[freegeek-e-newsletter] October FreeGeek Newsletter

Fri Oct 15 18:58:45 PDT 2004

Hello out there, Free Geek friends!  This is Free Geek's second installment
of its monthly e-newsletter.  If you'd like to unsubscribe from this
e-newsletter, please scroll down to the bottom of this email and follow the
directions.

Contents:
I. Volunteer of the Month
II. Hooray for Geek Fair!
III. The Community Council: Free Geek's Decision-Making Body
IV. Advanced Linux Classes
V. Volunteer Training
VI. Happenings Around Town
VII. Wishlist

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I. VOLUNTEER OF THE MONTH

Starting with Geek Fair, we decided to begin honoring one volunteer per month
for all he or she has done for Free Geek.  This month's recipient is:

Ted Havelka!

Ted is our 'Midnight Rummager' here at Free Geek: he's often seen here after
we've closed, looking through our recycling piles.  Out of these piles, he
retrieves motherboards with blown capacitors and fixes them for us, sends back
high-end systems that have mistakenly been sent to recycling, finds hardware
that we would usually get rid of (like low-capacity hard drives and ATX
keyboards) that he can ask to be granted to his school's classroom, as well
as other esoteric, do-good type of stuff.  If you listen in on the core list
occasionally, you've surely heard a little about his doings.

Ted understands and helps to further Free Geek's mission of reuse, and has
donated myriad hours to the cause.  He's definitely an asset.

Thanks, Ted!

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II. HOORAY FOR GEEKFAIR!

Thanks to all those who braved the mixed weather to come down and visit us at
Geek Fair a month ago.  The event was a great success, with somewhere around
3-400 people checking out the scene throughout the day.  Exciting stuff like
musical chairs accompanied by Shicky Gnarowitz, printer smash, robot
building, the 'Beat the Geek' gameshow, massages for charity, yummy food from
Portland's collectively-run cafes, and firedancing kept the crowd happy all
day long and into the night.  All told, we raised about $2000 for the cause
(a new battery for our forklift, the L-Wing Fighter).  Woohoo!

If you or someone you know is interested in performing or hosting a booth at
next year's Geek Fair, send an email to events at lists.freegeek.org.

Thanks again to all those who participated!

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III. THE COMMUNITY COUNCIL: FREE GEEK'S DECISION-MAKING BODY

Do you know about the Council?  If not: the Council is the hub of Free Geek's
organizational structure.  The Council sets long-term policy for Free Geek,
staff implements these policy decisions, and staff and core deal with the
day-to-day operation of the organization.  The Council's meetings are run in
the consensus style (see http://consensus.net for more information about
running meetings by consensus).

The cool thing about Free Geek's Council is that *any Free Geek staff or
volunteer can join*.  The Council is what makes Free Geek an empowered
workplace for its volunteers and staff.

The staff is trying to encourage everyone who's interested in the future of
Free Geek to start attending Council meetings regularly because we value our
volunteers' input!

As is true with many of Free Geek's working groups, the Council has its own
email list.  To check out the archives or sign up for the list, go to
http://lists.freegeek.org/listinfo/council.

The Council meets the third Wednesday of every month at 7:15 pm at Free Geek
(the next one is Wednesday, October 20th).  All are encouraged to attend!

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IV. ADVANCED LINUX CLASSES

Free Geek is proud to offer Advanced Linux Classes pretty much every Friday
afternoon!  One topic is covered during each approx. 2-hour class.  Topics
include: Linux filesystem heirarchy, Linux process model, compiling a kernel,
system startup, and occasional one-time classes depending on teacher
 interest.

Students may sign up for the classes at the front desk.  Generally, the
classes are open to Free Geek's: core, coders, system administrators,
advanced builders, and build assistants and instructors (although you should
check for additional prerequisites on the sign-up sheets).

If you have any questions about these classes, please email Martin
<mchase at freegeek.org>.

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V. VOLUNTEER TRAINING

Free Geek's not just about computers.  We serve a wide range of volunteers
including, at times, those who are homeless, have behavioral health problems,
or just need some help from the social services system.  This training will
help its attendees serve these volunteers better, whether they need a little
extra teaching time, or need to know where they can go to find meds, food and
clean clothing.

On Friday, October 22nd, from 6pm to 8pm, Brad Taylor of Project Respond will
come to Free Geek to talk about:
- Common mental illnesses and their symptoms,
- Commonly-prescribed meds and their side effects,
- Resources for us and our volunteers,
- Safety in such cases, and
- The behavioral health care system.

This training is open to any Free Geek volunteer, as long as you RSVP.  To
attend, please send an email to <training-rsvp at freegeek.org>, or speak to
Laurel or Shawn.

If you do attend the training, please bring an anecdote you'd like advice
about concerning someone with behavioral health issues (it doesn't have to be
something that happened inside Free Geek).  Also, any questions or concerns
you have about the behavioral health system are encouraged.

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VI. HAPPENINGS AROUND TOWN

*      *      *      *      *      *      *      *
Saturday, October 16, 8pm - midnight
Choice Hits of the 80's Dance Party
Benefit for Planned Parenthood

Wear your sunglasses at night and bust out the shoulder pads, legwarmers and
big hair for this all-ages Planned Parenthood fundraiser! 80's tunes spun by
DJ Miss Kittyrox, totally awesome raffle items and cash bar available for
those 21 and over.

At Nocturnal, 1800 E. Burnside St., Portland
Tickets $15 at the door, $12 in advance
See http://www.ppcw.org/donate/disco.asp for more info

*      *      *      *      *       *      *      *
Saturday, October 30th, 9pm - 10am
HOWL: 2nd Annual City Repair Halloween Benefit Party

Come celebrate localization and Portland community by dancing the night away
with the City Repair folks!  3 music areas to dance and play...food and
libations....outdoor smoking area...midnight dance performance...visuals by
Dreamer and Reed.  All ages.

Meow Meow 320 SE 2nd
$10 with costume, $15 without, $5 after 3am
Visit http://www.cityrepair.org for more info and a printable flyer

*      *      *      *      *      *      *      *
Tuesday, November 9th, 6pm - 8:30pm
Community Bike Night at North Portland Bikeworks

Work on your own bike at North Portland Bike Works, tools and expertise
provided.  Second Tuesday of every month.  Donations always welcome

N Portland Bikeworks
3951 N. Mississippi
503-287-1098 info at npdxbikeworks.org
http://www.cityrepair.org/bikeworks

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VII. WISHLIST

You might not know it, but many of our basic supplies (like printer paper and
TP) are donated to us by individuals with big hearts and a few extra dollars
in their wallets.  We'd very much appreciate donations of any of the below:

- 8.5" x 11" single-sheet white printer paper (100% post-consumer recycled,
      if possible)
- Cardboard baler
- Printer cartridge refiller
- Toilet Paper
- #1 and #2 Phillips screwdrivers
- Big swaths of nice fabric to make the new classroom more habitable
- Food and drink for volunteers
- Hand vacuum for cleaning dust out of newly donated systems

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Thanks for reading this edition of Free Geek's e-newsletter!  I hope you
enjoyed it (and, come to think of it, your feedback is always welcome).  Have
a good month, and Happy Halloween!

Shawn Furst
Volunteer Program Coordinator
Free Geek
1731 SE 10th Ave.
Portland, OR 97214
(503)232-9350
info at freegeek.org
http://www.freegeek.org

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