With the late arrival of winter weather around Western New York, along comes the 30th Anniversary of The Blizzard of '77! It may seem ironic that we celebrate a blizzard when we just came out of the warmest months recorded in a long time, indeed to celebrate a blizzard at all. However, we are accustomed to rapid changes in weather that borders on freaky, and have learned to take most of it in stride. The saying goes; If you don't like the weather, wait five minutes!

     Some folks in our Association have thought the same about the changes started when I helped overhaul the By Laws. Wow! This is a big change, what is going to happen next? - with big expectations, both negative and positive, for very near future changes. Many had angst, anxieties of all manners. None of this came to pass, so folks are now impatient to have results, that is, a consummation of why we changed By Laws to begin with. It is a fair enough question.

     Easy for me to say that we still lack the manpower, as I have been begging for volunteers to step up in many of these articles past, and leadership to champion various committee work is crucial if we expect actions of consequence. Members seem reserved since I have been posting these articles, not responsive - some of the blame I take for my writing, but come on guys, I don't even hear about it when an article stinks! Communication remains a high priority in our work. We can only work with our available resources. So progress is deliberate, as opposed to just slow.

     Our membership asked for trimming the members attending meetings because of associated costs. We accomplished this, but at a time when transportation and hotel rooms were escalating we just barely keep expenses in check. Mailing costs still rise, yet members do not wish to have emailed CHORISTERs, nor advance communications through the use of the Internet. Both CHORISTER and Website seek items of interest and continue to be ignored. These procedures must be addressed soon or no progress will be apparent.

     The above two paragraphs can be stated concisely this way:

• It is vital to move issues along faster and more efficiently in the current organization. (Volunteers of leadership step up and communicate in both directions between members and administrators.)
• Understanding the feelings of individuals when changes are necessary aids the leadership to adjust changes to the better. (Members considerations must reach to the fullest extent of any administrations to have effective, constructive progress.)

     The idea that folks were once again celebrating "The Blizzard" got me to thinking about celebrating in general, even celebrating some of life's difficulties. People around here celebrate how close the natural disaster brought people together, all working to get through the snow, get supplies to elderly and infirmed, and try to return to some normalcy. So I thought about the progress we work toward and celebrate where we are, and where we want to go.

     If I could have people understand those two statements above rather soon, I would feel more like celebrating.

"It's a bumper sticker culture. People have to get it like that, and if they don't, if it takes three seconds to make them understand, you're off their radar screen. Three seconds to understand, or you lose. This is our problem." - Lawrence Lessig

"The present is the ever moving shadow that divides yesterday from tomorrow. In that lies hope." - Frank Lloyd Wright

     I'm wishing all of you the best of this New Year (and the Chinese New Year coming up on February 18th - Year of the Pig, or boar). I hope you can enjoy the winter season without much difficulty. Drop a note to say how things are in your neighborhood.