We would like to remind you that the next Mindbridge Monthly Meeting is coming up this week.

Date: Wednesday March 1, 2006
Time: 6:00PM – 7:00PM CST (GMT-06:00)

Monthly Mindbridge Meeting at The Mill Restaurant 120 E.
Burlington St.,Iowa City, IA 52240 Phone: 319-351-9529.

Below are the minutes from the Mindbridge meeting held on 1 February 2006.

  • The meeting was called to order by Christine Cromwell.
  • Brian Womachka was elected to fill the supercom vacancy left by Tina Fiscus. Shawn Ervin voted for Brian. Christine forgot to read the proxy note that Catherine Schaff-Stump also voted for Brian.
  • The topics of the Minutes from January 4, 2006 were read.
  • Treasures report was read by Jon Maakestad.
    • checking account balance: $1,930.05
    • AnimeIowa account balance: $24,381.05
    • Icon account balance: $1,701.87
    • Gamicon account balance: $1,533.26
  • Gamicon report was read by Shawn Ervin.
    • the guest of honor, Mark MacKinnon will not be able to attend due to last minute government commitments. Blame Canada.
    • there will be an attendee appreciation pizza dinner in place of Mark MacKinnon
    • there were registration forms available for anyone needing to register
    • Gamicon is looking for more people to run board games, there are plenty of role playing events, please sign up on the website
  • AnimeIowa report was read by Jon Maakestad.
    • Jon reported that someone had allegedly embezzled money from the Minnesota group, Misfits, who runs Convergence; there will be some changes to Mindbridge; no money is missing from any Mindbridge fund
    • the next meeting for AnimeIowa will be February 11, 2006, at 2:00 pm at the Crown Plaza in Cedar Rapids
    • AnimeIowa will be held August 4-6, 2006
  • Icon report was read by Lindsay Jones
    • Early Bird Pre-registration is open now; it is $30; Early Bird Pre-registration ends February 28, 2006
    • the at the door entrance fee will be $50; there will be a pre-registration discount after February 28, 2006
    • Icon will be held at the Clarion in Cedar Rapids; a hotel room will cost $90 per night for one to four people
    • Early Bird Pre-registration will be available at Gamicon
  • Preplanning report was read by Michelle McKibben.
    • Michelle has been unable to contact Fantasy Flight about a guest of honor; Brian Womachka will assist her
    • Lindsay Jones made the suggestion to look into a hotel booking for Icon32, soon. The group agreed that one and a half years in advance was not too soon.
  • Game Library
    • Brian Womachka reported on the game library meeting
    • the game library meeting was held last month and they had a great time playing games
    • there will be a game library for Gamicon
  • Ad committee
    • no one was present for the ad committee
    • Eric Tucker is willing to help, Shawn Ervin help him get in touch with Richard Hill
  • Meeting location(s)
    • Lindsay Jones expressed a concern about transportation if the Mindbridge meetings were held outside of Iowa City
    • Marty Milder suggested that if the alternative locations do not draw more than two to four new people, we should either drop or revisit the idea
    • Henry Olsen suggested having the April 2006 Mindbridge meeting at Denny Lynch’s home in Cedar Rapids
    • John Frick made the motion no one opposed
    • 5 Joshes
    • it was requested that directions with maps be placed on the website
    • Christine Cromwell will find out if Denny Lynch is willing to host the meeting April 5th meeting, and find out what is kosher (food, drink, kids, alcohol)
    • Lindsay Jones made the motion to move the meeting to 7:00 pm
    • John Frick seconded
    • it passed with four Joshes
    • Jon Maakestad will be in charge of transportation for those who need it, he can transport six
    • Christine Cromwell can transport three more
    • Jon Maakestad will send an email reminder of the different meeting location
  • Social Activities
    • There will be a Paranoia game tonight in the Michigan State Room at the UI Student Union
  • Volunteer Points
    • Michelle Weinard- McKibben will bring forms to the March meeting for people to turn in volunteer points for 2005
    • This is the last time to turn them in
    • Examples of ways to earn volunteer points are run a convention, physical labor, run and event if not a staff member
  • AnimeIowa Website
    • Jon Maakestad reported there is a new webhost, the previous new server did not have enough bandwidth for the site
    • Dreamhost is the new webhost
    • It does cost a little more
    • New business
      • Shawn Ervin moved to double Jon Maakestad’s salary
      • Peter Wezeman asked what his current salary was
      • since the current salary is zero, it was generally agreed to double it

We would like to remind you that the next Mindbridge Monthly Meeting is coming up this week.

Date: Wednesday February 1, 2006
Time: 6:00PM – 7:00PM CST (GMT-06:00)

Monthly Mindbridge Meeting at The Mill Restaurant 120 E.
Burlington St.,Iowa City, IA 52240 Phone: 319-351-9529.

Below are the minutes from the Mindbridge meeting on 4 January 2006.

  1. Minutes from December 12, 2005 were read
  2. Tina F. is not taking minutes tonight, so Christine C. volunteered to do this
  3. Treasurer’s report was read:
    1. Checking account balance: $2,240.05
    2. AnimeIowa account balance: $24,381.05
    3. Icon account balance: $1,643.38
    4. Gamicon account balance: $1,542.90
  4. Gamicon report:
    1. preregistration ends January 9, 2006
    2. cost is $15 for GMs, $20 for players
    3. after January 9, 2006 the cost increases $5
    4. discussion was made about registering after the 9th to add to Mindbridge funds
    5. anyone interested in running a game needs to talk to or email Brian W. ASAP
    6. Michele M. had a question, “Are you having sponsorships?”
    7. Brian W. will post it to the Website later
  5. AnimeIowa had no report
  6. ICON 31 report:
    1. mailings will going out January 5, 2006 (an attractive postcard)
    2. the budget is conservative, and needs little revision
    3. Date: October 13-15, 2006
    4. Place: Clarion Hotel in Cedar Rapids, IA
    5. Author Guest: C. S. Friedman
    6. Artist Guest: Larry Price
    7. Michele M. suggested Mindbridge only pay “X” amount for transporting art as a protection for ICON 31’s budget
  7. Preplanning committee had no report
  8. Art show report
    1. Michele M. has read a lot of copyright information
    2. be careful, if something is questionable, take it out
    3. anime is very questionable
    4. anime of your own, not copying or portraying another’s work is okay, but do not use characters that belong to others
    5. parody art is okay, no names, check with Mike Cole who knows a lot about parody art
  9. Copyright issue for art work
    1. Catherine S. asked who could write up a copyright summation document for Mindbridge, Michele M. will do this
    2. we also need to make decision about what is okay to sell (be careful here) and to display (most is okay to display), profit is the main factor
  10. Volunteers for ad committee
    1. volunteers are still needed for the ad committee to help Richard H.,
    2. Jori said Eric Tucker was willing to help, but he was not present, information will be provided to him to get him in touch with Richard H.
  11. Storage locker policy
    1. Marty M. said “It slipped my mind.”
    2. Marty M. asked for comments about the policy, email them to flunkysama@gmail.com
    3. we will do an inventory and cleanup of the storage locker in the spring
    4. requests for volunteers will be made a month in advance, probably on a Saturday with a Sunday rain date
  12. Meeting place reports
    1. Dee C. had a report on Cedar Rapids Public Library
    2. Christine C. had a report on Iowa City Public Library
    3. Michele M. said Pizza Ranch in North Liberty, Beaver Creek, has a nice room
    4. Henry O. asked why we were looking
    5. Catherine S. explained we thought about having a few meetings in Cedar Rapids, we also occasionally do not fit in the meeting room at The Mill, also we are sometimes drowned out by live music at The Mill
    6. Dee C. reported there is a room on the second floor of the Cedar Rapids Library, L Room, which is open territory on a first come first serve basis, we might need to share the room with another group, food and drink would be allowed but we would need to pick up after ourselves
    7. discussion diverted into the need for alcohol during a meeting
    8. Christine C. reported there are five or six rooms available in the Iowa City Library, they can be reserved one month in advance, food and drink are allowed, clean up is the groups responsibility
    9. Catherine S. asked for someone to check with Denny Lynch of Cedar Rapids, about the possibility of using his house, Christine C. said she would do this
    10. Brian W. said Merf (Medical Education Research Foundation) might be available; the question was asked if a group needed to be affiliated with the University; Brian W. will check on this
    11. Marty M. inquired about what time and day of the week meetings would be held in Cedar Rapids; Catherine S. said it would likely be 7:00 pm and that the Iowa City meetings could also be changed to 7:00 so SFLIS (Science Fiction League of Iowa Students) members could arrive on time since they meet at The Mill from 5:00-6:00 the same night.
    12. Christine C. asked how meeting places, dates and times would be announced; Catherine S. suggested the Website; Michele M. reminded everyone that the Yahoo site is for members only, so the Cedar Rapids people may not be able to find out; Michele M. will look into membership bylaws for the Cedar Rapids people who would want to become Members but only attend when Mindbridge met in Cedar Rapids
  13. Resignation
    1. Tina F. is resigning from Mindbridge
    2. Catherine S. reported she has received a resignation letter from Tina F. Tina is a 2-year board member and the secretary. She highly regrets this decision, but her life has become too busy
    3. Christine C. volunteered to be the secretary, she is already an at-large 1-year board member; three notebook binders were
    4. at the next meeting we will need to elect a replacement 2-year board member, Brian W. has shown interest, if anyone else is interested or if anyone knows someone interested please contact Mindbridge
  14. Bid for iCon 32
    1. Anthony H. asked if bids for ICon 32 could be submitted; Catherine S. put it on the to-do list for the next board meeting
  15. Membership information and flyer
    1. Dee C. inquired about available flyers to recruit new members
    2. Michele M. will bring flyers to the next meeting for Dee
    3. Tina F. suggested they be left at Daydreams Comics in Iowa City, and at the public library (however, the public library clears out all flyers once a month)
    4. Dee C. suggested leaving flyers at Rude Awakenings and other coffee shops
    5. Catherine S. has asked for volunteers to distribute flyers but there has been no people will to do this
  16. Social organized events
    1. Catherine S. brought up the issue again, of a Mindbridge member who is the social or cruise type person who would like to take this on or to think about it
    2. Scott M. said it would help to look back to the pre-Mindbridge days, before the split from SFLIS; at that time there was a base of people that kept bringing in other people
    3. Catherine S. suggested members could announce what social things they were doing in this month to invite others (movie nights, games, etc.)
    4. alternatively email list on the Website could be used to notify people of activities
    5. the issue of confidentially was mentioned, there are no phone number or addressed on the Website
    6. Tina F. reminded everyone that the Mindbridge Website is for Mindbridge business only
    7. Catherine S. said it could also be used for social purposes
    8. Michele M. is having a Pampered Chef party with a Mexican theme at her home later this month
    9. Mark M., who designed the Website, has set up forums, bulletin boards, the link “Mindbridge Talk” is found at the bottom of the main page
  17. New members
    1. Dee C. and Fred C. joined at this meeting
  18. DVD player
    1. Tina F. has been the keeper of Mindbridge’s DVD player; someone else will need to store it; they may also make use of it but it must be brought to all cons whether used or not