Editor: Alan R.De Angelo
Greetings and Salutations!
The ACA news is back after a bit of a hiatus. To be honest, I did not know if the ACA NEWS was coming back at all.
To those of you who are organizational freaks, this newsletter could be labeled Vol. 1 #7 thru 10. When someone digs up an ancient hard drive, they will not encounter the frustration we experienced with finding the missing early BB issues that skipped a “beat” in the sequencing.
When I first had the idea of the newsletter, the ACA had no publication at all. In fact, as many of you know, our club was in disarray so I decided to get something out to our members just to let you know that the ACA was alive and getting its stuff back together again. With that, the powers that be said: “Great, we have so much info to put out to the members, let’s place ads and show announcements and book sales items and everything including the kitchen sink into the newsletter.” So, here was me, an analog guy, all of a sudden stuck with a digital project that he had no idea how to handle. Naturally, I looked for help and sought out Sean Danekind, our Webmaster, who was already buried with web site stuff and we managed to get the newsletter out to you.
Remember, in my mind, I envisioned a simple informative newsletter that I could do with simple WORD functions, you know, Cut-and-Paste, etc, and get it sent via an emailing list. That was not to be the case. All of a sudden I needed to learn HTML and get it sent via the website to our members and it became a big problem for an already busy person. I got out a few issues and then tragedy hit on a personal front with the death of my mother and all of the work associated with sorting a lifetime worth of belongings and memories. So, the newsletter was put aside.
During this time, though, Daryl Hutchins came to the rescue and became our BB Editor. All of the ads and show announcements went to him. Juan Miguel Artigas Azas allowed me to enter the Cichlid Room Companion and send things via his site and while I was learning HTML, he reviewed a few things for me and guided me. Thank you to all three, Daryl, Sean and Juan Miguel. To all of the members reading this, you have no idea how much their help meant to me.
Today, Daryl Hutchins has agreed to save my bacon and punch up what I write and send it out via the BB emailing system. This does two things. It allows me to get the AN back to its original intention of being a simple newsletter much like the first few pages of the old Trading Post, a task that I can handle, AND, Daryl has been kind enough to format it, add any graphics, etc, and send it out. Holy Cow! I can go back to being a computer shlub, happy in my ignorance. The production of BB also lets me write formal articles for BB so the “Adventures in Cichlidom” series will move from the AN to BB where it should be.
BB:
Speaking of the BB, Daryl can always use new articles and photographs. Your articles do not have to be scientific masterpieces, CARES fish profiles or exotic travelogues, they can be anything that you have experienced in the cichlid world. Do not be intimidated either as we have very fine Technical Editors that can help “punch up” your work if you want them too. Scientifically and grammatically! Please send all submissions to Daryl Hutchins using this contact form.
Convention 2016: If you haven’t heard, the 2016 Convention will be in Cincinnati, OH. July 28-31 are the dates. If you have never been to an ACA Convention, you are in for a treat. Every convention that I have attended has been a ton of fun. Great speakers, great fish and most of all, great people. Check out the website at: acaconvention2016.com for more info. The link is also on the ACA website at cichlid.org.
The Aquatic Experience – Chicago will be held November 6-8 at the Schaumburg, IL Convention Center. The ACA will have a booth there that will be manned by many of your BOT and cadre members. Be sure to stop by and say hello. Also, if you are attending with friends, have them join the ACA. It will be great fun.
Convention 2015 was by all accounts, a success. During the convention, the BOT met and to keep you up-to-date, here is a complete list of the Props that were voted on since the last AN.
BOT Props:
| 15-15 | To approve the new By-Laws and distribute them to the membership for approval. | PASSED |
| 15-16 | To approve Alan De Angelo and Daryl Hutchins as co-chairs of the Election Committee. | PASSED |
| 15-17 | To award an additional $3500 from the Paul V. Loiselle Conservation Fund to Guy Tam Hyok. | PASSED |
| 15-18 | To have a booth at the 2015 Aquatic Experience and to have a booth and Cichlid Show at the 2016 and 2017 Aquatic Experience. | PASSED |
| 15-19 | To purchase two show booths not to exceed $2000. | PASSED |
| 15-20 | To fund two people to man the booth at the Aquatic Experience – Chicago. | PASSED |
| 15-21 | To award the Guy Jordan Research Fund $1150 to Richard Oldham and $1350 to Layla Al-Shaer. | PASSED |
| 15-22 | To split the cost with ZooMed to print a limited number of each electronic BB with a maximum of $2000. | PASSED |
| 15-23 | To take out a full-page ad, half for ACA membership and half for the upcoming convention in the the Aquatic Experience show book. | PASSED |
BOT ELECTIONS
Yours truly and Daryl Hutchins, your newly appointed Election Chairs, have gathered the bios of five candidates who are running for four BOT positions. When you receive the ballot please take the time to VOTE!
Once again, BB is in need of articles and photos. Sharpen your pencils or pick up your keyboards and write about your cichlid hobby experiences. Send submissions to Daryl Hutchins.
That does it for this issue of the ACA NEWSLETTER. I hope that you found it informative.
Until next time,
Alan
