Stu Card's blog

This past week, Bro. John Glenn, one of our technology volunteers, was repairing his porch roof, fell, struck his head and died.

His Masonic service was the largest I have seen: we filed into the funeral home from outside and almost had to continue right on through, as there was barely enough room for us all to stand in the building.

The religious service that followed was conducted by a minister who is also a member of the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA), another group in which John was very active; many SCAvians from around the northeastern U.S. traveled long distances to attend the service.

I just started on a little site cleanup. The Scribd on-line PDF reader seems to be working out well, so I am gradually transitioning the way we publish and promote the NETNEWS to encourage readers to try it. The GM's and GS's messages should always be easy to find, even when a more recent one has appeared. The GL officers are no longer "newly elected" so there's no need to advertise them as such on the front page. Hopefully nobody will be too unhappy with the changes.

The next thing is to reorganize the Committees area, so committee/program information is not only up to date (it currently isn't), but also can be found easily, without needing to be promoted to the front page of the web site (as I am currently doing with MSAT workshop dates). This is too big a job for me, so it is the first thing I am going to ask one of our new volunteers to do. Volunteers, stand by! :-)

My traveling companion was unwell Sunday, so we didn't get to the Lodge re-dedication, but we're back, so now I can resume going through e-mails from volunteers and trying to match up skills with tasks...

I'm going to Kentucky this weekend. While I'm there, I hope to visit a Lodge that is being rededicated, and bring a good friend of mine who is interested in Masonry. Here is the announcement:

The Fort Thomas Lodge #808, under the leadership of its Worshipful Master, Rev. Robert "Ashley" Beagle and his officers, will celebrate its 100th Birthday on June 29th at 2 PM. The Grand Master of Kentucky and his officers will rededicate the Temple. The Mayor of Ft. Thomas and several other dignitaries are expected to speak. After the ceremonies, the Lodge will provide a picnic dinner on the grounds, free to all in attendance. The public is welcome and encouraged to attend. The Lodge is located at 37 North Fort Thomas Ave., Fort Thomas KY 41075.

St. John's Day is over. I have some audio/video files to encode and post here. A couple of Brothers showed up to learn how to post material. Unfortunately I missed at least one Brother who came to the Library while I was elsewhere on the Masonic Care Community campus. I have a few items to post, then I'll sort through the e-mails I have received from new volunteers and start putting you all to work. :-) Thanks!

OK, everyone out there in Internet land, I am typing this as part of a demo to a Brother who is learning how to use our Content Management System... wish you were here to learn too!

I spoke with the Grand Master yesterday.

He would like us to record the investiture ceremony and his address Saturday, and the service Sunday, and to distribute them live over the Masonic Care Community Campus CATV system to the residents, but sees no need to stream either event live over the Internet this year (although he is open to the idea for next year).

He agreed that this weekend will provide a good opportunity for our committee to meet, welcome new volunteers and offer training.

Look for us in the Library: if we aren't there, we will leave word there as to where we are set up.

It looks like our committee may have some work to do this St. John's weekend, but so far we aren't sure.

Any of you who plan to come to St. John's weekend, and who would be willing to lend a hand with whatever we end up getting tasked to do, please let me know.

Thanks!

Hi all!

Here is a long overdue update from the Tech Committee.

We have heard from a few volunteers and will be getting back to them with "job offers" shortly.

I pulled the announcement that we would be posting video of the public portions of Grand Lodge: we have great video but horrible audio; if we can dub something we will post it. It seems that every time somebody coughed or shuffled a paper on the dais, the Grand Master's podium mic picked it up, and cut in as a priority over-ride, blanking all the other microphones, including those at the altar where the action was during installation. :-( We lacked an experienced audio man during the Annual Communication; any volunteers out there with that experience, we really need it, please contact me, thanks!

Hello Brethren and Friends!

I'm Stu Card, the chairman of our Technology Committee. Despite being an engineer, I'm nowhere near as facile with web authoring etc. as your average 14 year old. So please bear with me! It is my intention to use this blog to informally share what the volunteers on our committee are doing to support the Craft. This first post is more of an experiment, for me to learn the use of the tool, than anything else. More will follow, probably not with any regularity. :-)