What Did Barry See

REMINDER: As long as you're here, don't forget to read the other posts on the NACUMS Blog.


Congratulations to Joanne Gish, the Document Services Manager Westmont College in Santa Barbara, CA for the first winning guess in the impromptu "What did Barry See" contest. Also to Brian Geimer, from Sacrmento State for being our runner up.

Thank you all for the deluge of guesses. It was fun to shoot down your suggestions with other larger structures or to explain why your guesses didn't fit the clues. Thanks also for giving me a host of things that I can go see on my future wanderings.


I had stayed the night in Vincennes, IN. In the morning, my wife wanted to drive across the Lincoln Memorial bridge before heading home to Oshkosh. So, we drive through town and just before the bridge, I looked over to my left and said "what the %@&# is that!" Curious as I am, we checked it out.

George Rogers Clark National Historical Park, located in
Vincennes on the banks of the Wabash River, is a United States National Historical Park. The George Rogers Clark memorial is the largest such memorial outside of Washington, DC.

The George Rogers Clark National Historical Park centers on the massive Memorial, a neoclassical granite rotunda with 16 Doric columns circling a bronze sculpture of the colonel leaning on his sword. Seven monumental murals inside the memorial chart the American settlement of the Ohio Valley and Clark’s battle to wrest the Northwest Territories from British control.

The Memorial is located on the site of the former British Fort Sackville which was captured by Colonel George Rogers Clark and his army of frontiersmen and Frenchmen. The moment of the fort's surrender on February 25, 1779 marks the birth of the United States north of the Ohio River.

When the army led by Col. George Rogers Clark captured the British fort at Vincennes on February 25, 1779, the size of the United States essentially doubled. Clark’s victory opened the vast Northwest Territories, comprising nearly as much land as the original 13 colonies, to American settlement.


In 1778, Clark made plans for aggressive action against the British in the Old Northwest and, going to Virginia, persuaded Gov. Patrick Henry and his council to send an expedition. Clark and about 175 men crossed the Ohio River at Fort Massac, then swept into the Illinois country and took the British-held settlements of Kaskaskia, Cahokia, and Vincennes. The British under Gen. Henry Hamilton advanced from Detroit and retook Vincennes after Clark had left. Winter and Ohio floods halted Hamilton there, but Clark and his men, defying cruel conditions of cold and hardship, braved the flooded bottom lands to return to Vincennes. With the heroic aid of Francis Vigo, François Bosseron, and Father Gibault, he struck at the British fort and surprised and captured Hamilton and the garrison in Feb., 1779. When news of his victory reached General George Washington, Clark's success was celebrated and was used to encourage the alliance with France. Washington recognized his achievement had been gained without support from the regular army in men or funds.


CLUES

1. (In the continental U.S., it's the largest of its kind outside of Washington, D.C.)

   The George Rogers Clark memorial is the largest such memorial outside of Washington, DC.

2. Monkeys first hit.

   Take the Last Train to Clarksville. Clarksville, IN. is named for American Revolutionary War General George Rogers Clark, who lived for a time on a point of land on the Ohio River. Founded in 1783, the town is believed to be the first American settlement in the Northwest Territory of the new United States.
   
   

3. Song "On the Banks of the Wabash".

   The historical park and Clark memorial are on the banks of the Wabash River.

4. The younger one is more famous the the older one.

   Clark's younger brother William, won greater fame as a leader of the Lewis and Clark expedition. In all, Clark had five brothers and four sisters.

5. How did Louisville, KY get it's name?

   The settlement that became the city of Louisville was founded in 1778 by George Rogers Clark and is named after King Louis XVI of France.

Hey!!! Again, thanks for playing. I hope everyone enjoyed themselves and don't forget to read the other blog posts.

Barry

Clue # 3

As promised, here's Clue #3

http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/mp3s/2000/2386/cusb-cyl2386d.mp3

Good Luck everyone.

Pritha Mehra Addresses the Member Concerns

Members attending the NACUMS conference were rewarded with a rare opportunity to meet face-to-face Pritha Mehra, the Vice President of Business Mail Entry and Payment Technology. The focus of her first discussion was to be on the numerous new and exciting initiatives that her team is working on including: Full Service IMB, a universal permit for all postal services; a universal payment platform; and the new MDA call desk.

Starting out by asking the group what their pain points were, (the impediments to using Full Service IMB, things that made using the Bulk Mail Entry Units less than satisfactory) she made notes of all the concerns and issues that were raised. Pritha made it abundantly clear that she wanted input and feedback from the participants, and to not hold back, and the members did not hesitate to comply.

The presentation, originally scheduled for an hour, ran far over and it was decided to basically scrap her next presentation on the State and Vision of the USPS under PMG Donahoe, and continue this fact finding session.

Pritha repeatedly asked for volunteers to work with her team to solve these issues and develop new procedures and opportunities. Attendees were enthusiastic to participate and we can look forward to a lot of progress in the near future.

Attendees Take the MDC Exam

NACUMS members have been given the rare opportunity to hold the Mailpiece Design Consultant (MDC) exam. 27 members sat for the test consisting of 100 multiple choice questions; 9 were first time conference attendees. The exam and study session was approved by the Mailing Systems Management Association (MSMA) and conducted by Elizabeth Lombard, Manager of Certification, Pitney Bowes Learning & Performance.

(Pictured: Brenda Schadler, Indiana Wesleyan University)

Live Blogging of the NACUMS Conference

I'm going to try and put as many postings up as I can regarding the NACUMS conference, but as you can probably guess, there is a lot going on here and I may not always be able to do it as often as I like.

Today was a good example. Members have been coming in all day it was terrific to see so many familiar faces. Early registration was held down in the lobby but I had to miss it to get ready for the Board of Directors meeting in the evening. This year the Member Services Committee wrote lovely notes to first time attendees, and provided nice bags with water bottles and souvenir trinkets.

The Board of Directors meeting was supposed to be from 7-10, but ended closer to 11:30. Much of the meeting was devoted to issues relating to the current conference, but other topics were also discussed. With all the new projects and programs that are under way (more on those in future blog posts) we have decided that we now need to put more efforts into contracting for outside managements services, maybe. A special task force headed by the Vice President, Mike Butts, to look into all aspects of this matter will be formed. Lea Holt and I met with the heads of NAEP (National Association of Educational Procurement) and NACUBO (National Association of College & University Business Officers) in February to learn the basics, but now we need more detailed plans. We also discussed Committee plans, the details of the Membership Meeting on Monday, news from the Regional associations, and Board Officer responsibilities.

Tomorrow I will check in with you with more updates, but it's late now and I'm a bit tired.

iPhone app - Mail Industry Acronyms

NACUMS has its first ever iPhone app thanks to the creative team at Oklahoma State University; Donna Morris, NACUMS Board Member and Chair of Member Services, and her graduate students, Mukul Gaikwad & Aniket Kadam. This app is now available for the iPhone or iPod Touch (iOS 4.3 or higher) with those compatible with previous versions and the iPad coming soon.

I personally think that this is an awesome achievement and want to extend thanks on behalf of the NACUMS Board to the OSU group for their efforts on our behalf. This project took well over a month and involved countless hours of building, testing and refining.

This is a significant achievement for NACUMS and is hopefully our next step to providing the tools our members and the industry need to be successful.

You can get the app at the iTunes store.

Start of Our Fiscal Year

Today is the first day of our new Fiscal Year which brings the excitement of welcoming new members to the NACUMS board of Directors. Mike Butts takes over as our Vice President, Ute Franklin as Secretary, and new comer Whit Allen as a Board Member at Large. But this is bittersweet as Board loses two long time pillars, Kathy Waters and Ed Talley. We need to thank them, and Richard Boudrero who is completing four productive years as Vice President.

I probably should say something profound and inspiring at this time of transition. Instead I will just tell you all I hope the coming year will bring good changes, and to enjoy the long weekend.

posted by Mark Goodrich, President of NACUMS