OldNews2015
Downtown Lunch: Thursday January 14th
11:30 am, 1st Avenue food court downtown, at the bigger tables near the entrance.
Lunch: Thursday December 17th
11:30 am, Apache Mall food court, near B&N.
Technical Meeting / Social: Friday December 11th, 6:00 pm
In December we do something like board or card games, video games, etc because it's just too close to Thanksgiving and Christmas to fit in a social and a speaker.
Tina is hosting a gaming night at her house. Email her if you need address and/or directions. Start time is 6:00 pm. Note that this is NOT our usual second Thursday, we pushed it back one night so people don't have to deal with getting to work in the morning.
We play whatever you bring. Please consider bringing a folding table and chairs, board games, card games, video games, video game system accessories, and/or snacks and beverages. RSVP's of the types of stuff you're bringing would be appreciated so we don't have overstocks of some items such as four people hauling their folding table and chairs, or everyone bringing chips.
Dinner of pizza from Pizza Hut will be ordered promptly at 6:30, don't be late. Please bring cash in small bills to chip in for your portion of the pizza if you choose to partake.
Sign up
| Name | # of self/family/friends | Electronic games | Board/card games | Food/beverage contributions | Other | Pizza? |
| Tina | 2 players + 2 distractors | two tv's, a Wii with some games + 2 controllers, a PS2 with some games + 2 controllers + DDR with two dance pads | Pandemic, Ticket to Ride, Munchkin, Great Dalmuti, Fluxx, EcoFluxx, Candy Land, many others | 2L's of non-caffeinated pop | two tables, ~7 chairs, lots of floor space, a large yard with some floodlights | Yes |
| Will | 2 adults + 1 neutral chaotic distractor | - (can bring additional wii controllers if requested) | munchkin (holiday/booster pack), munchkin apocalypse | pop/krumkakes?/chips | yes | |
| Tollefoto | 1 mostly adult | smart phone and Golden Tee Golf (home edition) | Farkle | holiday flavored cookies | yes | |
| Your name here | x | x | x | x | x | x |
Downtown Lunch: Thursday December 10th
11:30 am, 1st Avenue food court downtown, at the bigger tables near the entrance.
Lunch: Thursday November 19th
11:30 am, Apache Mall food court, near B&N.
Technical Meeting: Thursday November 12th
Jon Tollefson - demo of the new AppleTV device
6 pm, in or near RCTC Heintz Center's HA107.
Anything else you want to see on the agenda? Let Jon G or Tina know.
Downtown Lunch: Thursday November 12th
11:30 am, 1st Avenue food court downtown, at the bigger tables near the entrance.
Social #1: Sunday October 4th
Come for a hike via corn maze in Douglas at Northwoods Orchard. 75th Avenue NW, just north of 75th Street.
Sunday October 4th
1:30 pm
$5/person for the adult corn maze. $3/kid for the kid corn maze. Other activities and items for sale, see their website if you're interested in apples, gourds, pumpkins, etc.
Extra Lunch: Thursday October 8th
11:30 am, 1st Avenue food court downtown, at the bigger tables near the entrance.
Planned Technical Meeting or Social #2 (Disc Golf): October 8
Speaker needed, please let Tina or Jon G know if you're willing to volunteer. Willing to present but want to know what people have expressed interest in? Check out our requested topics page.
6 pm, in or near RCTC Heintz Center's HA107.
Anything else you want to see on the agenda? Let Jon G or Tina know.
If we do not end up with a speaker, meet instead for disc golf, just up the road outside the RCTC field house. Meet at the parking lot edge / field house doors, same 6 pm time.
Ice Cream Social / Yard Party : Saturday September 26
This Saturday, 1 pm, Tina's family will host an ice cream social and yard games at her house. We will have ice cream (either a variety of flavors, or vanilla and a variety of toppings), badminton equipment, and a sloped yard mowed into interesting hazards for any grass games you might bring.
Volunteers to bring root beer or other float-appropriate pop, other yard games (bocce, croquet, Frisbee, monkey bars golf, etc), and potentially non-sweet snacks would be appreciated.
Your geeky-minded friends and family are welcome to join as well, as long as they don't judge the kid-present state of my house. RSVPs are not required (so if you get free at the last minute feel free to just show up), although if you know you're coming estimated head counts would be appreciated so I know how much ice cream to have on hand.
Lunch: Thursday September 17th
11:30 am, Apache Mall food court, near B&N.
Technical Meeting: September 10th
Tom Adams, retired IBMer, on Windows 10. He has provided the following overview:
--
This seminar will help answer your question: Windows 10 is available, what should I do? Whether you have Windows 8.1, 8, 7, VISTA, XP, etc. we’ll be able to answer your questions. Even if you currently have an Apple system, Windows 10 may be the solution you’re looking for. Longer description.
--
He has also provided a copy of his slides.
6 pm, in or near RCTC Heintz Center's HA107.
Anything else you want to see on the agenda? Let Jon G or Tina know.
Extra Lunch: Thursday September 10th
11:30 am, 1st Avenue food court downtown, at the bigger tables near the entrance.
Late breaking Social: Tuesday September 1st
Disc golf at RCTC, meet at the parking lot edge / field house doors, 6 pm.
Lunch: Thursday August 20th
11:30 am, Apache Mall food court, near B&N.
Social: Sunday August 16th
Rockets and potluck cookout with the Rabbit Hole folks. Also bring your RC helicopters/planes, kites, etc, in case of varying wind conditions. Noon start. The venue is private property in the Stewartville area; because the owner doesn't want their information published here, contact RabbitHole's Addie at REMOVED_FROM_SPAMBOTS to RSVP and get the venue address.
To coordinate what main dish food contributions we are bringing, please list below:
| Name | N attending | Food contribution | Equipment |
| Tina (tentative) | 4 (2 adults, 2 children) | TBD | Kite? |
| Your name here | x | x | x |
Technical Meeting: Thursday August 13th
Kevin A, on DEFCON 2015.
I dropped the ball and forgot to ask for a sales pitch, so I'm taking just what I know to be relevant/updatable from last year's.
--- DEF CON is the worlds largest hacker convention held annually in Las Vegas. Kevin has been attending since 2008 and has presented on almost every one. This is the latest installment in that series and covers DEF CON 23. ---
6 pm, in or near RCTC Heintz Center's HA107.
Anything else you want to see on the agenda? Let Jon G or Tina know.
Extra Lunch: Thursday August 13th
11:30 am, Thursdays on First. Kevin may be at "the bigger stage" (I believe that's by Historic 3rd St SW, near The Tap House and The Half Barrel, by where Bilotti's used to be), if anyone wants to join him outside.
Planned Social: July, TBD
Rockets and cookout with the Rabbit Hole folks. Also bring your RC helicopters/planes, kites, etc, in case of varying wind conditions. This will actually be in August.
Lunch: Thursday July 16th
11:30 am, Apache Mall food court, near B&N.
Field trip and non-standard date!
Technical Meeting: Wednesday July 15th, Squash Blossom Farm
Aquaponics, presented by Ruth Arhelger. She has provided the following summary:
-- Field trip Squash Blossom Farm to investigate Aquaponics. Aquapoincs is a growing method similar to hydrophoics (growing plants in water) which uses fish for natural nutrients rather than powdered additives. We will go through the system from fish to food, discussing the basic mechanics, common pitfalls, health, and safety. This is an active farm. Expect mud and dress appropriately to be outside. --
Field trip details:
• Wednesday, July 15th, 6 pm. Squash Blossom Farm, just east of Douglas. Squash Blossom is located at 7499 60th Ave. It is on the corner of 75th St and 60th Ave. Please park along the ditch on 60th. Depending on the interest in this trip there is potential for carpooling from the Arhelgers, which is a mile from the farm.
• Vague RSVP’s are requested. Tweet Ruth at @ruarh for RSVPs and questions, or email Tina off-list.
• Ruth will be giving the aquaponics presentation. Susan, Squash Blossom Farm owner, will be present as well to answer questions about the farm.
• Kids are very welcome, though parents need to be aware there are animals and electric fences which are occasionally hot. If your children are specifically unruly or afraid of cows maybe this isn't the best plan for them. As always at all of our events, parents are responsible for their children at all times.
• Animals you may come in contact with include dogs, chickens, ducks, turkeys, cats, fish, and cows. The cows are penned but the fowl and dogs roam free.
• Dress for outside - there will be mud, there may be chicken poop, long grass, etc. We will not be traipsing through cow pastures or especially gross parts of the barn.
• If the weather on Wed the 15th is terrible we have planned for an alternate trip the next day, Thursday the 16th, also at 6pm.
Extra Lunch: Thursday July 9th
11:30 am, 1st Avenue food court downtown, at the bigger tables near the entrance. Kevin may be at "the bigger stage", if anyone wants to join him outside.
Social: Tuesday June 30th
Disc golf at RCTC, meet at the parking lot edge / field house doors, 6 pm. I hope my weather skills are better than they were in May.
Extra Lunch (downtown sort-of): Thursday June 25th
11:30 am, RochesterFest. This is no longer in its historical downtown venue of the Civic Center, it is down at Soldier's Field. For those of you coming from downtown, if you don't want to / have time to walk, there is supposed to be a trolley running. "Free Trolley Ride, 1st Ave SW to the Fest grounds 11:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m." is all the details I have to share, sorry.
Coupons will be available here, starting on June 15th: http://www.rochesterfest.com/food-vendors.php
Lunch: Thursday June 18th
11:30 am, Apache Mall food court, near B&N.
=== Technical Meeting: Thursday June 11th ===
Extra social: Wednesday June 10th
We don't have a speaker, so we'll go play outside instead. Note we're one day early, to take advantage of the $2/person discount. Assuming there isn't some tricky math, that's $4/round/person. This is a cash-only facility. 6 pm - minigolf at Skyline Raceway.
http://www.skylineracewayrochester.com/mini-golf.html
Rocket building, round 2: Friday June 19th
At the Rabbit Hole. $10 for a rocket building kit, first come first serve. The exact launch date (plus cookout party) hasn't been announced yet, it's anticipated to be a weekend day in July.
Extra Lunch (downtown sort-of): Thursday June 11th
11:30 am, Thursdays on First/Third downtown, at the tables by the Half Barrel (based on maps, I think this is where Billotti's used to be, on 3rd Avenue SW).
=== May Social: Tuesday May 26th ===
Disc golf at RCTC, 6 pm.
Cancelled due to bad weather, Tina's 0/2.
Lunch: Thursday May 21st
11:30 am, Apache Mall food court, near B&N.
=== May Social: Tuesday May 19th ===
Disc golf at RCTC, 6 pm.
Delayed a week due to bad weather.
Rocket building: Friday May 15th
At the Rabbit Hole. $10 for a rocket building kit, first come first serve. The exact launch date hasn't been announced yet, it's anticipated to be a weekend day in late July.
Technical Meeting: Thursday May 14th
Jon Tollefson previously presented on his experience building an Android app (a game). He's now put it out on the Google Play store, and will talk about his experiences with that part of the process.
Here is a PDF of Jon's presentation, http://k-lug.org/images/3/3a/Free_to_Play.pdf .
6 pm, in or near RCTC Heintz Center's HA107.
Anything else you want to see on the agenda? Let Jon G or Tina know.
Extra Lunch: Thursday May 14th
11:30 am, 1st Avenue food court downtown, at the bigger tables near the entrance.
Social: Wednesday April 22, 2015
Our April social will be the Litter Bit Better park clean up.
That's 6 pm on Earth Day (April 22nd), at Cascade Lake Park.
Parking is approximately here (or slightly further west, closer to the corner/park). Geocachers get CITO credit.
Bags and trash are provided, you need to provide your own gloves and a sense of civic duty. We also have some kids that need wrangling, if anyone wants to help chaperone them to free up their parents for dirtier duties (this position isn't vital, as a nursing mom I usually can't wander too far away from kiddos anyway, but more assistance is always good). If anyone has some waterproof boots for cleaning the marshy stream edge, that'd be great too.
Lunch: Thursday April 16th, 2015
11:30 am, Apache Mall food court, near B&N.
Technical Meeting: Thursday April 9th, 2015
Speaker needed, please let Tina or Jon G know if you're willing to volunteer. Willing to present but want to know what people have expressed interest in? Check out our requested topics page.
6 pm, in or near RCTC Heintz Center's HA107.
Anything else you want to see on the agenda? Let Jon G or Tina know.
We do not have an April speaker. We will instead go to Stewartville at the usual date and time, ie on the usual second Thursday (April 9th) at 6 pm.
-if weather appropriate, we will disc golf at Stewartville's Bear Cave Park, 6 pm (usual K-LUG meeting time). Play until we run out of dry holes (parts of the park tend to be mucky in spring), until we run out of daylight (note), or until the kiddos wear out. Then those interested can go out to dinner at the Pizza Ranch. Bear Cave Park parking
-if weather inappropriate, meet for dinner at the Stewartville Pizza Ranch at 6 pm. They serve buffet pizza, chicken and potatoes, and salad. Website claims buffet dinners are ~$10, and if I remember correctly kids are something like $0.65-$1/year.
(note) Probably not going to be the end condition, as civil twilight will be at 8:16 pm that day, nautical twilight at 8:52 pm, and the kiddos will be starving before then. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twilight#Definitions
Extra Lunch: Thursday April 9th, 2015
11:30 am, 1st Avenue food court downtown, at the bigger tables near the entrance.
Social: Saturday March 21st, 2015
Maple Syrup day at Oxbow Park. Free. Program at 1 pm.
Lunch: Thursday March 19th, 2015
11:30 am, Apache Mall food court, near B&N.
Technical Meeting: Thursday March 12th, 2015
Pi(e) day celebration!
Lightening talks given by YOU! Jon's goal is ~5 minutes per topic. Speakers are welcome to take more than one topic if they so desire. Please coordinate with Jon G so we don't duplicate topics or come up too short for a meeting.
- Dennis DeLorme : Setting up com ports under wine
- Thomas Gall : The first of the 96boards, the HiKey
- Jon Gullixson : sed recopies for quick results
- Robert P. Nix : Bash under appreciated command
- Robert P. Nix : Pocket-sized (and smaller) Linux computers
6 pm, in or near RCTC Heintz Center's HA107.
Also, PCIG elections. Anything else you want to see on the agenda? Let Jon G or Tina know.
Extra Lunch: Thursday March 12th, 2015
11:30 am, 1st Avenue food court downtown, at the bigger tables near the entrance.
Planned Social: February 2015 TBD
We had an impromptu social when three K-LUG families turned up at the WinterFest horse drawn sleigh rides at the History Center :)
Our February social will be a movie outing, coordinated by Will, during the last two weeks of the month. Movie, day, date, and time are all pending while Will tries to figure out who is interested and also while we wait for theater showing schedules to be released. Watch the email list for options. Did not happen due to anticipated movies of choice getting really bad reviews.
Speaking of the email list, it was brought up at the February meeting that not everyone is aware of the "Activities mailing list". This can be found in the leftnav bar. It's a separate opt-in email list from the regular technical list, and is utilized for letting more social K-LUGgers coordinate additional events (disc golf, movies, game nights, hiking, bar outings, etc) without pestering the larger list. It's currently a low-traffic list, and all are welcome to join.
Ideas can be found here or invent your own. What would you like to do? Tell Tina or Jon G.
WinterFest has been a historic event to piggyback on. Despite it starting January 29th, the official/detailed schedule of events isn’t yet released (that’s coming soon, supposedly, due to website issues). Some potential options:
--
Friday January 30th, 6-9 pm, $10/person candlelight ski, bonfire, cocoa, smores. Limited equipment rental, extra.
Murder Mystery – theirs is $35/person, would we want to do our own?
Sunday February 8th, Cardboard sled race at Rochester Golf Club. Last year it was $15/sled, but there was no mention of a spectator fee.
SocialICE – downtown ice bar. Thursday February 19th through Sunday February 21st.
--
Other ideas?
Tina will be hosting her annual Chinese New Year celebration, anyone on the Activities email list is welcome to join in (invitation will be coming out in probably late January). If you’re not on that email list yet, either join or come talk to Tina if you’re interested in attending.
Lunch: Thursday February 19th, 2015
11:30 am, Apache Mall food court, near B&N.
Technical Meeting: Thursday February 12th, 2015
We're bringing back Dennis DeLorme, and hoping that he doesn't trigger another whiteout ;)
Dennis DeLorme on "UV Index Measurement in the Pacific".
--
We took a UV sensor with us on a recent cruise and did UV measurements under different conditions.
The talk will cover what the UV Index is and conditions that affect it. The next topic is how to measure it using a low cost sensor and available technology from my basement. (Your basement may vary, but there is nothing too esoteric.) I'll talk about the hardware and software needed. At the end I'll cover some things to consider for future expeditions.
--
Also, annual K-LUG elections, PCIG nominations, socials brainstorming, and a discussion of PCIG's future.
6 pm, in or near RCTC Heintz Center's HA107.
Anything else you want to see on the agenda? Let Jon G or Tina know.
Extra Lunch: Thursday February 12th, 2015
11:30 am, 1st Avenue food court downtown, at the bigger tables near the entrance.
Social: Tuesday January 20th, 2015
Laser Tag at Bowl-o-City on North Broadway. Rally around Arhelger.
6:30 pm
$7/game
You can also go bowling, if you so desire. Costs can be per-hour per lane ($18/hour), or per person per game. The rate per game per person is $3.99. It is an additional $2.99 per person for shoes.
Lunch: Thursday January 15th, 2015
11:30 am, Apache Mall food court, near B&N.
CANCELLED Technical Meeting: Thursday January 8th, 2015
CANCELLED due to white outs.
Dennis DeLorme on "UV Index Measurement in the Pacific".
--
We took a UV sensor with us on a recent cruise and did UV measurements under different conditions.
The talk will cover what the UV Index is and conditions that affect it. The next topic is how to measure it using a low cost sensor and available technology from my basement. (Your basement may vary, but there is nothing too esoteric.) I'll talk about the hardware and software needed. At the end I'll cover some things to consider for future expeditions.
--
6 pm, in or near RCTC Heintz Center's HA107.
Also on the agenda: The annual K-LUG coup attempt (ie officer elections), and round 1 of PCIG officer nominations. Anything else you want to see on the agenda? Let Jon G or Tina know.
Extra Lunch: Thursday January 8th, 2015
11:30 am, 1st Avenue food court downtown, at the bigger tables near the entrance. A note since the previous lunch, it looks like the pita place may have closed.
I'm sure we'll have something eventually.... ;)
Older News
- OldNews2014
- OldNews2013
- OldNews2012
- OldNews2011
- OldNews2010
- OldNews2009
- OldNews2008
- OldNews2007
- OldNews2006
- OldNews2005
OLD SITE
Content from our old website can be accessed here.