Good Grief

In 1984, America was buzzing with music hits like Cindy Lauper's "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" and Stevie Wonder's "I Just Called to Say I Love You." Ironically, many couples were calling to say I don't love you. Divorce was rampant in the early 80's and my family wasn't exempt.

Mom was worried about my little brother and me, so she enrolled us in a group counseling program. Most kids in the group were just like me - dealing with a divorce or separation. To use a car accident analogy, my parents' divorce was like a fender bender. Some kids in the group experienced more disruptive events that would equate to a more serious, but survivable car accident.

As we discussed our stories, one girl was reluctant to share with the group. She eventually became comfortable enough to discuss her situation. She was not a victim of divorce like the rest of us. Her mom had suffered from depression and alcoholism. One night, she used a shotgun to end her life.

To use the car accident analogy, she had been hit head-on by an 18-wheeler. Divorce was a serious issue, but it was nothing compared to the death of a parent.

Each year, the Nebraska Chapter of ARMA supports a local charity. This year, we selected Charlie Brown's Kids, an organization in Lincoln, NE that is all about "good grief." It is a group for kids ages 3-18 that have lost a parent. Group leaders and volunteers help children through the grieving process and provide opportunities to capture and preserve memories of their parents through discussion, art, writing and storytelling.

We are providing several opportunities for our members to support Charlie Brown's Kids:

* Donate Wish List Items (copy paper, colored paper, card stock, banner paper, markers, small plastic containers, large plastic totes, file folders, notebooks, staples, scissors, paper clips, etc.). Last donation date via ARMA is December 9th.

* Donate a gift (must be gift-wrapped) for our live auction on December 9th. It can be something lying around the house or something store-bought, your choice. Half the fun of the auction is seeing the crazy variety of gift items.

* Bid on a gift. Again, it might be a really nice gift or it may be something that was lying around someone's house. Last year, I bid $35 on a gift and it turned out to be a $50 gift card. The Nebraska Chapter will match all auction proceeds up to $500, so please bid generously.

Dealing with the death of a parent is a long, difficult process. With the help of Charlie Brown's Kids, children can cope with such a life changing event and move on with their lives. After all, girls just wanna have fun!

Anticipation

Around mid December when I was 11 years old, a rather large present showed up under the Christmas tree. The card said, "To: Mark, Love: Mom and Dad." The anticipation was killing me. Was it that Lego set I had my eye on? Or perhaps the new Nintendo game system that ALL my friends had? One afternoon, my parents and older siblings were all working and my younger brother was at a friend's house. I gave in to temptation and decided to do a little snooping.

I secured my lookout, our eight-year-old Bichon Frise. She was dozing at the top of the stairs, likely dreaming of the milk bones and dog toys that would emerge from the Christmas stocking bearing the name, "Angel." She would certainly wake up if any cars approached the house, so I had a 40 second window to work in.

First, I tried shaking the present. It was more of a dull thud than anything else (so much for the Lego set). Since that didn't yield any answers, I went to plan B. I very, very carefully removed a piece of tape from the side of the package and revealed the entire side panel. Unfortunately, that sneaky devil (Mom) had placed the present in a brown cardboard box, obscuring the contents from prying eyes. However, just one more piece of tape separated me from my future loot. I peeled back the tape, opened the flaps of the box and revealed...pajamas, socks and underwear. Needless to say, I saved that present for last on Christmas day :-(

Last week, Microsoft released details about Microsoft SharePoint 2010. Don't wait until 2010 to find out what's under the shiny wrapping paper. Join us at Mahoney State Park (Main Lodge, Nebraska Room) on November 18th, where SharePoint expert Russ Edelman will show us what's new in 2010 (Nintendo or unmentionables?), key planning considerations and likely complications in the implementation of SharePoint. Visit http://www.armanebraska.com for details and registration.

D"e"light"e"d to B"e"gin Th"e" N"e"w Program Y"e"ar

By some estimates, over 90% of organizations' records are created electronically. With technological advances such as instant messaging, text messages, blogs, social networking and cloud computing, managing those e-records is becoming significantly more challenging.

Patrick Cunningham, CRM from Motorola, Inc. will be delivering a half day workshop, You Can't Spell "Records" or "Management" Without the Letter "E" on Wednesday, September 16th from 11:30- 4:00 at Ironwood Country Club in Omaha, NE. He will be discussing three topics around Electronic Records Management: 1) Building the Business Case for e-Records Management, 2) The Perfect Storm: Messaging and the Records Manager, 3) "The Cloud" and Web 2.0: Issues and Risks for Consideration. Please visit http://armanebraska.com for more details and to register for the workshop.

The Nebraska Chapter of ARMA International, Inc. is dedicated to provide education around records and information management. Our nine monthly meetings and annual spring seminar provide opportunities for attendees to advance their knowledge and network with others in their profession.

I look forward to another great year and I hope to see you at the meeting next week!

SharePoint Expert to Speak

As the ARMA Nebraska Board continues planning for the 2009-10 program year, I am pleased to announce another upcoming speaker. Russ Edelman from Corridor Consulting will be presenting, "SharePaint & Records Management including Planning Roadmaps and Avoiding Potholes" at the November 18th program.

SharePoint has unquestionably become one of the biggest phenomena in the worlds of Records Management and IT. It is also considered a bridge between those worlds and it needs to be properly navigated to avoid potholes. Topics will include comparative points of view from both a Records and IT perspective. Russ Edelman is President/CEO of Corridor Consulting. In his book, "Nice Guys Can Get the Corner Office," he shares 8 strategies to help overly nice guys become "Effectively Nice." On June 30, 2009, Edelman's article, "How to Determine the True Cost of Microsoft SharePoint" was published in CIO.

Identity Theft

The ARMA Nebraska Board of Directors continues planning the 2009-10 programs. I am pleased to announce we have secured former FBI Agent, Jeff Lanza to speak at our October boss’s day meeting.

Monday, October 26 (Boss’s Day – Members, your non-member boss can attend for free)
Stopping Identity Theft Before it Stops Your Organization
Jeff Lanza, Former FBI Agent

Identity theft can have dire effects on the victim and the organization whose security was breached. This seminar assists personnel at all levels to effectively protect the future of the organization by providing proven and reliable techniques for information security. Former FBI Agent, Jeff Lanza, is a professional speaker who has delivered keynote presentations and training seminars across the country. His presentations, based on his FBI career as an investigator and spokesman, are designed to be informative and entertaining.

Summer Planning

I am excited to get started planning for the 2009-10 program year. The board of directors will be meeting later this week to begin the planning process. By the time we have our second meeting at the end of July, we should have our program schedule set. Please check our website (http://www.armanebraska.com) in early August for more information.

Website Outage (Update)

The site appears to be back up again. Thank you for your patience.

Website Outage

Our web hosting provider experienced a power failure at one of their data centers earlier this afternoon. As a result, http://www.armanebraska.com is temporarily down. As of an hour ago, they were starting the process to bring the servers back online.

Open Position

At the May meeting, we held our biennial election for the chapter’s officers. Scott Swanson was elected Vice President and Mary Ott has agreed to assume the Membership Director position. This has left an open position for Program Director.

The Program Director is mainly responsible for the following duties:

• Coordinate meeting facilities (menu, room setup, Audio/Visual setup, etc.)
• Manage the event database on the chapter website
• Receive attendee event reservations
  

Please consider taking this position. Our chapter has always been extremely successful and much of that success is due to our members getting actively involved in chapter leadership. Please contact Mary or me if you have any questions and/or would like to volunteer for the position. I hope to make a decision by June 10th, so please call today!