Meeting #16 - The good idea meeting

It's time to live up to our name. Our next meeting will be held on Tuesday, 12/11 at 7:00pm at TBD (please someone suggest a good spot). The topic will be to come up with a "good idea" that we as a group can implement. Something as good as this...

(thanks Nelia for the video link).
To give you some guidelines... the benefit should be felt locally, should impact people, should be creative and fun (no pressure).

#15.5 - meeting recap

Our meeting last Thursday was fun, educations, and had wine...sounds like the prefect GIS meeting. We planned to discuss the politics and fortunately for us the Democrats scheduled a debate for the same night. So we popped open a bunch of bottles of Beaujolais Nouveau and discussed the blow by blow on the debate. With our drawing too many conclusions we decided that Hillary and Obama are the front runners and neither gained nor lost much from the debate. Biden, Dobb, and Kucinch all made great points, but have not chance of winning. And Richardson and Edwards need to just get off the stage.I'm thinking the next meeting should be Tuesday, 12/11. Any thoughts on a topic?

Meeting #15.5 - LOCATION

Tonight's meeting will be held at Kim's house (280 Maple St. #2). We'll be using some money from the GIS endowment to get a bunch of bottles of Beaujolais Nouveau. Be there at 7pm. We'll talk politics.

Meeting #15.5

Let's try this again (with a little bit of an incentive)...

Meeting #15.5 will be held of Thursday, November 15th at 7pm. It will be at a bar TBD (let me know your suggestions) or at Maegen and my place.

TOPIC: Political Participation. We still have another year to go before the election and I'm already sick of it... but wait, I've done nothing, why am I sick of it? What am I sick of? What would I do if I could change the process? Be introspective, do some research, and come ready to discuss.

INCENTIVE:
Beaujolais Nouveau tasting (per Allan's request).

So some politics and wine, we can't go wrong.

I can't be the only one to pick up on this...

Yahoo is getting chastised by the media and congress for giving a customer's info over to the Chinese government. As they should, the journalist ended up with a 10 yr. prison term. What I'm confused about is how our government does the same exact thing to Internet and phone companies and it's not an issue. Sure hippies like the ACLU make a stink about it. But in the same week that Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang is getting bitched out in congress, FBI chief Robert Mueller is in the same hall defending National Security Letters. I can't be the only one who noticed...

Meeting #15 report

Well, only Benjamin showed up. I was watching a snowboard movie while we were waiting so he go introduced to that whole scene. The good idea of the night was the left over salmon we put into the annie's mac + cheese for dinner. Give it a try.

Political Participation- meeting #15

Meeting #15 will be held of Tuesday, October 23rd at 7pm. It will be at a bar TBD (let me know your suggestions) or at Maegen and my place.

TOPIC: Political Participation. We still have another year to go before the election and I'm already sick of it... but wait, I've done nothing, why am I sick of it? What am I sick of? What would I do if I could change the process? Be introspective, do some research, and come ready to discuss.

back to the seed, that never took root.

First off, no meeting this week. Maegen and I are running a food drive at Higher Ground.

Bare with me on a quick ramble. The GIS has not really taken root yet, we have a good idea, but it's not happening. I believe that's because we are not keeping to the original intention of the society. Basically, less "fluff" meetings, more serious discussion. Our best meetings have been more serious ones. I realize this may turn people off and that's okay. The hope is the GIS will succeed with a core group of dedicated members. As a reminder, here is the charter invitation that I will try to stay true to.

THE GOOD IDEA SOCIETY – charter invitation 10/30/06

Let’s create a place to share good ideas - good ideas that foster good community, good environment, good people, and good times.

To start, this place would be a bi-weekly meeting. A forum to have fun, discuss important/relevant issues, and to discuss problems that we face as a people and a community. This will all be done over a few pints and glasses of wine.

Our ideas will vary widely, from discussions of religion, politics, history, philosophy, and ethics to a dirty joke night or a whiskey tasting. The ideas can and will change from meeting to meeting and hopefully we will hit on some good ideas - good ideas that we’ll put into action and create real results.

But the main idea of the Good Idea Society is to create a “society” of friends where ideas can be safely expressed and explored while having a good time. Not so different from our lives already – just a touch more structure to help bring the ideas to life.

Let’s be serious, but let’s not take ourselves too seriously. Let’s try to do good, but make sure we’re having fun and not getting bogged down in the weight of our ideas.

Meeting #14 & #15 - Slap Shot and Octoberfest

Welcome back.

We'll have our first meetings in a long time in October. The first (#14) will be held on TUESDAY, OCTOBER 2nd at 7pm. We will be a screening the film Slap Shot. Allan plays Johnny Upton, so we'll get a bit of a directors cut. As it stands Ross and Jeff's house is the venue, but we'd love to find an alternate location. Suggestions anyone?

great Johnny Upton quote from the movie















The second (#15), to be held on TUESDAY, OCTOBER 16th, will be a seasonal Octoberfest party. We'll carve up some pumpkins, tap a keg of GIS Red Ale that Ross and I brewed over the summer, etc. This will be at Ross and Jeff's.

Time to get rolling again.

The kids are back in school, the leaves are starting to turn. Time to get the GIS back on track. What a great summer, we did some many fun, enriching activities. What you missed them? Oh right, that's because they never happened. Oh well.

We're going to have the first meeting of the fall later this month. We'll most likely be screening a film Allan worked on out as his house. Stay tuned for details. Missed you.

And for Ms. Emily - the GIS may sponsor the second annual Beerlington Golf Pub Crawl Open, hopefully some time in October.

Bad Idea - being on the lake during T-Storms

It would be a bad idea to go out on the lake during major thunder storms.



FIELD TRIP CANCELED.

From the National Weather Service

THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM. PREPARE FOR DAMAGING WINDS...DESTRUCTIVE
HAIL...AND DEADLY CLOUD TO GROUND LIGHTNING. MOVE TO A SHELTER...
PREFERABLY INSIDE A STRONG BUILDING BUT AWAY FROM WINDOWS.

IF ON OR NEAR LAKE CHAMPLAIN...GET OUT OF THE WATER AND MOVE
INDOORS OR INSIDE A VEHICLE. REMEMBER...LIGHTNING CAN STRIKE OUT TO
15 MILES FROM THE PARENT THUNDERSTORM. IF YOU CAN HEAR THUNDER...YOU
ARE CLOSE ENOUGH TO BE STRUCK BY LIGHTNING. MOVE TO SAFE SHELTER NOW.
DON`T BE CAUGHT ON THE WATER IN A THUNDERSTORM!

Summer Event #1 - Sunset Cruise

Sunset Cruise – on the Champlain ferry.



Meet at the Ferry at Perkins Pier Tuesday, Jun 19th. Meet at 6:20. BYOB and a snack for dinner. We'll take the roundtrip route from Burlington to Port Kent. It leaves Burlington at 6:35 and gets us back by 8:30. Tickets are $8.50.
Topic TBD, if we even have one. Let us know if you have ideas.

Meeting #13 - recap: GIS Summer Vacation

GIS bi-weekly meetings will be on vacation for the summer, resuming the week after labor day.

But the GIS will not be dormant all summer - field trips and events will flourish and we encourage GIS members to throw out ideas for events/trips and hosts/bring them to life. Free form GIS.

Possible summer events/trip:
> Underhill corn roast (some time in September)
> Thunder Road – Thurs and Sunday nights
> GIS #3 - beer
> Recipe swap/pot luck
> Clam bake (possibly at Crooked Path)
> Fleming museum – Winooski/Burlington
> Tunbridge world fair
> Formal night – dinner/dance
> Paintball
> Lee Scratch Perry concert
> Cheese – in some way shape or form
> bocce tournament
> Doubles tennis tourney
> Iron chef cooking night – dinner with one common ingredient
> Wine tasting hosted by Burlington Wine Shoppe.
> Sunset cruise – on the ferry bitches.
> GIS hosts, the 2nd annual Beerlington Open
> Chili cook off
> Umiak – wine tour/canoe thing
> Horse racing in Saratoga
> Car camping in the Kingdom
> You’ve got to hear this – bring a favorite or interesting song/album to share with the group. Also bring your music collection (hopefully on a hard drive) for exchange.
> Lake Monsters Game

Want one of these events to happen? grab the bull by the horns and organize.

Meeting #13 - state of the union

The next meeting will be Tuesday May 29th at 7:30pm. It will be held at the 158 North Willard (unless we find a better location before then). The topic of the meeting with be a state of the union on the good idea society and planning the topics for the next six meetings. In the mean time please post meeting ideas to the idea bank post. We'll have GIS Stout's and Brown Ale's.

PS - Sorry for spacing on last week and not having a meeting.

Weekend happenings (both involving alcohol?)

It was an eventful weekend for the some GIS members and I decided we should have more pictures on the blog.


Saturday night Marc invited us out to his house to witness some wine drawing and the Zinf tastes great. Thanks for the Good times.


















And this morning Ross and I put some labels on the Stout and Brown ales we brewed. I can't wait to drink the Stout's this coming Tuesday.





The stencil was a little chunky after. Most of the bottles look great, there are some that did not turn out that good and some crazy experiments. Good times.

Meeting #12 - Dirty Joke Night!

Well it's been about six months since the start of the GIS and we think it's finally time for the DIRTY JOKE NIGHT. We had planned on discussing the idealization of western social democracies, but thought it might be a little heady after the anti-war meeting. So on the details...

May 1st, 7:30pm at Jeff and Ross's (158 North Willard). Come with a few dirty jokes to share. We will also we drinking the Good Idea Society Stouts that were bottled at meeting #10. See you there.

Meeting #11 - recap

At meeting #11 we discussed the modern anti-war movement. It was a very insightful conversation. A couple of key insights were that the pace of change can be much slower than we want in our on-demand society. Sustained pressure over time can lead to changes (mid-term election). And while we may not be marching on Washington, discussion is key to keep the topic alive.

Here is the "GOOD IDEA" of the meeting. If you support an elected official or protest group, let them know. Show some support. Everyone should over the next week or so send out a email (a virtual pat on the back) to a group or person who you feel is going the right thing and keep up the sustained pressure to enact change.

Meeting #11 - peace?

Our next meeting is this coming Tuesday (4/17) at 7:30pm at Drink (formally known as the Wine Works). The topic will be the modern anti-war movement. Originally we were going to discuss the Peace One Day movement (www.peaceoneday.org) but the more I thought about it I decided it would be best to have a broader conversation about the anti-war movement. What works? What is effective? What is counterproductive? Does it make sense in modern society? How has it been done in the past? So there's the topic, please post up any articles, links, etc. that would be good to review prior to the meeting. See you then.

Field Trip! 4/28

Marc had invited us out for some wine bottling, sounds like a blast. See note from Marc...

If anyone's into wine, I'll be drawing (bottling) 50 gallons of California Zinfandel, on Saturday, April 28th. I've been doing a little QA on it :) since we crushed the grapes in the fall, and it's coming along very nicely!

We'll start about 5pm, though it'll take a few hours to get all that bottled :) so feel free to pop in anytime between then and about 10 or so.

If so inclined, bring a bit of your favorite beverage or snack, but don't sweat it; we'll be glad to see you and we'll have plenty of wine. :)

- Marc

Meeting #10 - BEER!

Meeting #10 will be held at Ross and Jeff's house at 158 N. Willard St. at 7:3opm on Tuesday, April 3rd. The topic of the meeting will be beer. We will brew our own beer (a stout) and discuss and taste different beers.

Everyone needs to bring a six pack of their favorite beer, or a beer they want to try. Also, if you have not paid your $20 membership fee, buck up.

get thirsty.

Note from Ross...

The format will be
a)discussion about the two main kinds of beer and methods of brewing beer

b)Next we will put together a list of "qualities" for a few of the beers that people have brought, to help illustrate key ingredients. Then we will start drinking said beers.

c)Beginning brewing (we will be making 5 gal of either a stout of a porter)

d)Bottling a batch that I made last week.

e)talking about how awesome we all are (repeat if neccessary)

I'm no expert on brewing, but I've done it 10 times or so. I'm doing my best to put together some info and hopefully lurn y'all some. Come on! It's beer afterall!

BRING: a 6 pack of either your favorite (good) beer or a beer you have always wanted to try. Go out on a limb here.
ALSO BRING: your membership dues if this is your third meeting. Dues ($20) pay for the homebrew beer supplies, so no payee, no get beeree.

Tuesday, 7:30 pm.
158 North Willard St
Google Map

Meeting #9 - location

Tomorrow's meeting will not be at the Euro Cafe. It will be held at Ross and Jeff's house at 158 North Willard @ 7pm sharp. BYOB.

Also, for some meetings we are starting to have expenses, if you have not paid already, please bring your $20 membership fee.

Meeting #8 and #9 - details, etc

Getting back on track... Allan is in good health again and Ross is healing well. The last two meetings we have schedule revolved around them so we have had to make some changes.

Meeting #8 will be Tuesday, 3/13 at 7:30pm at Wine Works. This will be another "no topic" meeting, come and have good drinks with good friends and think up some good ideas.

Meeting #9 will be Tuesday, March 20th at 7:00pm at the Euro Cafe (location to be confirmed). We will be screening the movie "The Player", Directed by Robert Altman. Our own Allan Nicholls was the Assistant Director and will give us a "directors cut" walk through and discussion after. Please be on time because we need to start the movie.

Here are the next six meeting times and topics:
3/13 - no topic
3/20 - Screen "The Player"
4/3- Beer tasting and home brew session
4/17 - Peaceoneday.org
5/1 - Idealization of social democracies
5/15 - idea/topic session

Meeting #7 - update

Allan is under the weather and will not be able to make it tonight, so we will not be screening the player.

We will just get some drinks at the wine bar at 7pm and just chill out and have some good conversation, no particular topic.

meeting #7 - topic/details

Our next meeting will be Tuesday, February 27th at 7:00pm at the Euro Cafe. We will be screening the movie "The Player", Directed by Robert Altman. Our own Allan Nicholls was the Assistant Director and will give us a "directors cut" walk through and discussion after. Please be on time because we need to start the movie.

We've also had a change in structure that I will write about this weekend, but in the meantime, here are the next six meeting times and topics:
2/28 - Screen "The Player"
3/13 - Beer tasting and home brew session
3/27 - Peaceoneday.org
4/10 - Idealization of social democracies
4/24 - idea/topic session

meeting #6 - details/topic

Meeting #6 will be on Tuesday, 2/13 at 7:30pm at the Euro Cafe at 61 Main St.

Topic: living sustainably/dealing with the post-oil world/global warming/etc.

Why? check this out:

http://stepitup07.org/

Bill McKibben started this. Groups around the country will join him on April 14 to participate in the largest global-warming rally in history. It's a call to action. Maybe this is something some GIS members would want to spearhead here in Burlington (though I bet there are already groups making plans for this). Plus, the IPCC just released its report on climate change...and the news ain't good.

Meeting #5 - recap

The topic of "the last book you read" was a lot of fun. Allan did a good job recaping below. At this point we would like everyone to make a comment to this post with the last book they read.

From Allan...

Without the participation of Jeffrey Adam things weren't quite the same...you were missed. The discussion of all the books covering Clinton's life, the Bosnian uprising, the memoir of Jennifer Walls, the Chef's book, Nick Hornby's suicide stories and my South African cop story showed some pretty interesting diversity....not to forget Ross' house buying guide ( and his other book which I cannot recall) and my "reading to my child" books which are always offering up something of a treat to me.I am looking forward to the change of venue suggested and also the topic to be dealt with at our next get together, which may or may not include the evasive Phil Tucker. oh yes...I forgot to mention the most interesting book of them all Lovell's "comments from a spy"or something, that apparently poorly written but well received because of family ties...I can relate to that. All in all it was low key and stimulating conversation...there were no "fart jokes" thank you very much!

meeting #5 - details/topic

Meeting #5 will be on Tuesday, 1/30 at 7:30pm at the Wine Bar.

Topic: Come ready to discuss the last book you read.

Location?

Do we want to continue at the wine bar?
We could move to the Euro cafe (on Main st) and have the place to ourselves as long as we spend $100 on beer, wine, food, etc.
Or is there another location that you're interested in.
Speak your mind, have a good idea or at least an opinion.

Meeting 4 Re(cap)solutions

Here are some bullet points right from the source - wine works napkins (best note paper ever). We hope to hear resolutions at the next meeting from those who couldn't attend this week's meeting. Next meeting will be January 23rd and get some ideas in the bank.

meeting #4: TOPIC/DETAILS

Meeting #4 will be on Tuesday, 1/9 at 7:30pm at the Wine Bar.

Topic: Goals and predictions for 2007.

> what will this year bring? to the good idea society, burlington, vermont, the world.
> democrats taking over the congress - will anything really change?
> iraq? where will we be at the beginning of '08?
> what does our changing environment mean to vermont? will we feel the impact in '07?
> what are your personal goals for '07?
> are there any goals that the good idea society can help you achieve?
> everyone come up with one personal goal that helps other people.

Here are some predictions about various topics for '07 from news outlets:
Politics from the Washington Post:
Entertainment from the LA times:
Environment from Grist:
Some random fact about 1 in 4 Americans thinking that Jesus will come again in '07 from our very own WCAX (Ch.3):

From there it’s only a matter of time before Cap’n Crunch shows up in a hemp jacket, raising money to save the manatees.

Check out this article on in the NY Times. Be It Ever So Homespun, There's Nothing Like Spin

A Laughing Matter: Modern Comedy

GIS – Meeting notes December 12, 2006

The meeting was opened with a few glasses of wine and a welcome from Jay. Ben and Neil introduced the topic for the night – Modern Comedy. You Tube was the first topic point then leading into: Will Ferrell’s trilogy of comedic characters, Jackie Gleason, SNL, Bill Murray, Adam Sandler, and trends within SNL.

Mr. Nicholls explained the TV queue and how lawyers, scoundrels, and accountants run the show (no pun intended). The TV queue made even more sense when someone tossed around an example of David Spade’s success.

Anthony brought up his intentions of shooting/producing a comedy which led the discussion toward how the Good Idea Society should be a supportive crutch for members taking action in interests.

From something with substance we changed toward a lighter subject, farts. Flatulants, crop dusting, breaking wind, passing wind, butt coughs, southerly wind, morning thunder, cutting the cheese, stepping on a toad, cutting loose, air bubble, gassers, stinkers, air biscuits, low-flying ducks, barking spiders, rotten eggs, wet ones, poots, pump, trump, parp and biff, etc.

Full House and the formulaic properties of hit sitcoms.
The Daily Show with John Stewart, Colbert Report, etc.

We closed on the topic and informally discussed ideas for meetings and how the secretary should post meeting notes more promptly in the future!!

Next Meeting 01.09.07 Happy New Year!
Your favorite secretary <3 Jeff