Wow, time does fly when you are not having fun
I see my last post was three weeks ago. Been kind of doggy.
I have been doing some research on setting up a camera club, and have found that there are a lot more ways to fail than to make it work. I decided not to do much actual work on it until I find out whether anyone actually shows up for the first meeting which is next Thursday.
Just how to organize the club seems to depend a lot upon how many members there are. With just a few it looks like it is best to just treat it as a few friends getting together, in other words don’t bother. With 25 or more it looks like you need to incorporate as a not for profit organization mainly to protect the wealthier members from liability. It is not widely understood that without being incorporated, the members are severally and individually liable for club actions. For the same reason the club ought to be carrying liability insurance. Also being incorporated as a not for profit the club can accept donations.
Another thing I have been thinking hard about is club officers. In the clubs I have been involved with every year the club changed, the old officers all declined to be reelected and a new cliche took over the club and ran it the way they wanted. Sometimes you got a great bunch and the club thrived, sometimes you got a lousy bunch and the club died. I would like to some how set things up so there is some continuity to how things are run, but so that new people can easily become involved in the running of the club.
Then there is the Photography Society of America (PSA). The PSA is the parent club of many clubs. The offer a lot of stuff that a club would find helpful. Luckily the club membership is only $45/year. It is probably a good idea to affiliate with the PSA as a 1000 photo clubs has a lot more clout than one.
So, come next Thursday, we will find out whether we are going to have a Photo Club or not.
No Camera Club in Boone?
Well then I just have to make it happen:
Kind of scary. The Senior Center is going to do some publicity, I turned in a club listing to the newpapers, and the public library today. Hopefully, there will be enough interest to make a go of it.
Some thoughts
Ah, tomorrow is payday. First I have to pay my cable bill, then buy a phone card, then deal with the exhaust system on the Blazer.
I have checked into it and it will cost $130 to have it done at the cheapest place in town, or $100 for the parts to do it myself. If I had the funds that would be a no-brainer, but I do not have the funds, I can live for a week on the difference. They weld the system, and in about two Boone winters the exhaust system will rust through at the welds. If I do it myself with clamps it will fall off in about two years. Hard to tell, which to do. In any case I intend to put the under body protection (Skid plates) back on, that may help with the salt problem.
After a winter of poor health I finally have started cleaning the place up again. The bedroom/photo-studio is about 85% straightened up only a couple more hours work figuring where to put the remaining junk. The living room, I have managed to keep no less than 85%, so it is not going to be a problem. The bathroom only takes a couple of hours at its worst. So that leaves the kitchen the other catch-all room, I have to find a place for a lot of junk in there too.
The old sailors saying “A place for everything and everything in its place” is great if you have someplace to put the stuff. When I first moved into the apartment it was easy, I had little, and there was what seemed like plenty of storage. The big closet at the head of the stairs was turned into a laundry, the only place there was to put in the washer and dryer where it would not cost a fortune to run water and electric (The closet is directly above the breaker panel in the kitchen downstairs, and right next to the bathroom sink), so that space was lost. Then as I got into more hobbies, and the remaining space filled up. I really need to cull some stuff, but as you all know from personal experience, if you toss something you have not used in ten years, you will need it the next week.
I did rearrange the bedroom furniture a bit, and now have about a 9×14 clear area for the studio. The lighting equipment and backdrops are stored along the wall when not in use as a studio. The area will do double duty as a sewing area.
lets see, two bicycles, four sewing machines, five computers, three stereos, a console TV, 3 bookcases (full), a closet full of darkroom gear, two big tool boxes, plus all the usual furniture, all in a 4 room apartment. No wonder there is no place to put stuff…
At least the past week I have been waking up without my head all stopped up, that is a major improvement. It is kind of warm right now. Supposed to hit 80 today. The air kicked on yesterday. Weird Weather is the only kind we seem to be having anymore. I did get out and walk a couple of miles yesterday, I have not been getting enough exercise what with the weird weather and my weird health. At least, I can walk a couple of miles even out of condition. When I first moved up here in 2002, I could not walk a mile. I helps to keep things in perspective, things are not as bad as the were at one time.