The regular monthly meeting of the Lost Island DX Society was held in the back room of the usual watering hold, The Plugit Inn, on October 30, 2009. The meeting was called to order at 6:32 PM by newly elected President Randy.
President Randy welcomed all members and guests and commended some of them for getting in the spirit of things and wearing their Halloween costumes to the meeting, even if it was a day early. As the confused members looked around the room, President Randy realized from the uncomfortable silence that no one actually had worn a Halloween costume to the meeting. Couture has never been a strong suit of the LIDS.
The first order of business was to get drink orders in for all present. Rusty Key ordered his usual Guinness on tap, knowing full well the Plugit Inn does not carry Guinness on tap, and was once again met with a hail of spitballs and detritus. A semblance of order returned to the meeting afterwards.
President Randy announced that after giving careful consideration to the matter and discussing it with the Executive Bored of LIDS, beginning in January, the monthly LIDS meeting will begin at 7:00PM rather than the usual 6:30PM start time.
Several members immediately jumped up to express their dissatisfaction with the new start time. Among the arguments made against changing the start time were:
- If it ain't broke, why fix it?
- A later start time will discourage folks from coming to the meeting, reducing Society participation
- Some folks won't get the word and will show up at 6:30, not find anybody around and leave
- The 6:30 start time is traditional and you shouldn't mess with tradition
- Changing the start time means that we can't compare future meetings to past ones, so all the old meeting minutes will be useless
After listening to the complainers grouse for about ten minutes, a group of supporters for the meeting change chimed in and began to defend the idea of moving the meeting time. The pro-time change arguments included:
- A later start time will allow folks who work later to be able to make it to the meeting on time, which might increase meeting attendance
- Since Happy Hour at the Plugit Inn starts at 7:00, all the 807's will be Happy Hour priced instead of having to pay full price for the first one
- Half of the crowd shows up late anyhow, so a 7:00PM start time might mean everybody will be on time and there won't be so many interruptions from the late arrivals
- A later start time will likely attract new members who could never make the old start time
One old timer claimed that the meetings used to start at 7:00PM years ago, but got changed sometime back in the late sixties. Or maybe it was the seventies. Either way, he blamed the change on the AR-double L (sic).
Several of the cooler heads in the room opined that ultimately the meeting start time would make no difference in how many people showed up to a LIDS meeting, but if the price of beer kept going up, no matter what time the meeting started, fewer would show up. There was muted general agreement on the latter.
One armchair lawyer expressed the opinion that just because the meeting officially starts at 7:00PM that does not prevent individual LIDS from gathering at 6:30PM and enjoying a cold 807 before the official start of the meeting at 7:00PM. A second armchair lawyer objected to the interpretation of the first armchair lawyer, claiming that a pre-meeting gathering of LIDS was in fact a de-facto meeting, if enough LIDS showed up, and hence there was potential that society business could be conducted at this de-facto meeting outside the view of the general membership, thus any pre-meeting gathering was expressly prohibited.
Another armchair lawyer chimed in that he thought that was excessively harsh and, surely, we could trust our fellow LIDS to gather outside of an official meeting and not create mischief. Several mumblers about the room commented about "certain" members lacking moral fiber and the need for rules that could be strictly enforced. When confronted about whom the "certain" members might be, the mumblers said they didn't know of any personally, but had heard rumors of their existence.
Rusty Key spoke up and suggested that the meetings be moved to Wednesdays.
At this point in the discussion, the general membership was about half way through the second round of 807s and logic and pronunciation were being compromised. President Randy managed to get the crowd's attention by whispering that there had just been a cluster spot for a P5 station on 20m. Once he had the crowd's attention, he stated that he and the Executive Bored had already made the decision to change the meeting start time and that was that. He hoped all the loyal membership would continue to come to the meetings, but understood if some found the new start time did not fit their schedules.
C.W. Guy (French pronunciation ) announced that all loyal and steadfast LIDS should arrive anytime they wanted before 7:00PM and keep their butts in the chair until the meeting ended. There was general agreement on his point, but some question on the practicality of it, as by now the third round of 807s had arrived and the lease on the first two was expiring for many.
Having settled, more or less, the issue of meeting starting time, the Society moved on to other business. By this point in the evening, the fourth round of 807s had arrived, so details are pretty vague. There was something about some contests. Maybe some DX. I dunno.
Respectfully Submitted
Cousin QRM
