The February CMUG meeting will be held on Wednesday, February 15, 2012 at the East Columbia library.
    I haven't heard what the program for the February meeting will be. Stay tuned for further developments!
    Hope to see you on Wednesday, February 15, at 7:30 pm at the East Columbia library.

Interested in other computer user groups in the area?

• Columbia Area Linux User Group........www.calug.org
  a friendly informal group of Columbia-area residents who share an interest in Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) in general, and Linux in particular
  meets on 2nd Tuesdays in Columbia Gateway
• Crabby Admins.............www.crabbyadmins.org
  the Baltimore/DC chapter of the League of Professional System Administrators
  meets on 1st Wednesdays in Columbia Gateway

Our January meeting focused on tablet computers. Thanks to member (and Treasurer) George Coffin for demonstrating his iPad. Thanks also to Larry Medoff and Paul Demmitt for chiming in on their own experiences with (respectively) an Android tablet and an iPad.
    We met at the new Miller Branch Library on Frederick Road in Ellicott City. If you are in the area, you should take the time to check it out. This new building is about three times the size of the old Miller Branch, and is one result of Howard County Library's Master Plan 2005-2030.
    The new Miller Branch has three meeting rooms. We will continue to try to reserve the meeting room at East Columbia for our meetings, but there will probably be future months when we'll have to go with Plan B, and use one of the Miller Branch meeting rooms.

Mark your calendars! The March meeting is tentatively scheduled for Thursday, March 22, 2012, at the East Columbia Library.

Snow Cancellation Policy: Now that we are meeting at the East Columbia Library, CMUG's cancellation policy follows that of the Howard County library system. If the libraries are closed because of the weather, or close early, or cancel evening events, then we won't have a meeting. (This is mostly because it's too cold to have our meeting outside!)
     So, how do you know if the Howard County libraries are closed? The simplest way is to check their website at www.hclibrary.org.
     Also, check the CMUG website. We'll try and get a note up on the home page.

We had a very festive December meeting, with our usual potluck supper. Thanks to everyone who brought a delicious contribution, and especially thanks to Sumi Kinoshita for pulling everything together, buying and cooking the ham and beef, and also organizing the leftovers so they could all go home with someone!

The November meeting discussed online shopping, especially on Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Thanks to member Phil Krug for his research and for leading the discussion.

Thanks to Dave Methvin of PC Pitstop for speaking at our October meeting. Dave showed off a prototype of a Windows 8 tablet, and discussed where Microsoft is taking Windows 8 for PCs, tablets, and phones.

The June meeting included our annual Officer Elections, according to the CMUG bylaws. Officers listed below will serve from July 2011 to June 2012.
    Our new CMUG officers are:

• President: John Weske
• Vice President: Larry Medoff
• Treasurer: George Coffin
• Secretary: Phil Krug

Thanks to the officers who served from July 2010 to June 2011: John Weske, Larry Medoff, Sumi Kinosita, and Phil Krug. Special thanks to outgoing Treasurer Sumi Kinoshita for her dexterous handling of CMUG's checkbook.

Thanks to Andrew Rein for his presentation at the June meeting on Picasa, and how he uses it to organize, manage, edit, and share digital photos.

Thanks to John Weske for his presentation on mapping and related websites at the May meeting.

Thanks to Charlie Snyder for his presentation and discussion on his genealogical research at the April meeting.

Thanks to George Coffin for his discussion of his experience using Windows Home Server at the March meeting. It serves as a central backup for other PCs, can act as a media server, and you can access it remotely over the Internet.

Meeting Location
We usually meet at the East Columbia Library, which is at 6600 Cradlerock Way, Columbia, MD 21045. It's about 3 miles from the Bain Center, but only about a mile from Route 29. Here's a Google Map you can use to find your way.
    Go in the main entrance of the building, and the meeting room is on your right before you get to the library space proper.

The last few issues of the CMUG Megaphone are available here in PDF form: June 2008, May, April, March, February, January 2008, December 2007, November, October, September, August, July, June, May, April, March, February, and January 2007.
   Since we have the space, I've also put the PDF files for the 2006 issues of The Megaphone online: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, and Dec.