What's New for 1999
Links on this page may have been broken many years ago ... maybe not, try them if you like.
December 28, 1999
What a
topsy-turvy year-end, huh? Thank Heavens that Christmas is behind
me! Working the florist alone with only one gal to help instead
of 5 was a nightmare and a complete distraction - not to mention
having the flu during our busiest days and all the Y2K bugs and
problems we have here that "might" be fixed. I'm
afraid that the winter re-post will be delayed due to my situation.
I have been adding as regularly as I could and have a back log
of new designs to convert and post, so please hang in there.
December 8, 1999
Our email is
now Y2K compliant. If you employ the WorldGroup Manager you
have noticed that you can not log into ADSTONE BBS due to a change in SysId.
Please do the following: open MGM (WorldGroup Manager.)
Click on FILE, then click on NEW. Click on OK (for new online
service item.) In the Name field, type New ADSTONE. Click on
TELNET and type adstone.com in the HOST field. Then remove the
check in the Log on as new user box and type in your User-id and
password. Click OK and you're all set. Please
note: that along with the great new features in CHAT and
email, we have lost all our games. This is because we need to
"purchase" new activation codes to re-set the games.
We can not afford to do this so unless you join together to come up
with the money, play your games at Excite or Yahoo. Sorry. If
you do not employ WGM but would like to run our 20 year old version
of AOL, click
here to download the program. MEMBERS ONLY.
November 10, 1999
ANAgraph's DESIGN
ART review has been posted over on our Review page, click
here to review this tasty CADD program.
October 31, 1999
ADSTONE has added 80 new dial-up
pools nation-wide. Roughly 500 new dial-ups - hopefully near
you. Go check them out
- remember, GemRock members pay only $15 per month for full
world-wide access!
October 26, 1999
A personal comment. (Oh,
yeah right, like 99% of the What's New area isn't commentary? And
candid to boot!) Your humble webmaster has to admit that I love my
job. Sometimes, late at night or when I have a spare moment, I
browse through GemRock. Naturally, the spark is to seek out and
correct numerous blunders - especially misspelling. But often I
find myself looking at the work, the art. Sometimes I even
dwell on my own contributions to our inventory. Works like the Aztec
sun god. And liner2.
And others. I enjoy reliving the act of design and the
execution of the work. And I have an "old-hand" about my
art. A scan is worked to its very last line on my drawing area!
All the same, Moses' work captivates me. His scan work is nothing
short of amazing when it is worked properly, such as bambi2.
He is not restricted to religious symbols found in memorialzation;
yet his angels are
animated. Some of his non-secular angels skirt the limits of
heaven and hint at a giddy
impishness. Just to astound you a bit further, all of
Moses' work ends up on tiny
rocks! I sell them in my flower shop and they are exquisite. We
all owe him a debt for his contribution of over 900 logos; all
perfect replicas. Pete at Artstone also has an interesting
hand. His angels, like angel49,
are so modern they appear classical at first glance. Until you
realize angel49 could decorate a greeting card or the 'Angels' beer
mugs at the stadium snack bar as soon as appear on a memorial
standing to the promise of resurrection. Whenever I view his work I
think of the day I spent working on his Internet connection (ADSTONE
is installing DSL at his shop.) He proudly showed me a horse he
had drawn. It was a swift steed, long and arching through the
air. I fell dumbfounded when he showed me the original image he
had scanned it from - a kid's coloring book! Ken Dyal, on the other
hand gives us "in-your-face" stone design. If you want a
non-secular image, his paint can is a
paint can. It's character is the vector art itself. Look at
a simple chef hat
and ladle. A designer could loose sleep devising this image and
as much time working the image to economize the lines. But Ken makes
it seem eternal, simple, obvious, and practical - you have three
separate designs in one (What you see, the hat, the ladle).
Hugo Calderera, Francis Wick, Shelby Moore, Mark Turco and all the
others who have invested time and art into GemRock, I thank you from
my heart. My eyes thank you. As GemRock takes it rightful
position in cyberspace in the next century, we will be 'networking'
with other leaders in the vector art, and graphic art, and stone, and
sign, industries and fields. Expect leaders to join together.
Perhaps not to merge together, but to lead together. Expect
your peers to point these leaders in the right direction.
Expect that voice to come from online boards and clubs like at http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/themonumentbusiness
Watch individual companies make big
moves. Watch Monu-Cad. Watch the MBNA. Watch
SCI. Watch Anagraph and Gerber. Watch ADSTONE who right
now the top System Operator, Kathy, is trying to piece together a
plan where every monument dealer not online can come online, and get
a free computer and get membership at GemRock and get a free CADD
system and training for under $80 per month. Do the math,
that's impossible tonight, but Kathy and the Internet can make it
very real tomorrow.
Recently there was some talk about
me being a shoe-in for that new Hall of Fame the MBNA established.
Besides my art and interesting career I also created the very first
Internet network for the trade(as well as creating the world's first
commercial online network with the same stroke), not to mention
GemRock itself! This is all honorable stuff, to be sure.
Profound and difficult to internalize. But personally, I look up to
people like Jim at Monu-Cad. I feel forshortened when in the
glow of people like Shelby Moore. I become an apprentice again
when I visit Dave Centrangelo's studio. And who doesn't marvel at the
work that comes out of Design Mart? And if I could do nothing else
forever, let me browse Moses' work, enjoy Al Martin, marvel at the
economy which comes out of Design Services, Inc., and
smile at the easy hand of Paul Cangeloisi and the balance found in
the pencil of Don Sherif. And strive always to say things the
way that only Kenneth Dyal can - where one more line is too
much and one less is incomplete. ........Thank you - and I mean
that. (BTW, I am not a member nor was I ever a member of
the MBNA, I have not been a monument builder since 1988.) October,
18 1999
Please
employ some understanding to space limitations on our websites. Especially
in our libraries. Recently I have gotten some flack over my
comments concerning comments by others. To be exact: in the CADD
library where some companies which develop CADD say
that their CADD is the easiest or best or fastest around, I add a
comment which is not meant to contradict but to remind my members
that it's only their (or my) opinion. Most of these systems are free
for the asking, registering or upgrading, so it's no biggie to prove
them right or wrong regardless of my CADD habits. But I do not want
my 'people' to think I am endorsing one product over another.
In some other news: our Y2K repairs are moving along with
disappointment and surprise at every turn. We lost 3 servers so far -
trashed completely. Poo! But our 386 IBM runs fine; go
figure? We are scheduling a change of the GemRock server later
this week or early next. The server will be down twice for as
much as one hour each session - first to remove this server and trash
it and second to bring up the new server. Hopefully most of
this will be during evening hours Eastern Standard Time. Our
new server will run three times as fast as this one - but talk around
the office is to add applications to it, so as far as you're
concerned things should look and feel the same or a bit better. (Wish
us luck!)
October, 9 1999
As a word
of warning, all computers built before 1995, are 99% not 2000
compliant, so get your machine tested right now!
You can also visit http://www.y2kbugfix.com/
if you think you want to tackle this alone.
I lost a machine to the Y2K bug
yesterday. Not one which will interfere with Gemrock, it was my
CADD system. My Generic Cadd6 and that sweet ASTI 386
will be missed (crying all day and out loud). I will probably
set up my new Monu-Cad (thanks, Jim!) to replace my CADD system.
I am toying with Anagraph, but since MC was my first love, hey,
stick with what I know, right? I'd love Flexi, but their
support is touchy and Gerber though a high end and popular system,
leaves me wondering if I'll ever find time to learn it... I still
haven't learned how to erase a line in Gerber yet! Besides I hear
that Monu-Cad will soon put out a program so that any cutter and any
system will be able to cut and plot the MC format. (It's about time
the leaders open up their possibilities!) ...Again,
this is not an endorsement for any one system. (I have to say that
because you Gerber users - and MC users - are like Apple users,
devoted! And you usually jump all over me when I endorse one
system or another outside the Cadd
Review Area. Now, I've noticed that Anagraph has a
following also. You know, all these different camps are
becoming fun!)
On
another note - concerning our next Re-Post, we
have no plans to add pages this time around (although it might
appear that we did due to winter Re-Posts being traditionally large.) I
am replacing logos and duplicate designs throughout GemRock. I
warn you now because as we get closer to the Re-Post, the search
engine might bring you to a page where you expected to find a logo
(or design) and it will not be there. Keep searching, it'll
turn up. October
2, 1999
And here's another for our trophy
shelf.
Thank you to:
The International Association of
Web Masters & Designers Click
here to visit them.
The Golden Web Award is presented
quarterly to those sites whose web design
and content have achieved levels of
excellence deserving of recognition. (I
am humbled.)
September 25, 1999
As
I have mentioned 1,000 times in this area since 1981, 'as other
industry resources come online and duplicate GemRock's services, I
will at no charge and no expected THANX, close down my
services.' The single condition was that "their"
services be absolutely free. Well, 18 years
later Jim at Monu-Cad looked around and saw that all the
'leaders' of the industry were trying to look like GemRock but that's
all. And, by paying attention to GemRock discovered that
we were really on the ball and over-worked. I thank him for
that insight and wish others would wake up. Here is an email I
got from Jim today and it is enough for me to begin closing down my
forums and classified ads area. So, start visiting these sites
and bookmark them. I will link to them from my usual forum and
classified links. Please begin posting there. The world
is changing faster and for the better right before your eyes so pay
attention! Here is Jim's email:
There is a
new message board on YAHOO dedicated to the Monument Business.
This is a meeting place for monument industry folks where all can
share ideas, post gripes, make comments and in general share
information. We encourage all Monument Industry members to go to this
site and sign in and participate. Have Fun!
Goto http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/themonumentbusiness
Remember our
Free Classified Ad site at www.monu-cad.com/classifieds.htm
September 25, 1999
It's always a
pleasure to get email in response to postings in this, the WHAT'S NEW
area. (especially since the forums have gone quiet, huh?) And it is
double a pleasure when I get email that is helpful to everyone, so
you Gerber users pay attention to this one from Josh Holmes, Gerber
salesman, click
here to visit his site at GemRock.
"There is
a feature in Gerber for quickly closing 96 to 100% of all open points
that are there after a conversion from DXF. Select the entire
design - grab the segment selection tool (the finger pointing to the
red line at the top right) and then drag a box around the entire
working area... selecting all the segments. Next, hit the
"j" key (for JOIN)...you may still have to close a few, but
this will greatly reduce the work you have been doing."
Than you, Josh! That
advice will help me a lot, but I'll bet it will also help those of
you who have been complaining about open points in our OLD drawings
(Yes, the new drawings are all closed.)
September 9, 1999
I just had to
write something on 9/9/99. Actually, I have great news
for those of you who use DXF and PLT files and are having a difficult
time with the gaps between lines
in almost 90% of the drawings in our download areas. I have
been learning the Anagraph System and lo and behold! have found that
I can convert to DXF and (later) to PLT with all lines closed.
Of course this will follow through to all the other formats - except
DWG, and GCD and CMP which were always closed and fine.
Now, I know you will be all over my case to fix all the old
designs. OK, someday (in fact I did start doing that) I'll get
to it. Right now I have several hundreds of designs from Pete
at Artstone and several thousands from Moses to convert over for
you. I will be adding another format - JBS
file format is for the Anagraph System which
I am learning and employing to do these great conversions. I
will review the system once learned, but I can already see that it
will be popular and thus am adding the format. (This is no
endorsement for the CADD system at this time. It is very, very
snifty, but I am still just getting to know it.) The JBS files will
begin to appear on page Free19 in the HT3 area during the
winter re-post. Naturally you can sneak a peek by typing in the
URL of http://www.gemrock.com/html/ht3/free19.htm
and/or doing a search for JBS. The search might not find it
until after the re-post, however.
September 4, 1999
I suppose I
don't have to tell you that we're 4 days into the 3rd Re-Post
of 1999. The usual crowd of "I'll be back at the next
Re-Post" are calling Kathy and I complaining that their
passwords aren't working or that there isn't enough 'fine memorial'
art in this re-post and, of course there's the few who ask things
like why "that horse and buggy design isn't where I saw it last
week?" I'm not poking fun at any of you, hey, I
still can't figure YAHOO! out and I was here a full 22 years before
they were! I am also getting new calls for the BackOffice
area. Apparently mostly
from the new (and potential members) being sent over from Anagraphic
CADD systems. Virtual showrooms seem to be the hot topic this
time around. Well, if you haven't got a VS yet, go check
our ideas out over in the BackOffice in the EXAMPLES
area. Oh, talking about Anagraph, the company has sent
me a free evaluation copy and I will be reviewing it for you soon in
the CADD Review area.
But not right away, I have to learn it first. I also want to
thank Gerber for their evaluation copy - already reviewed by Shelbym.
And a heads-up to everyone concerning the Monu-Cad Pro, which anyone
can evaluate (as a demo) over at Monu-cad.com.
August 24, 1999,
I sent out mass email to all
the members and 64 of you changed your email address on me!!
You might want to notify me of address and URL changes since that's
what we give to potential customers. Don't you want the
business? And to be updated? Well, here's what the 64 of you
missed: The membership fees for new members is now $40
per month. Existing
members remain at the old fees unless you suspend or close your
account, then you also pay the new fee. The cause of this is the
Y2K problem. We have been
hit with a $79,000 bill to upgrade all our servers and software.
We might not even do it, thus will be the end of GemRock as we
know it at midnight, December, 31, 1999. GemRock will not
disappear, per se. I might have to revert it back to the way it
was during the early 1980's... just one big list of designs much like
you see now in our art libraries.
I am also working with Shelbym to have him host GemRock or portions
of it on his server in WY. Let's see how it all works out.
August 2, 1999
GemRock
is quickly becoming a household name.
Is that good or bad? Well, Kathy and I aren't exactly thrilled
by the facts. Long-time members will recall that life was good,
downloads were fast, and ADSTONE BBS was the place to be during the
early 1980's. Then came the crowds and the 'NetSurfers' -
people who were not stone designers or in the graphic
industries. Back then Steve and I then later Sam, Lori and I
welcomed everyone in because we were the only way in for most people
before the BIG guys got into this biz (and are losing their shirts -
they should have listened to me!) and ADSTONE grew to be the East
coast's largest Internet Provider. A success story? Well,
not really. Eventually -due to STUPID competition - we had our
hands full: law suits, know nothing subscribers and members who
wanted to know why they couldn't download designs if the were paying
their $13 per month for dial-ups. So we finally sold off the
Dial-ups (SuffolkOnline, BabylonTown.com, etc.) and concentrated on
Global Dial-ups for the stone trades and GemRock. Kathy and I
figured things would be great. Just us and you - people who
are here for the same reasons we are: to service and expand the stone
and graphic design trades. We loose money on the Global
dial-ups but cover expensives with GemRock - life is wonderful.
So we thought. Now all those people who were placed with other
services realize the quality they had over here. Too bad,
cause we're not allowing them back. But the kicker is: folks
are coming in our back doors. Last week alone AMAZON
sold 573 books through our Download
pages. CD NOW likes us because they are selling CDs
from their ads on our sites. CompuBank actually uses us as an
example of how to advertise their services. People are
visiting us like crazy! Some of you have realized this.
Old-timers and those who know how to watch your download
speeds and baud rates. Recently I am getting more requests to
develop this one's BackOffice
or that one's Website
and this is where Kathy and I really don't like the trends we
see. We don't mind paid-for
advertisers, we encourage them and it makes sense here because
you can not turn off your IMAGE LOAD at GemRock...
or you'll never see the designs (and ads.) Advertisers send
their artwork and HTML. The general membership doesn't so we
have to develop the sites or backoffice for you. Which takes us
away from designing and running the store. So, what I want to
say in this endless NEWS message is, except for design contributors
like Moses, Ken
Dyal, Pete,
etc, please attempt to develop
your own HTML (website) and send it along. I will gladly
open a FTP area for anyone to upload and develop your site at no
charge. Kathy and I are willing to bend over backwards to
accommodate anything that will give you full control and less work
for us. Otherwise, we will have to start charging for these
services - and WE DO NOT WANT TO DO THAT!! Kathy is a
Sysop and I'm a designer, we don't want to be anything else... and to
hire or out-source requires us to raise the monthly fees - another
move we have no intentions of doing!
July 25, 1999
I have had one complaint
about logos. Seems not worth noting, however, I am
expecting more due to the over-abundance of logos starting to appear
online. All the sign cutters and graphic artists love these
logos, but there is another reason I am working feverishly to post as
many as I can. Recently the New York area Catholic cemeteries
have permitted such logos on their monuments. Word is that soon
these usually strict organizations will also allow personal
etchings. For those who have no use for a Gillette or
McDonald's logo, please bear with me. To add to this feverish
pace, Anagraphic has been selling systems in the New York area.
Traditionally, we have had very few members in New York because my
Dad is in a large dealership around here and people relate GemRock to
him - little do they know I haven't touched stone since 1988! Now
that the wonderful resources of GemRock are theirs free for the first
year, well, who cares who my Dad is? So, for the next few
weeks, please accommodate our new friends and me by putting up with
logos and logos and logos. I'll make it up to you - promise.
July 21, 1999
That was the longest vacation I ever took!
Actually it wasn't. I usually take 21 days and this was only
17. I think that as I get older, time away from work seems
longer. Yes? Maybe? Whatever! I spent the
entire vacation watching my stocks go through the roof! (msft,
emc, china, tyco, ibm, amzn, qqq, dia, spy, and dish) That was while
I was away and without a computer and a dial-up connection. The
moment I get back - everything fell!! Figures.
Kathy signed up 8 new members while I was on Montauk and all
but 4 were sent to us from Anagraph.
Apparently their CADD system is a hot item! I will prod
Pete (the sales guy over there) to have a review drawn up for
our (long neglected) CADD
REVIEW area.
SEARCHstone.com
has been "bought-out" by GemRock and we are allowing the
Domain Name to die. All resources over there will soon be under
our control over here - so expect some confusion and some
improvements. Our next project (in the way of Internet
thing-a-ma-giggs) is to absorb ADSTONE.
And, to think, Gemrock was - till 1992 - just a small library found
on ADSTONE and ADSTONE was one of America's largest ISP's.
Now we are KING and ADSTONE is just one of a million dial-up
portals... things change, huh!
So now I'm back home. I'll begin to review the over 1,000
designs sent to us mostly from Moses while I was away and start to
lay-out the Autumn Re-Post. Till then - watch for new news and
stay tuned....
June
25, 1999
Lots of
surprises in store for this Summer '99 Re-Post. HT5
and HT6 have doubled in size. HT11 - although tedious with
logos - features Moses work. We have two new areas, LOGOS
and FONTS. Both are under construction and will
never be completed anyway. We get new logos and new fonts
daily. I am related to Superman, but a distant relation, take
my word for it. I will try to catch up with what logos and fonts we
have in inventory, but, hey.... Usually, Summer and Winter
Re-Posts are small. This will be also, however, it will not feel
that way because of all these new features. Re-Post will be online by
tonight - Friday, June 25th.
June
23, 1999
The Summer
Re-Post is ready to be posted. I have one area to
package before the post which should happen before the end of this
week..appox. June 27th-ish. What I'm doing is creating the first of a
specialized area. This area will be for Logos and emblems.
I've been asked to create such specialized areas for easy browsing of
our inventory; all the roses, all the figures, all the logos, etc and
so forth.I've begun with the logos and emblems because 1) recently
the Diocese of Brooklyn in New York has begun to permit any logo on a
monument even anti-religious ones and 2) Because our sign-maker
members have asked - more than once - for such art work and 3)because
Moses has sent so, so many of them, it's easier to just post them
into a separate area. I will not remove emblems and logos from other
areas at this time. So you might get a bit fed-up with looking
at them for awhile. Eventually, I will replace logos in the
"general HTML" areas. Then I will begin separating
the flowers, etc. to their own areas. The Logos area will be
identified on the Skip Around page as
LOGOS...click here to take a peek. Please remember that I am
still in construction.
June
16, 1999
Happy
Dad's Day to all the fathers out there!
There's so much news here at GemRock that I don't know where to
begin. Personally, I am very busy with Ye
Olde Friendly Flower Shoppe due to Dad's day and the terrible
shortage of help, and I'm busy posting over 900+ designs from Moses
and as many from ArtStone,
and trying to swing this new (well, my first) house that I dread
telling you that ADSTONE and GemRock suddenly
came alive. Hour by hour Kathy and I glance at each other
wondering what gives?? You know we can't out-rightly
"recommend" any one CADD system or any products or services
per se - although everyone knows where our affections lie - but we're
proud to say that yet another CADD system has made it part of their
sales program to offer one year free membership at GemRock upon
purchase of their system; along with other Gem perks I will not
mention until all papers are signed... we're been there before,
remember? LOL! Watch for the ads online about
Anagraph Monument Edition CADD Systems
for details. But don't go falling over yourselves too readily. Monu-Cadd
and Gerber
are definitely the benchmarks, and Steckman's
System is or, at least appears so, so nifty! (If that guy would just
please answer his email, I would buy one of those things!!)
As if all this isn't enough, we almost went public recently and are
still being courted. We're not taking this too seriously,
however. I invest very heavily and ADSTONE has been employing ECN
since 1986 (that's online direct trading). Neither Kathy nor I
find being public accommodating to you or us. We recently sold
off SuffolkOnline and
BabylonTown and the NY regional dial-ups and after seeing how
miserably our old friends and customers are being treated over there
- and so many are returning (another thing to keep Kathy
busy!!) that I would rather drink hemlock than turn GemRock and
ADSTONE over to people like that! Don't get me wrong, since the MBNA
and Monu-Cad have come online,
we are not the "BIG SHOTS" we once were, all the
same we do what we do with YOUR interest at heart. We must be doing
something right because ADSTONE has gained 15 new members since 6/1
and GemRock has gained 5 since then - which keeps Kathy busy. (Just
bragging a bit...giggle)
See, I told you there's a lot going on over here. :} I
also cleaned out the forum and Moses posted an VERY interesting
message about where to get free designs...go
read it!
May 18, 1999
I know
I've been scarce lately, I'm down to just Shelly and I in the
florist, Kathy and I on the Internet and all by my lonesome on
drawings - my social life is such that I should had married... no,
scratch that. All the same I have some surprises for you in our
next Re-Post. Usually Summer Re-posts are
small and this one will not be all that sizable, however, the quality
will amaze you. Ken at Dyal, Pete at ArtStone and our new artist -
Moses - will be on full display! Not all they had sent me
(That's over 1,000 drawings) but enough to keep you downloading for
awhile, that's for sure. Moses can be found across the
download areas and I have set his work aside in the GRAPHICS
area since most of what he does is both unusual and leans toward the
raster side of our art form. Summer Re-Post is due on July 2nd - the
day I leave for Montauk. But, as always, if you seek, you will find
because I build it right online. (Should have developed my
poetry a bit more also...LOL)
May 6, 1999
Happy
Mom's day - Renee, Linda, Janet, Lisa, Chris, Kathy and Cathy (did I
forget someone?)
Just a
heads up for those of you who have purchased the Directory of
Hebrew Names and Dates or who might want to reference it
online, I am converting it to HTML and placing it in the new Hebrew
library. It is a gigantic task and I can't see it
completed before 2001 or later so what is posted is far from
done. All the same, it is complete for male names up to
(around) Isaac - it runs alphabetical. Any errors, please
inform me ASAP. Right now, the Hebrew library is open to
anyone, but be warned, that will change and be restricted for members
only soon. Go peek at http://www.onlinefree.net/library/hebrew/index.htm
May 2, 1999
REMINDER:
It is important that you report back to us after filling a referral
from us. There are too many of them and too few of us to keep track.
Let's not give the online memorial industry a bad rap before we're
even out of the gate. Since Christmas we have referred to you
271 potiential sales. 223 have been reported
as satisfied. 19 are still pending or purchased elsewhere and
the remainder have not reported back, shame-shame!
April 21, 1999
Several of you have noticed
that I've had my head into my work so much that it
has kept me off ICQ and, as Tam over at Allen
Monuments noticed with much chagrin, I'm forgetting to do the
wish list work. Sorry, but I've got another 700 designs from ArtStone
to convert and post and our Super Star
Ken over at Dyal Monuments also sent 90 recently. And if you
haven't been watching we have gained a member who will dazzle you
with his art work - Moses
over at Blue Rock. Watch for his work in the Autumn Re-Post. Some
of the work has already been posted in the HT10
area... but not identified as yet - look at the graphic drawings
they're his work.
Talking about HT areas, the HT5
and HT6
areas are really getting an overhaul for the next
(Summer) re-post. We had lost Ht5/freedes.htm to
ht5/free25.htm in a fatal crash 3 years ago. Now they are
being replaced with the work Ken, Pete and Moses are sending.
At this writing, HT6 is complete. HT5 is missing from
ht5/free11.htm to free25.htm. So if you're a "browser"
as many of you are, remember to jump that gap. Those areas are
closed til the re-post, but you all know how to get there if you need
to do so.
In other news; Shelbym
and I are moving ever closer to a mirror
site for GemRock over at his office in Chyenne,
WY. It will not be too soon, but by next year everyone will
have two sites to download images from. Test them, what works
best and fastest for you employ it.
March 14, 1999
Last year we referred over 270
members of the general public to you for monuments. This
year is off to a record breaking start with 34 people referred
already...it's not easy work, folks, very time consuming if we can't
find a GemRock member near the person who is asking for a stone.
Anyway, it's not often but we do
occasionally come across someone we can't place with any of you or
anyone else for that matter. So I'm going to start
a new area - secured area - where I will post the names,
email, address and other information of such people. In this
way if any of you can help out, do so. Please remember that we
ask nothing for this but handle these people as if they were
relatives of mine. The page can not be reached by anyone
but members, but if you can not help yet know someone who can, please
forward them the info. The secured area is at http://www.gemrock.com/ftp/design8/refer.htm
March 9, 1999,
A
lot of news, huh? Anyway, due to the encouragement of people like Shelbym
and Jamie I will begin "dedicated
directories." That means I will begin...BEGIN..to
create entire areas dedicated to particular designs such as
all roses in their own area, all animals in their own, etc and so
forth. This will take a long, long time since we never, ever
categorized our files. A dog.dxf to us could be a dog or a
dogwood or just the 3 letters Eddie felt like using for a file that
day. To fill dedicated directories will require for me to
eyeball every design and then re-post it in the directory... so be
patient, yet it will happen eventually.
February 16, 1999
Now I can
begin pulling things out of my "hold for that special day"
bag all kinds of goodies. Things
like the online bank - mentioned below - things like
DSL (which is a good deal more local to our home base in
New York) and things like allowing you to accept and run-through
credit cards right from your websites here at GemRock or wherever
your site is. I don't have a link to that info yet, but watch
for it soon. A nice feature of this service is that you can
check the availability of funds on the card and trace
"batches" as far back as 10 years - nifty, huh? So there
might be some dust to settle around here for awhile, re-bangs might
be delayed, customer referrals might come a bit late and Dennis
is working on a program that will instantly notify a monument builder
when a visitor sends email looking for a dealer - Really
sorry about the Newport, Maine referral, http://www.gemrock.com/mascmem/
but I was real busy with
St. Val's Day.
And
it's not just GemRock, folks. Jim
at Monu-Cad is set to bring
all of us some very special things very soon - hard to believe, but
from what I hear, he'll top that eZine
with a tool second to none right online! Josh over at
HillTop Sales for Gerber has some specials of his own too.
Not to be out done our good friend, Shelbym, is tweaking his system
and tying in a DSL line to do something extraordinary with; whatever
it is, YOU win! Talk is that Rock Of Ages and SCI are gearing
to work the Net - probably not in any joint effort (but who knows??)
I think 1999, will be an interesting year and a good one for our
online community
February 10, 1999
We just keep growing and
making new friends.
Far be it for me to tell
anyone where to bank, I'm an artists remember - a bit looney.
But I do know the Internet
and what's coming at us in the Information age and the new
(Attention) economy. Banking online is a better and more secure
method than giving out your credit card to every site that asks for
it. Click here and
research it for yourself.
February 3, 1999,
My dear friend Jim @monu-cad
has proven (again) to understand the essentials of Internet
publishing. His eZine is a winner. Want to see photos from the last
MBNA convention - TECHNOVATION '99 MBNA's 90th Convention &
Full Industry Show Jan. 24 - 27 Charlotte, NC? Click here to visit the
Monu-Cad eZine.
|
January 27, 1998
Very honorable mention to this month's Upload
Warrior, Pete
from ArtStone. By the way... Ken Dyal was a second place warrior again this month. |
January 22, 1999,
I have begun posting CDR
and CMX formats for our Corel Draw! users
out here. They are found in the HT9 and (Hidden) HT10 directories.
HT9 is included in this season's Re-Bang and HT10, although you can
find your way there, is under construction for our Spring-Summer
Re-bang. I have also started posting Ai format,
which I have on best authority (Shelbym@vcn.com)
that Ai is soon to replace the popularity of DXF.
January 18, 1999
OK, OK already, I get the message!
Goodness! how you complain when the Discussion Groups go down,
but when they're up, no one seems to post to them but Shelbym and
myself!!! Anyway, the original groups are still down and the machine
they're on is still on the workbench. All the same, I recreated a new
Discussion Group at Adstone.net,
so click here to go to them. And, hey, this time, do some
posting....anything!! (BTW, you can create your own "area"
in the Discussion Groups. Simply Post from the HomePage and give the
post a Unique name... "Joe's Bull Area" and make your first
posting a WELCOME post. Thereafter, REPLY to the Welcome
post..and post listed under it, to form your very own Discuss Group.
January 18, 1999
Monu-Cad has started publishing an
eZine, click here to read it.
It's not like our Featured
Articles, and it is very much about the in-house going-ons at
MC, but it is a great start. Perhaps you should write an article and
send it to Jim for publication? Do it!
January 5, 1999
help all around is slowing me down.
But I do have this new Gerber and over 400 new designs
from Artstone@adstone.com
(and more coming from Anagraph - so I'm told) so expect
a blizzard of drawings....once I
get my act together.
January 5, 1999
Sincerely Yours,
Joe Auricchio
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