[wplug] RE: Erie Lug, help from Pittsburgh

[sendai]

As I've said in the past, I think this is a great idea. I have
personally communicated with several people in the last year or so that
I've been in the Erie area regarding a LUG and there is more than enough
interest. I have been heavily involved with several LUGs over the years,
including Dallas-Ft. Worth LUG (DFWLUG) and Portland LUG (PLUG) and I
would be more than willing to contribute whatever I can to the effort. 

Unfortunately, I am back in a 99% travel position and only get home to
Erie a few times year. Fortunately, I will be there for the proposed
Dec. 27th meeting, so I will be able to attend. 

Beyond that I can help with any aspects of the LUG that do not require
me to be physically present. I can also guarantee to bring three newbies
to the first actual LUG meeting. Anybody care to top that?

Anyways, as Beth Lynn said there is a lot of interest here, but we just
need one good motivated person in the area to make it happen. Come on
guys, let's do it.

Nick 

-----Original Message-----
From: Beth Lynn [mailto:bethlynn at wplug.org] 
Sent: Friday, December 19, 2003 12:22 PM
To: bethlynn at cs.cmu.edu
Subject: Erie Lug, help from Pittsburgh

Hello,

Over the past 2 years there has been alot of talk over the Internet
about the formation of an Erie Linux Users Group. I am emailing all
of you since you did at least one of the following
1. Posted to Western PA Linux Users' Group (WPLUG) mailing list 
looking for an Erie Lug.
2. Posted to Usenet looking for or looking to form an Erie Lug
3. Listed your email address on the Linux Counter

I hope you do not resent my harvesting your emails for this
reason. From my prospective, it appears as though there is an
Erie LUG that isn't very well advertised or there isn't an Erie
LUG because you guys do not know about each other. Either way
the possibility of an Erie LUG suffers due to a severe lack of
communication! This email is a small attempt to get communications
going between all of you and between Erie and Pittsburgh. If
you are interested in solving the mystery regarding if there
is an Erie LUG, please respond. A good LUG is formed out of
Linux newbies and Linux gurus so if you want to see an Erie
LUG happen, I'd like to hear from you so we can facilitate 
conversation. I have sent this email bcc to protect your privacy.
If you do not care, I'm very sorry to bother you and I will not 
send you email again.

There are 15 email addresses in total, but some of which might be
instances of the same person. You definitely have enough people to
have a lug if you want it.
 
I am interested in helping you guys get started for two reasons.
1. I am one of the leaders of Western PA Linux Users Group (WPLUG) 
which meets two Saturdays a month in Pittsburgh on Carnegie Mellon 
University campus. Although folks do haul from a county or two away 
to visit us, Erie may be too much of a drive. You guys are welcome at 
any time, but it seems like you have enough interest and energy at 
this time to do *something* in Erie.
2. Erie is my mother's hometown so I do make frequent trips to the area.
With the population and the colleges in the area, you'd think you'd have
enough Linux geeks in North Western PA to sustain a LUG. In fact I know
of smaller towns in Ohio that have thriving LUGs. So why not Erie?

>From what I can tell from my Internet research, there are two 
gentlemen, together or independently (I'm not sure), attempted to 
make a go of an Erie Lug. Their names are Nick and Keith. Both have
been copied on this email I'm not sure what the current status is. 
If things are going well, please respond so that WPLUG can let folks 
know about you since people come to WPLUG to ask if an Erie Lug exists.

Also, it looks like someone is trying to organize Erie Linux 
gatherings via meetup.com. That's where folks vote for a public
location (bar, coffee house, or restaurant), RSVP, and meet up
to talk about Linux. We do this in Pittsburgh and it works out
well when enough people RSVP. (the event is canceled if <5 people
RSVP) You folks may want to look into attending, please look
at this link to sign up to vote for location and RSVP 
http://linux.meetup.com/members/131

WPLUG welcomes an Erie LUG and would like to help you guys.

As a first step, I would like to propose that we all get together
and do lunch. It would be a chance for me to get to know you and
you to get to know each other. I will be in town on December 27th.
If December 27 works for no one else, yet there is interest, we
shall pick another date.

Please express interest in attending if you would like to participate
in any of the following agendas
1. Meet other Linux geeks in North Western PA
2. Learn more about how to get a LUG started and thriving
3. Solve the mystery once and for all if there is indeed an Erie LUG.
(Who knows? A real Erie LUG could be born out of this lunch)

Feel free to forward this invitation to any interested parties.

In order to make this a more public call for all those interested
in participating in an Erie LUG, I will forward this mail to the WPLUG
mailing list. A copy of this post will be found on the web.

Please send mail to bethlynn at wplug.org if any of this sparks your
curiosity and we can continue on in this conversation.

Thanks for your time.

Sincerely,

Beth Lynn Eicher
WPLUG Board Chair
bethlynn at wplug.org