What's New for 1999

Links on this page may have been broken many years ago ... maybe not, try them if you like.

December 28, 1999
What a topsy-turvy year-end, huh? Thank Heavens that Christmas is behind me!  Working the florist alone with only one gal to help instead of 5 was a nightmare and a complete distraction - not to mention having the flu during our busiest days and all the Y2K bugs and problems we have here that "might" be fixed.  I'm afraid that the winter re-post will be delayed due to my situation.   I have been adding as regularly as I could and have a back log of new designs to convert and post, so please hang in there. 

December 8, 1999
Our email is now Y2K compliant.  If you employ the WorldGroup Manager you have noticed that you can not log into ADSTONE BBS due to a change in SysId.  Please do the following:  open MGM (WorldGroup Manager.)  Click on FILE, then click on NEW.   Click on OK (for new online service item.) In the Name field, type New ADSTONE.   Click on TELNET and type adstone.com in the HOST field.  Then remove the check in the Log on as new user box and type in your User-id and password.  Click OK and you're all set.  Please note: that along with the great new features in CHAT and email, we have lost all our games.  This is because we need to "purchase" new activation codes to re-set the games.  We can not afford to do this so unless you join together to come up with the money, play your games at Excite or Yahoo. Sorry.  If you do not employ WGM but would like to run our 20 year old version of AOL, click here to download the program. MEMBERS ONLY.

November 10,  1999
ANAgraph's DESIGN ART review has been posted over on our Review page, click here to review this tasty CADD program.

October  31,  1999
ADSTONE has added 80 new dial-up pools nation-wide.   Roughly 500 new dial-ups - hopefully near you.  Go check them out - remember, GemRock members pay only $15 per month for full world-wide access!

October  26,  1999
A personal comment. (Oh, yeah right, like 99% of the What's New area isn't commentary? And candid to boot!) Your humble webmaster has to admit that I love my job.  Sometimes, late at night or when I have a spare moment, I browse through GemRock. Naturally, the spark is to seek out and correct numerous blunders - especially misspelling.  But often I find myself looking at the work, the art.  Sometimes I even dwell on my own contributions to our inventory. Works like the Aztec sun god.  And liner2. And others.  I enjoy reliving the act of design and the execution of the work. And I have an "old-hand" about my art. A scan is worked to its very last line on my drawing area!  All the same, Moses' work captivates me. His scan work is nothing short of amazing when it is worked properly, such as bambi2. He is not restricted to religious symbols found in memorialzation; yet his angels are animated.  Some of his non-secular angels skirt the limits of heaven and hint at a giddy impishness.  Just to astound you a bit further, all of Moses' work ends up on tiny rocks! I sell them in my flower shop and they are exquisite. We all owe him a debt for his contribution of over 900 logos; all perfect replicas.  Pete at Artstone also has an interesting hand. His angels, like angel49,  are so modern they appear classical at first glance. Until you realize angel49 could decorate a greeting card or the 'Angels' beer mugs at the stadium snack bar as soon as appear on a memorial standing to the promise of resurrection. Whenever I view his work I think of the day I spent working on his Internet connection (ADSTONE is installing DSL at his shop.) He proudly showed me a horse he had drawn. It was a swift steed, long and arching through the air.  I fell dumbfounded when he showed me the original image he had scanned it from - a kid's coloring book! Ken Dyal, on the other hand gives us "in-your-face" stone design. If you want a non-secular image, his paint can is a paint can. It's character is the vector art itself.  Look at a simple chef hat and ladle. A designer could loose sleep devising this image and as much time working the image to economize the lines. But Ken makes it seem eternal, simple, obvious, and practical - you have three separate designs in one (What you see, the hat, the ladle).  Hugo Calderera, Francis Wick, Shelby Moore, Mark Turco and all the others who have invested time and art into GemRock, I thank you from my heart.  My eyes thank you.  As GemRock takes it rightful position in cyberspace in the next century, we will be 'networking' with other leaders in the vector art, and graphic art, and stone, and sign, industries and fields. Expect leaders to join together.  Perhaps not to merge together, but to lead together.   Expect your peers to point these leaders in the right direction.  Expect that voice to come from online boards and clubs like at http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/themonumentbusiness   Watch individual companies make big moves.  Watch Monu-Cad.  Watch the MBNA.  Watch SCI.  Watch Anagraph and Gerber.  Watch ADSTONE who right now the top System Operator, Kathy, is trying to piece together a plan where every monument dealer not online can come online, and get a free computer and get membership at GemRock and get a free CADD system and training for under $80 per month.  Do the math, that's impossible tonight, but Kathy and the Internet can make it very real tomorrow.
Recently there was some talk about me being a shoe-in for that new Hall of Fame the MBNA established. Besides my art and interesting career I also created the very first Internet network for the trade(as well as creating the world's first commercial online network with the same stroke), not to mention GemRock itself!  This is all honorable stuff, to be sure.  Profound and difficult to internalize. But personally, I look up to people like Jim at Monu-Cad.  I feel forshortened when in the glow of people like Shelby Moore.  I become an apprentice again when I visit Dave Centrangelo's studio. And who doesn't marvel at the work that comes out of Design Mart? And if I could do nothing else forever, let me browse Moses' work, enjoy Al Martin, marvel at the economy which comes out of  Design Services, Inc., and smile at the easy hand of Paul Cangeloisi and the balance found in the pencil of Don Sherif.  And strive always to say things the way that only  Kenneth Dyal can - where one more line is too much and one less is incomplete.  ........Thank you - and I mean that.  (BTW, I am not a member nor was I ever a member of the MBNA, I have not been a monument builder since 1988.)  October,  18  1999
Please employ some understanding to space limitations on our websites. Especially in our libraries.  Recently I have gotten some flack over my comments concerning comments by others.  To be exact: in the CADD library where some companies which develop CADD say that their CADD is the easiest or best or fastest around, I add a comment which is not meant to contradict but to remind my members that it's only their (or my) opinion. Most of these systems are free for the asking, registering or upgrading, so it's no biggie to prove them right or wrong regardless of my CADD habits. But I do not want my 'people' to think I am endorsing one product over another.
                In some other news: our Y2K repairs are moving along with disappointment and surprise at every turn. We lost 3 servers so far - trashed completely.  Poo!   But our 386 IBM runs fine; go figure?  We are scheduling a change of the GemRock server later this week or early next.  The server will be down twice for as much as one hour each session - first to remove this server and trash it and second to bring up the new server.  Hopefully most of this will be during evening hours Eastern Standard Time.  Our new server will run three times as fast as this one - but talk around the office is to add applications to it, so as far as you're concerned things should look and feel the same or a bit better. (Wish us luck!)

October, 9 1999
As a word of warning, all computers built before 1995, are 99% not 2000 compliant, so get your machine tested right now!  You can also visit http://www.y2kbugfix.com/   if you think you want to tackle this alone.
    I lost a machine to the Y2K bug yesterday.  Not one which will interfere with Gemrock, it was my CADD system.  My Generic Cadd6 and  that sweet ASTI 386 will be missed (crying all day and out loud).  I will probably set up my new Monu-Cad (thanks, Jim!) to replace my CADD system.  I am toying with Anagraph, but since MC was my first love, hey, stick with what I know, right?  I'd love Flexi, but their support is touchy and Gerber though a high end and popular system, leaves me wondering if I'll ever find time to learn it... I still haven't learned how to erase a line in Gerber yet! Besides I hear that Monu-Cad will soon put out a program so that any cutter and any system will be able to cut and plot the MC format. (It's about time the leaders open up their possibilities!) ...Again, this is not an endorsement for any one system. (I have to say that because you Gerber users - and MC users - are like Apple users, devoted!  And you usually jump all over me when I endorse one system or another outside the Cadd Review Area.  Now, I've noticed that Anagraph has a following also.  You know, all these different camps are becoming fun!)
    On another note - concerning our next Re-Post, we have no plans to add pages this time around (although it might appear that we did due to winter Re-Posts being traditionally large.) I am replacing logos and duplicate designs throughout GemRock.  I warn you now because as we get closer to the Re-Post, the search engine might bring you to a page where you expected to find a logo (or design) and it will not be there.  Keep searching, it'll turn up. October 2, 1999
And here's another for our trophy shelf.   Thank you to:
          The International Association of
              Web Masters & Designers  Click here to visit them.
The Golden Web Award is presented quarterly to those sites whose web design
and content have achieved levels of excellence deserving of recognition. (I am humbled.)  

September 25, 1999
    As I have mentioned 1,000 times in this area since 1981, 'as other industry resources come online and duplicate GemRock's services, I will at no charge and no expected THANX, close down my services.'  The single condition was that "their" services be absolutely free.   Well, 18 years later  Jim at Monu-Cad looked around and saw that all the 'leaders' of the industry were trying to look like GemRock but that's all.  And, by paying  attention to GemRock discovered that we were really on the ball and over-worked.  I thank him for that insight and wish others would wake up.  Here is an email I got from Jim today and it is enough for me to begin closing down my forums and classified ads area.  So, start visiting these sites and bookmark them.  I will link to them from my usual forum and classified links.  Please begin posting there.  The world is changing faster and for the better right before your eyes so pay attention! Here is Jim's email:
There is a new message board on YAHOO dedicated to the Monument Business. This is a meeting place for monument industry folks where all can share ideas, post gripes, make comments and in general share information. We encourage all Monument Industry members to go to this site and sign in and participate. Have Fun!
Goto  http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/themonumentbusiness
Remember our Free Classified Ad site at www.monu-cad.com/classifieds.htm
September 25, 1999
    It's always a pleasure to get email in response to postings in this, the WHAT'S NEW area. (especially since the forums have gone quiet, huh?) And it is double a pleasure when I get email that is helpful to everyone, so you Gerber users pay attention to this one from Josh Holmes, Gerber salesman, click here to visit his site at GemRock.
"There is a feature in Gerber for quickly closing 96 to 100% of all open points that are there after a conversion from DXF.  Select the entire design - grab the segment selection tool (the finger pointing to the red line at the top right) and then drag a box around the entire working area... selecting all the segments.   Next, hit the "j" key (for JOIN)...you may still have to close a few, but this will greatly reduce the work you have been doing."
   Than you, Josh! That advice will help me a lot, but I'll bet it will also help those of you who have been complaining about open points in our OLD drawings (Yes, the new drawings are all closed.)

September 9, 1999
    I just had to write something on 9/9/99.  Actually, I have great news for those of you who use DXF and PLT files and are having a difficult time with the gaps between lines in almost 90% of the drawings in our download areas.  I have been learning the Anagraph System and lo and behold! have found that I can convert to DXF and (later) to PLT with all lines closed.  Of course this will follow through to all the other formats - except DWG, and GCD and CMP  which were always closed and fine.  Now, I know you will be all over my case to fix all the old designs.  OK, someday (in fact I did start doing that) I'll get to it.  Right now I have several hundreds of designs from Pete at Artstone and several thousands from Moses to convert over for you. I will be adding another format - JBS   file format is for the Anagraph System which I am learning and employing to do these great conversions.  I will review the system once learned, but I can already see that it will be popular and thus am adding the format.   (This is no endorsement for the CADD system at this time.  It is very, very snifty, but I am still just getting to know it.) The JBS files will begin to appear on page Free19  in the HT3 area during the winter re-post.  Naturally you can sneak a peek by typing in the URL of http://www.gemrock.com/html/ht3/free19.htm and/or doing a search for JBS.  The search might not find it until after the re-post, however.

September 4, 1999
    I suppose I don't have to tell you that we're 4 days into the 3rd Re-Post of 1999. The usual crowd of "I'll be back at the next Re-Post" are calling Kathy and I complaining that their passwords aren't working or that there isn't enough 'fine memorial' art in this re-post and, of course there's the few who ask things like why "that horse and buggy design isn't where I saw it last week?"  I'm not poking fun at any of you,  hey, I still can't figure YAHOO! out and I was here a full 22 years before they were! I am also getting new calls for the BackOffice area.  Apparently mostly from the new (and potential members) being sent over from Anagraphic CADD systems. Virtual showrooms seem to be the hot topic this time around.  Well, if you haven't got a VS  yet, go check our ideas out over in the BackOffice in the EXAMPLES  area.  Oh, talking about Anagraph,  the company has sent me a free evaluation copy and I will be reviewing it for you soon in the CADD Review area. But not right away, I have to learn it first.  I also want to thank Gerber for their evaluation copy - already reviewed by Shelbym. And a heads-up to everyone concerning the Monu-Cad Pro, which anyone can evaluate (as a demo) over at Monu-cad.com.  

August 24, 1999,
I sent out mass email to all the members and 64 of you changed your email address on me!!  You might want to notify me of address and URL changes since that's what we give to potential customers.  Don't you want the business? And to be updated?  Well, here's what the 64 of you missed: The membership fees for new members is now $40 per month.   Existing members remain at the old fees unless you suspend or close your account, then you also pay the new fee.  The cause of this is the Y2K problem.  We have been hit with a $79,000 bill to upgrade all our servers and software.  We might not even do it, thus will be the end of GemRock  as we know it at midnight, December, 31, 1999.   GemRock will not disappear, per se.  I might have to revert it back to the way it was during the early 1980's... just one big list of designs much like you see now in our art libraries. I am also working with Shelbym to have him host GemRock or portions of it on his server in WY. Let's see how it all works out.

August 2, 1999
GemRock is quickly becoming a household name. Is that good or bad?  Well, Kathy and I aren't exactly thrilled by the facts.  Long-time members will recall that life was good, downloads were fast, and ADSTONE BBS was the place to be during the early 1980's.   Then came the crowds and the 'NetSurfers' - people who were not stone designers or in the graphic industries.  Back then Steve and I then later Sam, Lori and I welcomed everyone in because we were the only way in for most people before the BIG guys got into this biz (and are losing their shirts - they should have listened to me!) and ADSTONE grew to be the East coast's largest Internet Provider. A success story?  Well, not really.  Eventually -due to STUPID competition - we had our hands full: law suits, know nothing subscribers and members who wanted to know why they couldn't download designs if the were paying their $13 per month for dial-ups.  So we finally sold off the Dial-ups (SuffolkOnline, BabylonTown.com, etc.) and concentrated on Global Dial-ups for the stone trades and GemRock.  Kathy and I figured things would be great.   Just us and you - people who are here for the same reasons we are: to service and expand the stone and graphic design trades.  We loose money on the Global dial-ups but cover expensives with GemRock - life is wonderful.  So we thought.  Now all those people who were placed with other services realize the quality they had over here.   Too bad, cause we're not allowing them back.  But the kicker is: folks are coming in our back doors.  Last week alone AMAZON sold 573 books through our Download pages.  CD NOW  likes us because they are selling CDs from their ads on our sites.  CompuBank actually uses us as an example of how to advertise their services.   People are visiting us like crazy! Some of you have realized this.   Old-timers and those who know how to watch your download speeds and baud rates.   Recently I am getting more requests to develop this one's BackOffice or that one's Website and this is where Kathy and I really don't like the trends we see.  We don't mind paid-for advertisers, we encourage them and it makes sense here because you can not turn off your IMAGE LOAD at GemRock... or you'll never see the designs (and ads.)  Advertisers send their artwork and HTML.  The general membership doesn't so we have to develop the sites or backoffice for you.  Which takes us away from designing and running the store.   So, what I want to say in this endless NEWS message is, except for design contributors like Moses, Ken Dyal, Pete, etc,  please attempt to develop your own HTML (website) and send it along.  I will gladly open a FTP area for anyone to upload and develop your site at no charge.  Kathy and I are willing to bend over backwards to accommodate anything that will give you full control and less work for us.   Otherwise, we will have to start charging for these services - and WE DO NOT WANT TO DO THAT!!   Kathy is a Sysop and I'm a designer, we don't want to be anything else... and to hire or out-source requires us to raise the monthly fees - another move we have no intentions of doing!

July 25, 1999
I have had one complaint about logos. Seems not worth noting, however, I am expecting more due to the over-abundance of logos starting to appear online.  All the sign cutters and graphic artists love these logos, but there is another reason I am working feverishly to post as many as I can.   Recently the New York area Catholic cemeteries have permitted such logos on their monuments.  Word is that soon these usually strict organizations will also allow personal etchings.  For those who have no use for a Gillette or McDonald's logo, please bear with me.  To add to this feverish pace, Anagraphic has been selling systems in the New York area. Traditionally, we have had very few members in New York because my Dad is in a large dealership around here and people relate GemRock to him - little do they know I haven't touched stone since 1988! Now that the wonderful resources of GemRock are theirs free for the first year,  well, who cares who my Dad is? So, for the next few weeks, please accommodate our new friends and me by putting up with logos and logos and logos.  I'll make it up to you - promise.

July 21, 1999
      That was the longest vacation I ever took! Actually it wasn't.  I usually take 21 days and this was only 17.  I think that as I get older, time away from work seems longer.  Yes?   Maybe?  Whatever! I spent the entire vacation watching my stocks go through the roof!  (msft, emc, china, tyco, ibm, amzn, qqq, dia, spy, and dish) That was while I was away and without a computer and a dial-up connection.  The moment I get back - everything fell!!  Figures.   Kathy signed up 8 new members while I was on Montauk and all but 4 were sent to us from Anagraph.   Apparently their CADD system is a hot item!  I will prod Pete (the sales guy over there) to have a review drawn up for our  (long neglected)  CADD REVIEW area.
     SEARCHstone.com has been "bought-out" by GemRock and we are allowing the Domain Name to die.  All resources over there will soon be under our control over here - so expect some confusion and some improvements.  Our next project (in the way of Internet thing-a-ma-giggs) is to absorb ADSTONE.  And, to think, Gemrock was - till 1992 - just a small library found on ADSTONE and ADSTONE was one of  America's largest ISP's.  Now we are KING and ADSTONE is just one of a million dial-up portals... things change, huh!
     So now I'm back home.  I'll begin to review the over 1,000 designs sent to us mostly from Moses while I was away and start to lay-out the Autumn Re-Post.  Till then - watch for new news and stay tuned....  

June 25, 1999
Lots of surprises in store for this Summer '99 Re-Post. HT5 and HT6 have doubled in size.  HT11 - although tedious with logos - features Moses work.  We have two new areas, LOGOS and FONTS. Both are under construction and will never be completed anyway.  We get new logos and new fonts daily.  I am related to Superman, but a distant relation, take my word for it. I will try to catch up with what logos and fonts we have in inventory, but, hey....   Usually, Summer and Winter Re-Posts are small. This will be also, however, it will not feel that way because of all these new features. Re-Post will be online by tonight - Friday, June 25th.

June 23, 1999
The Summer Re-Post is ready to be posted.  I have one area to package before the post which should happen before the end of this week..appox. June 27th-ish. What I'm doing is creating the first of a specialized area.  This area will be for Logos and emblems. I've been asked to create such specialized areas for easy browsing of our inventory; all the roses, all the figures, all the logos, etc and so forth.I've begun with the logos and emblems because 1) recently the Diocese of Brooklyn in New York has begun to permit any logo on a monument even anti-religious ones and 2) Because our sign-maker members have asked - more than once - for such art work and 3)because Moses has sent so, so many of them, it's easier to just post them into a separate area. I will not remove emblems and logos from other areas at this time.  So you might get a bit fed-up with looking at them for awhile. Eventually, I will replace logos in the "general HTML" areas.  Then I will begin separating the flowers, etc. to their own areas.  The Logos area will be identified on the Skip Around page as LOGOS...click here to take a peek. Please remember that I am still in construction.

June 16, 1999
Happy Dad's Day to all the fathers out there! There's so much news here at GemRock that I don't know where to begin.   Personally, I am very busy with Ye Olde Friendly Flower Shoppe due to Dad's day and the terrible shortage of help, and I'm busy posting over 900+ designs from Moses and as many from ArtStone, and trying to swing this new (well, my first) house that I dread telling you that ADSTONE and GemRock suddenly came alive.   Hour by hour Kathy and I glance at each other wondering what gives?? You know we can't out-rightly "recommend" any one CADD system or any products or services per se - although everyone knows where our affections lie - but we're proud to say that yet another CADD system has made it part of their sales program to offer one year free membership at GemRock upon purchase of their system; along with other Gem perks I will not mention until all papers are signed... we're been there before, remember?  LOL!  Watch for the ads online about Anagraph Monument Edition CADD Systems for details. But don't go falling over yourselves too readily.   Monu-Cadd and Gerber are definitely the benchmarks, and Steckman's System is or, at least appears so, so nifty! (If that guy would just please answer his email, I would buy one of those things!!)
     As if all this isn't enough, we almost went public recently and are still being courted.  We're not taking this too seriously, however. I invest very heavily and ADSTONE has been employing ECN since 1986 (that's online direct trading).  Neither Kathy nor I find being public accommodating to you or us.  We recently sold off SuffolkOnline and BabylonTown and the NY regional dial-ups and after seeing how miserably our old friends and customers are being treated over there -  and so many are returning (another thing to keep Kathy busy!!) that I would rather drink hemlock than turn GemRock and ADSTONE over to people like that!  Don't get me wrong, since the MBNA and Monu-Cad have come online, we are not the "BIG SHOTS" we once were, all the same we do what we do with YOUR interest at heart. We must be doing something right because ADSTONE has gained 15 new members since 6/1 and GemRock has gained 5 since then - which keeps Kathy busy. (Just bragging a bit...giggle)
     See, I told you there's a lot going on over here.  :}   I also cleaned out the forum and Moses posted an VERY interesting message about where to get free designs...go read it!

May 18, 1999
I know I've been scarce lately, I'm down to just Shelly and I in the florist, Kathy and I on the Internet and all by my lonesome on drawings - my social life is such that I should had married... no, scratch that.  All the same I have some surprises for you in our next Re-Post.  Usually Summer Re-posts are small and this one will not be all that sizable, however, the quality will amaze you. Ken at Dyal, Pete at ArtStone and our new artist - Moses - will be on full display!  Not all they had sent me (That's over 1,000 drawings) but enough to keep you downloading for awhile, that's for sure.   Moses can be found across the download areas and I have set his work aside in the GRAPHICS area since most of what he does is both unusual and leans toward the raster side of our art form. Summer Re-Post is due on July 2nd - the day I leave for Montauk. But, as always, if you seek, you will find because I build it right online. (Should have developed my poetry a bit more also...LOL)

May 6, 1999
Happy Mom's day - Renee, Linda, Janet, Lisa, Chris, Kathy and Cathy (did I forget someone?)
Just a heads up for those of you who have purchased the Directory of Hebrew Names and Dates or who might want to reference it online, I am converting it to HTML and placing it in the new Hebrew library.  It is a gigantic task and I can't see it completed before 2001 or later so what is posted is far from done.  All the same, it is complete for male names up to (around) Isaac - it runs alphabetical.  Any errors, please inform me ASAP.  Right now, the Hebrew library is open to anyone, but be warned, that will change and be restricted for members only soon.  Go peek at http://www.onlinefree.net/library/hebrew/index.htm

May 2, 1999
REMINDER: It is important that you report back to us after filling a referral from us. There are too many of them and too few of us to keep track. Let's not give the online memorial industry a bad rap before we're even out of the gate.  Since Christmas we have referred to you 271 potiential sales.  223 have been reported as satisfied.  19 are still pending or purchased elsewhere and the remainder have not reported back, shame-shame!  

April  21, 1999
Several of you have noticed that I've had my head into my work so much that it has kept me off ICQ and, as Tam over at Allen Monuments noticed with much chagrin, I'm forgetting to do the wish list work.   Sorry, but I've got another 700 designs from ArtStone to convert and post and our Super Star Ken over at Dyal Monuments also sent 90 recently. And if you haven't been watching we have gained a member who will dazzle you with his art work - Moses over at Blue Rock. Watch for his work in the Autumn Re-Post. Some of the work has already been posted in the HT10 area... but not identified as yet - look at the graphic drawings they're his work.
Talking about HT areas, the HT5 and HT6 areas are really getting an overhaul for the next (Summer) re-post. We had lost Ht5/freedes.htm to ht5/free25.htm  in a fatal crash 3 years ago.  Now they are being replaced with the work Ken, Pete and Moses are sending.  At this writing, HT6 is complete.  HT5 is missing from ht5/free11.htm to free25.htm.  So if you're a "browser" as many of you are, remember to jump that gap.  Those areas are closed til the re-post, but you all know how to get there if you need to do so.
In other news; Shelbym and I are moving ever closer to a mirror site for GemRock over at his office in Chyenne, WY.  It will not be too soon, but by next year everyone will have two sites to download images from.  Test them, what works best and fastest for you employ it.

March 14, 1999
Last year we referred over 270 members of the general public to you for monuments. This year is off to a record breaking start with 34 people referred already...it's not easy work, folks, very time consuming if we can't find a GemRock member near the person who is asking for a stone.  Anyway, it's not often but we do occasionally come across someone we can't place with any of you or anyone else for that matter. So I'm going to start a new area - secured area - where I will post the names, email, address and other information of such people.  In this way if any of you can help out, do so.  Please remember that we ask nothing for this but handle these people as if they were relatives of mine.    The page can not be reached by anyone but members, but if you can not help yet know someone who can, please forward them the info.  The secured area is at http://www.gemrock.com/ftp/design8/refer.htm  

February 10, 1999 

We just keep growing and making new friends.
Far be it for me to tell anyone where to bank, I'm an artists remember - a bit looney.
But I do know the Internet and what's coming at us in the Information age and the new (Attention) economy. Banking online is a better and more secure method than giving out your credit card to every site that asks for it. Click here and research it for yourself.

February 3, 1999,
My dear friend Jim @monu-cad has proven (again) to understand the essentials of Internet publishing. His eZine is a winner. Want to see photos from the last MBNA convention - TECHNOVATION '99 MBNA's 90th Convention & Full Industry Show Jan. 24 - 27 Charlotte, NC? Click here to visit the Monu-Cad eZine.

January 22, 1999,
I have begun posting CDR and CMX formats for our Corel Draw! users out here. They are found in the HT9 and (Hidden) HT10 directories. HT9 is included in this season's Re-Bang and HT10, although you can find your way there, is under construction for our Spring-Summer Re-bang. I have also started posting Ai format, which I have on best authority (Shelbym@vcn.com) that Ai is soon to replace the popularity of DXF.

January 18, 1999
OK, OK already, I get the message! Goodness! how you complain when the Discussion Groups go down, but when they're up, no one seems to post to them but Shelbym and myself!!! Anyway, the original groups are still down and the machine they're on is still on the workbench. All the same, I recreated a new Discussion Group at Adstone.net, so click here to go to them. And, hey, this time, do some posting....anything!! (BTW, you can create your own "area" in the Discussion Groups. Simply Post from the HomePage and give the post a Unique name... "Joe's Bull Area" and make your first posting a WELCOME post. Thereafter, REPLY to the Welcome post..and post listed under it, to form your very own Discuss Group.

January 18, 1999
Monu-Cad has started publishing an eZine, click here to read it. It's not like our Featured Articles, and it is very much about the in-house going-ons at MC, but it is a great start. Perhaps you should write an article and send it to Jim for publication? Do it!

Sincerely Yours,
Joe Auricchio

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