MEETING MINUTES
 Friday, January 23, 2009
Volume 16; Issue 3


Treasurer Report
The quarterly dues billing was e-mailed on 12/1.  THEY ARE NOW PAST DUE!  Please contact Melissa Matthews if you do not receive your e-invoice.

Leads Report
37-40, 28-46, 17-10, 22-51, 21-28.

Other Items
Membership - Stacy Hyder of The Law Office of Stacy L. Hyder PLC visited our group today.  She opened her practice in 2008.  Her focus is on criminal offense (murders, homicides, DUI defense and victim's of crime).

Questionable Behavior - Bob Busch is working on opening two more stores.  More details to come.

Quote of the Day - "The anticipation of being here is a lot better than actually being here.  It's a lot like prom."  Chris Curran

Thoughts on MABE -

  • I appreciate everyone here.  Not only do we have some very good "business" people in here, we have very good people.
  • Fear motivates me more than anything else...and helps me through speeches.
  • I know that I am not the only one going through something, MABE members share my problems. 
  • You can't get anywhere if you don't try.  I learned that from MABE.
  • It is hard to get me leads but I still find it important to come.  It is a lot cheaper than therapy.  It is an important part of my life.

Board Elections - During the first week of February we will take nominations to the board.

Main Speaker - Ralph Cunningham
Ralph's first interests were in chemistry.  He liked to make gun powder and such.  Lucky for us, his interests turned to electronics.  He eventually landed at Motorola.  About that time Uncle Sam came knocking so he joined the Marine Corp.  This is where he learned skills in communications, control and command centers, etc.  He went back to Motorola after leaving the military but eventually moved to a medical products company where he spent a lot of time on the road fixing x-ray machines.  He grew tired of the travel so he went to work for another company that worked on the Best Western reservation system.  Around this time he started writing diagnostic software.  He also worked for the Mesa school system on there computers which is when he gained his experience on MACs and IBM machines. 

He recently tested a copy of Windows 7 which looks pretty good.  Internet Explorer 8 is not so great.

Viruses are not really the problem anymore, spyware is.

Data recovery is his main job function.  The smartest thing for people to do is learn how to backup your work.  How much can you afford to loose?  He recommends remote backups.  One backup is good.  Two backups is better.

Also make sure it is encrypted so people can't easily get to it. 

A firewall is just as important. 

It is key to try to stay as up-to-date as possible. 

Email is not protected.  The only way to protect it is by taking a series of steps to encrypt it.

Visit www.cosmiccreations.biz to see his other business.