Well this is a difficult column to fill as the last month has been very busy work-wise (remember that I am writing this at the beginning of July). The presentation at the July meeting from Ben at Edsoft was very interesting. Who knew that video was so easy to do these days?

For members that were not able to make the meeting, the special offer to club members is referred to on the homepage of the club website. I am going to purchase one of the HD units to take on my holiday in September. I am doing a canal boat cruise on the Welsh border and I think that I can mount the flip unit on the roof of the boat and get a drivers-eye view of the route.

The committee are actively considering what to do regarding the clubs premises. We have to inform the centre management by December if we wish to extend our current lease beyond June 2010. We have been talking with several commercial real estate agents to get a good grasp on the pricing structure for commercial property at the moment with a view to negotiating a better price for our current premises. We are also evaluating the cost benefits of buying our own premises if we can locate something suitable. To this end our accountant has been  preparing a whole swag of what if scenarios for the committee which cover every permutation that we can think of. Of course this is not going to be an easy decision to make. There is an extensive criteria list that any property we look at has to meet but here is a quick over view.

Our monthly meetings at Chadstone have increased to 200 attendees so we need to have close parking for 200 cars (how many people come by public transport?) close to major traffic arteries. We need a certain floor area. If we spend all of our funds on a premises that results in having to hold three or four outside meetings a month, there is no interest income to pay for the room hire for those meetings.

The location needs to be safe and secure as our meetings can end after dark nobody wants to walk through a darkened industrial area to get to their car. It needs be reasonably central no going out to the sticks (Dandenong or its like). So if you think you know of somewhere we should be looking at, drop me a line or leave a message at the office.

On a lighter note I have been looking into getting a new iPhone for the last few days. Of course as I have been with Telstra for many years (I know everybody bags them but you can't beat their coverage outside the major cities) nothing is simple. I get the feeling that they would prefer you to pick one of the other brands they promote very heavily, but by persisting I got the sales consultant to give me the various plans and options that I could get. Well, the phone side is ok but the data charges would choke an elephant. Then I started to think about what I use my current smart phone for and what would the iPhone do better for me and I realised that really the only reason I wanted one was because they are so cool. I am what the marketing guys call an early adopter. I like nice gadgets and toys and I am lucky enough to be able to indulge but not this time. I will wait until my old phone dies before updating and by then the new palm might be out and better than the Apple (did I mention that I am fickle too).
 

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