* to put together some real flyers to support ENTS at events like this
- a media package would be nice as well that we can fire off to *anybody*
- self-contained kiosk that we can deploy @ *any* event with minimal expertise or guidance
- Graham: we should be collecting attendance statistics for events
- Matt asked Grant to gather attendance stats after events occur
- Eric: fill out an attendance roster for every event
- Chris will talk to Grant about getting access to membership data (interests, comments made during signup)
~19:50
- quick tangents…
- Longview made contact w/Grant about a VMware talk
- any opportunity for ENTS to beta-test Firenest’s application?
~19:55
- some finance discussion…
- Chris can handle callouts to chase membership payments
- Chris summarizing accounting situation
- Innovatech has not been contacted re: consulting payments
- Eric is going to check on contract/deliverables to chase second payment for this work
~20:00
- member will be using part of remaining office space for some intermittent photography work
- some discussion about whether there’s existing rental interest for the same space
- rental will unfortunately have to take priority going forward (there is apparently lots of interest), but she is welcome to use the space in the meantime
~20:05
- before callouts can occur, we need to have events in stone on the calendar and have the place *completely clean and usable*
- Chris: maybe adjust callouts to a “hey, how’s it going? ENTS misses you”
- he’ll track results/comments from callouts
~20:10
- president of CIPS very interested in sitting down and having a chat
- they have money to give working groups/fund events
- they’re trying to connect with a younger crowd
~20:15
- *ventilation issues*
- we need to examine airflow issues in “dirty room”
- need to determine if windows open
- contact Bruce about his views -> have Rob speak to him?
~20:20
- continuing discussion about interest generation
- build events *around* project work?
- “hack-a-thon”-style competitions?
- Graham: we need to deal with the problem of too much space (and the resulting sense of emptiness/a lack of structure)
- set up stations/divisions to improve the sense of functionality
~20:30
- bringing Mike Kulpa in to get a status update on card/biometric systems
- units have built-in serial-USB converter
- when you load admin software, it should “just work”
- tried built-in serial as well; still no luck
- power supply is spliced in
- whoops… power supply is AC output, not DC… Mike will check something else
Events! Events! Events! (Also, money!)
Posted by whisk in Uncategorized on October 28th, 2009
(Hey all. Here’s an email that just went out to our membership from Director and Events Committee head, Grant Bowering! –whisk)
>>> Hey everyone,
I missed an event already this week (sorry guys) but I’m in time to remind you all of two more:
Tonight at 6:30, ENTS President Stephen “Slepp” Olesen will be teaching us “All About VoIP“.
Tired of being a slave to the long-distance cartel? Planning a small business and think there might be a better way to set up your phone system? Or maybe you just talk too damn much? As a professional in the VoIP industry, Slepp will share all the trade secrets (the ones that wouldn’t put him out of business, at least), and give us an introduction to the technology the phone companies and mobile carriers wish didn’t exist!
Tomorrow at 6:30, ESUGA President Craig “McRocket” (yeah we dubbed him that last week) Makarowski will teach “Rockets (Not Your Average Model)“.
Most of us screwed around with lame bottle rockets as a kid. Maybe some of us even played around with a store-bought rocket kit that went a hundred feet in the air (or right through your parents’ bedroom window… Take the fifth on that one).
Well forget that crap. In his spare time, this guy does things like build 8-foot-fall rockets that can reach 2,000 feet (and that was 10 years ago, god knows what he’s doing now!). It actually IS rocket science! But Craig will do his best to make it make sense to the rest of us.
And here’s a preview of next week’s happenings:
- Nov. 3 @ 7PM: I’ll be teaching the first of a series of Introduction to .NET classes (man, I really should start preparing for that!)
- Nov. 6 @ 6:30PM: Brad Hanes (a.k.a. renderman to his friends and enemies) will be hosting a talk on I.T Security
- Nov. 7 @ 6:30PM: Director Chris Simmons (cshaiku) will be teaching Basic Web Design and Development (which I believe is platform-agnostic for now)
Tell your friends, and your colleagues! (unless you hate your colleagues and want them to miss out on awesome. Then don’t.)
See you all at the space!
Grant Bowering
Director and Events Committee head
Edmonton New Technology Society
P.S. Please please please pay your fees fees fees [Emphasis mine 
--whisk]
Job board online!
Posted by whisk in Uncategorized on October 23rd, 2009
Due to continued interest in connecting ENTS members with relevant job opportunities, a dedicated category has been set up in the ENTS Forum:
http://forums.ents.ca/?CategoryID=4
Not yet a member of the ENTS forum? Sign up here:
http://forums.ents.ca/people.php?PostBackAction=ApplyForm
The category is open for any registered forum users to contribute to discussions, though we will be maintaining some semblance of order Job postings will have a subject tag of [JOB OPPORTUNITY] and will be removed after a month. Diplomatic feedback on job postings is welcome (remember that they’re publicly viewable). Job hunting? Throw the category into your RSS reader!
If you have information about a relevant job posting (particularly at a current employer or an organization to which you have ties), please drop a line to jobs@ents.ca and we’ll take care of the rest.
With ENTS continuing to build public interest and our network of connections growing with each new member, we can surely help each other out during these rough economic times.
If you have any questions or feedback, please don’t hesitate to email whisk -at- ents -dot- ca.
Help Out – Donate
