HMMS

The HMMS officers cordially invite you to attend the club’s annual business meeting at the Black Labrador (Pub), 4100 Montrose Blvd, on Wednesday evening, May 12^th, beginning at 7:00 PM. Come join us for food and drink, and a lively discussion on how to improve the club for the next year!

Houston MINI Motoring Society
May 1st, 2010 at 10:30 am
Brazos Bend State Park

Following a rendezvous in the parking lot at Kroger’s, 4825 Sweetwater Blvd, in Sugar Land, Club Members in six MINIs motored to Brazos Bend State Park to join up with a seventh for a picnic lunch followed by our May monthly meeting. As for the delightful lunch, what happened in the park stays in the park, but here are the monthly meeting minutes, which can be reported:

Club Stuff

Call to Order and Club Stuff

There were no new Members or guests present for President Deb (daffodildeb) to welcome. (There were some observant crows who, like most of us, were fascinated watching Juha erect his new mini shelter!)

Treasurer Juha (sikamini) reported on the Club’s finances, with current checking account balance of $944.71.

Deb and Juha mentioned membership cards, spotter cards, stickers, polo shirt orders and deliveries, and club hats. Juha made a note that new Member Karen has not yet received her mailed membership card, and Deb noted that Karen also is entitled to her complementary hat. 

Juha noted there are three polo shirts that were ordered but have not been picked up and reminded Members that if these have not been claimed after being available for pickup for two months, they may be purchased by anyone interested. Contact Juha for colors and sizes available if interested.

Show and Tell, Troubleshooting

Deb mentioned that her loose nut (actually Zippeee’s) turned out to be something else in one of the sun roof tracks and has been removed. Bob (RJSMini) reported on Crickette’s recent steering difficulties and new steering pump installed by Gas Head Motorworks (and newly installed U Kentucky license plate frames: Go Wildcats!) Continue reading →

It is time to vote for HMMS officers! This is a formality really, since the incumbents are running unopposed, and our bylaws state that elections are to be held. Just post a vote to inflate our egos! BTW, we are still looking for a Secretary! If your are interested, please contact one of the officers.

To place a vote, first click on the radio button next to the name, and then click on “Vote”. You have to do this for each candidate.

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OK, this month we are going to do something completely different! We are going to have a picnic meeting at Brazos Bend State Park, southwest of Houston. We’ll meet at the Krogers in Sugar Land at 10:30am, and then after some last minute grocery shopping, caravan to the park, which is about a 45 minute drive from Sugar Land. Bring yourself a picnic lunch. The club will provide some drinks and ice. BBQ grills are at the park, and the club will bring charcoal and matches.

The fee to get into the park is $5 per person 13 years and older. More info on the park can be found here. This is a very nice park with plenty of walking and biking trails, lakes for fishing, birds and alligators! Bring your camera! The George Brown observatory and Challenger Learning Center is also there.

The Kroger is at 4825 Sweetwater Blvd. If you are travelling south on US 59, exit Sweetwater Blvd and then turn left under the freeway onto Sweetwater. Go just past the first light, which is Town Center Blvd, and turn right into the parking lot of Krogers.

The next autocross is on Sunday, April 25th! The event is held at the Houston Police Academy track at the corner of Rankin Road & Aldine-Westfield. Gates open at 8:30 am, and the event lasts until about 3:00 pm or so. See the Houston BMWCCA website for more details, and to sign up. The event costs $35 for non-BMWCCA members, and $25 for members. Contact Jeff Conley (Scooper) or John Scherwin (JCScooper) if you have questions. Also, anyone is welcome to come watch the races.

It is time for HMMS members to nominate club officers for the 2010-2011 term. The officer positions and their duties are listed below, as written in the club by-laws.

1. PRESIDENT
   1. Preside over Society meetings as defined in the Bylaws of the Constitution.
   2. Maintain a file of monthly financial reports as received from the Treasurer.
   3. Appoint individuals to complete the unexpired terms of office when vacancies occur.
2. VICE PRESIDENT
   1. Preside over Society meetings as defined in the Bylaws of the Constitution when the President is not available.
   2. Assist the President in formulating the needs of the Society, including arranging meetings and overseeing Society events.
   3. Maintain a duplicate file of monthly financial reports as received from the Treasurer.
   4. Assist the President in event organization and any other duties.
3. TREASURER
   1. Maintain the Society’s financial records and account.
   2. Implement financial policy as prescribed in the Bylaws of the Constitution.
   3. Provide a financial report at each Society meeting for review and approval  by a majority vote of the Officers and members at each Society meeting.
   4. Provide the Society President and Vice President with a monthly financial report.
   5. Maintain the Membership List.
4. SECRETARY
   1. Prepare Agendas for the Society meetings.
   2. Record Minutes of Society meetings, distribute to Officers for review, and post on the Society Website.
   3. Provide information concerning the Society to prospective members.
5. TECHNICAL DIRECTOR
   1. Design and maintain the Society Website.

Members may nominate as many people as they want for each position. Make your nominations by posting a comment below. Nominees must in good standing with the club (i.e. dues current) to be considered as candidates. Current officers do not automatically maintain their current position. They too have to be nominated (or volunteer) for a position to be placed on the ballot.

You can also volunteer for a position. The current officers encourage other club members to get involved, and bring new ideas to keep the club vibrant!

Nominations and volunteering must be made before April 19th, as voting is between April 21st and 30th.

As mentioned by Ron Pickett at the last club meeting, and on a thread here at HMMS.org, the ABF MINI Roat Tour is coming to Sam Houston Race Park this coming weekend, April 17th & 18th. Several of our club members are going Sunday. If you register with the event, you can have the opportunity to drive prepared MINIs on an autocross course. Other activities are:

Manufacturer’s Midway (to find those parts you have been looking for)
Product Displays and Demonstrations
“Ask the Experts” Panels (in case you are into some serious customization)
Great Gifts and Giveaways
And, of course, food, drink, and a slew of other fun activities to enjoy

See Ron’s post about the event here.

Come join your fellow MINIacs for a day at the beach!

Come join your fellow MINIacs for a day at the beach!  That’s right, Saturday, April 24^th from 9:00 AM to Noon has been designated for the spring statewide “Adopt-A-Beach” cleanup. Rain or Shine!

HMMS has a certificate of adoption for a really nice section of beach fronting Galveston Island State Park. The Park’s entrance is about 8 miles west of the intersection of 61^st Street and Sea Wall Blvd/FM 3005 on Galveston Island. There is a blinking traffic light at the entrance intersection (left turn) to enter the Park’s grounds. When you enter, proceed to the office and tell them you are a member of the Houston MINI Cooper Club and are here to clean the beach. They will waive the normal Park entry fee and give you a “receipt” to display on your MINI’s dash board. Leaving the office, turn right (east) to proceed to the parking lot. There should be some early arrival parked MINIs visible.

We will have a chance to visit with each other and then claim a picnic table to serve as our gathering point, have a brief meeting to distribute supplies, form “teams”, and issue “instructions” and then head to the beach.

Please wear your HMMS Adopt-A-Beach t-shirt if you have one. If you haven’t done this with us before, we will provide you with a t-shirt! They are bright green…great for spotting our Members on the beach!  After two previous events, our sizes available are limited to 15 Large and 5 Medium.

Please bring a hat, sunglasses, sunscreen and comfortable clothing and shoes for the beach and expected weather. We will provide bottled water and soft drinks.

The Texas GLO will provide us with trash bags and latex gloves, probably also pencils and survey forms used to record quantities and types of trash. (We did not need the forms and pencils for our winter pickup.)  We have pointed pick-up sticks available from our former Adopt-A-Highway days but these have not been very useful at the beach. Our President has suggested using a modified plastic milk jug with handle to  hold any pieces of glass found. (Note: pieces of glass usually are well rounded by the action of sea and sand before we find them, and can be carefully picked up by hand). Perhaps daffodildeb will post a description of her idea in case you want to make your own.  [See responses.]

We are not expected to pick up anything that we consider a health risk to us or that may be too heavy. Anything natural and quickly biodegradable may be left on the beach. We are mainly looking for man-made trash… paper, plastic, cloth, metal, glass, etc. that doesn’t quickly degrade or especially is a risk to wildlife.

Full trash bags should be left alongside (not in) any of the trash barrels spaced conveniently along the beach.

We should be finished before Noon, as there are likely to be several other organizations working the same stretch of beach as was the case last September.

When we are done, we plan to have another delightful Italian lunch at Mario’s Ristorante on 61^st Street (on the right-hand side of the street as you head inland toward I-45.

One note of caution: Saturday also has the “Ironman 70.3 Texas”, a triathlon that begins with the swim event, then the foot race, both out of Moody Gardens, followed by the bike race, which goes from Moody Gardens right past our Park entrance on FM3005 and out past San Luis Pass and then back the same way. Hopefully, the first two events will not greatly interfere with our getting to the beach, but you might want to allow some extra time to get there. If you are really late, look for the bright green t-shirts to find us! The bike race, third event, still might be going on when we are finished with our cleanup.  There might be lane closures, and intersection closures that could delay our getting to lunch!

We need a head count so that our Veep Jeff can register us with the Adopt-A-Beach area coordinator and pick up our supplies well before 9:00 AM on Saturday morning. So vote on the poll below if you plan to come.

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