Minutes of FZ Business Meeting 04/25/2006, 8:15-9:15 p.m. Present: Angie, Dan, Russ, Wendy, Kitty, Britt, Lorne, Jane 1. Lorne presented an update on FZ's financial status. As of April 25, the FZ bank balance was $3,402.83. Last April the balance was $2,001.38. Action Items: - Jane email Lorne with the expected cost of the August sesshin. - Jane email Lorne with postage expenses for Sesshin postcard - Jane ask Lorne for budget info, and send to Dan to post on our FZ website Update: - Jane has sent this info to Lorne. 2. Kitty inquired what is a recommended weekly expense dana. Dan tracks FZ attendance and estimates that on average 10 people attend each week. Therefore, a $2 donation is suggested. 3. Emily has said that she can make cushions, zafus and zabutons, to sell to benefit FZ. Russ suggested that the cushions be marked with an image associated with Angie, say, Kobun's calligraphy. Action Item: - Jane contact Emily about making her offer known to FZ sangha Update: - Jane has sent an email to Emily. The two of them will get it going. 4. Russ proposed that FZ print a small bound guide to the zendos where Angie teaches. Each location would have a story, and the book might include some of Angie's poetry or talks she has given. In addition, Russ urged Angie to consider writing a book. Action Item: - Jane contact Bobbi about getting some transcripts to Russ. Update: - donnalynn has transcripts. Jane has asked Russ to contact her. 5. Since Bobbi transcribes Angie's talks, she has the tape library. Bobbi has opened a second home in Belize and will live there for part of every year. Arrangements need to be made regarding the library and archives. Action Items: - Jane contact Bobbi about transcript library - Wendy/Jane make sure Bobbiǁs move is noted in our next Newsletter under ǁSangha Newsǁ Update: - donnalynn will contact Bobbi. - Janeǁs note about the Newsletter files: Since Newsletters are posted on the FZ website, there seems no need for any additional archiving of the material. From my point of view, no further action is required. 6. Dan will register and host a FZ website with GoDaddy.com. FZ will subscribe to a month-to-month plan until it is certain that hosting with GoDaddy is the best choice. Dan presented two alternatives for building and hosting the website: Yahoo and GoDaddy. Yahoo may require less technical knowledge to use, but space is more costly there. Yahoo provides tools to build a simple site with separate pages, a calendar, etc. However, 5 gigabytes of space cost $12 a month with Yahoo; 10 gigabytes cost $20; and 20 gigabytes cost $40. In contrast, GoDaddy provides 50 gigabytes for $7 dollars a month. FZ wants to provide Angie's dharma talks on the website, which will require considerable space. Each minute of audio takes roughly a megabyte in CD-quality MP3 format. Voice only audio can be stored in half that, though. The downside to GoDaddy is that using it requires more technical knowledge. Dan is enthusiastic about trying to work with GoDaddy but is not absolutely certain it will be possible. Also, a concern is whether anyone other than Dan will be able to work with a website built on GoDaddy rather than on Yahoo. Altogether, GoDaddy seems worth a try. Action Items: - Dan register a domain name with GoDaddy - Dan to start setting up FZǁs new website on GoDaddy, on month-to-month contract - Dan contact Jane to decide administrative details, such as who to name as webmaster - Jane ask Dan to post his website research on FZ website, with Business Meeting minutes 7. FZ will continue to use the Yahoo group until the website is completely finished. 8. May 13 there will be a half-day sit. Angie will be at a sesshin in Arcata then, and so Wendy will lead the sit. Action Item: - Wendy find a doan for the sit 9. The study group phone line malfunctioned this month. At least two people could not get on. Action Item: - Jane investigate the problem with phone line 10. Yahoo group moderators are asked to be careful about what messages they approve for publication. Recently what seemed to be private communications have been posted as public messages.