) ( ) Good Morning Family! .-.,--^--. ( Come on in. . . \\|`----'| - The coffee pot's on. . . \| |// ...and we even have decaf, | |/ tea, and hot chocolate! \ / ------ Today's topics include: 1. Welcome to new cousins 2. Roll call 3. The Retreat 4. Help needed with computer language If you've been with the family [the BOWER-L list] for at least three weeks, you'll probably want to skip the following paragraphÂ… TO OUR NEWEST COUSINS ~~ On behalf of the entire family, I'd like to extend a most hearty welcome to those cousins who came into the family fold this past week. We are very glad to have you with us and hope you'll stay and remain a part of our online family. As soon as you're comfortable with us and the list, please send in your Bower[s]/Bauer/Baur lines so we can all see how we're related to you. We do not have a fancy format for sending in records or queries to the list. Post as many as you wish! If the data has anything to do with Bower[s]/Bauer/Baur lines or any of the variant spellings that might help someone, please feel free to post it. Every scrap of information is appreciated. If you haven't visited the homesite of this list yet, you are encouraged to do so. The Bower Family Homestead [a.k.a., the Homestead] is our homesite and the gathering place for much of our information. It waits to join us all in welcoming you into the family at <http://www.crosswinds.net/~bowerhomestead>. ROLL CALL Our first roll call was carried out rather smoothly and I noticed a lot of new information passing through. Did anyone make a BINGO [connect with another cousin]? If so, please tell us about it [using the CHAT: format]. This enmasse roll call for the family's three lists was a one-time only event simply to get everyone's data onto the table where we can all see it right away. However, in the future, roll calls will be staggered with one group holding one in one week, a second group the next, and so on. That way everyone won't be facing the massive amounts of e-mails we had this past week. I have to thank everyone for being so patient will all the e-mail. I'm sure some of you are still tunneling out from it all! :) There won't be another roll call for about three months. If, however, one group's growth exceeds 20 new cousins, that particular group will hold one right away. Just like this time, I'll manually forward messages so nobody will miss any important family data. Even without a roll call though, I'll still manually cross-post your messages. THE RETREAT Our new [and private] family center at myfamily.com officially opens today! Have you notified one of the administrators that you want to participate, received and returned your invitation? I hope so. Our first family chat is scheduled for 1 p.m. US PST [4 p.m. US EST]. It's going to be a real gabby group this afternoon and I look forward to meeting each of you 'live'! :) Vicky Bowers-Gieslau has been working very hard the last two weeks getting everything set up and the administrators trained. Vicky, we all thank you so much for giving all your time toward making this area such a nice one for us. Your efforts are going to be extremely appreciated! :) I know we don't REALLY need them....we being who we are and all - but two guidelines have been instituted that everyone should know before going to the Retreat's chatroom: 1. No profanity or lewdness. After all, we are Bower/Bauer descendants and we're all above that anyway. :) 2. Please, no discussions about race, religion or politics. The only thing any of those subjects cause is arguments which lead to anger and hurt feelings -- and we're above that as well. The chatroom is NOT for genealogical discussion only. You can talk about your dog, your funny-looking toes, the broken branch on the tree in your backyard... just anything! The Retreat and our chatroom are giving us the opportunity to get to know each other personally and bring our family even closer together than we already are. Of course, if you WANT to discuss genealogy, I'm sure nobody will mind..... :) HELP NEEDED WITH COMPUTER LANGUAGE The search engine in the hallway at the Homestead is throwing script errors to those cousins using Internet Explorer. Will one of you who is super-brilliant in computer language please contact me and let me know what a Code "0", "Unterminated string constant" error is and how to fix it? I think I could probably make the repair if I just knew what the error meant. To you May babies - the cousins and I wish you a very happy and exciting year ahead. Happy Birthday! You are loved! Family....it's what we're all about. I really enjoyed this time with you. I hope your upcoming week is filled with health, productivity, fun, and above all, filled with love. ) ( ) _.-~~-. (@\'--'/. Colleen ('``.__.'`) `..____.'