This bulletin board system (BBS) is hosted by an application called PHP BBS, which should be familiar to a few of you. PHP BBS is a fairly straight-forward and easy to use application, and I hope that you’ll find it useful. Unfortunately, I don’t have time right now to add graphics and links that would tie our BBS into the rest of the Cutting Reunion web site, so I’ll ask that you be patient with the system if you get confused. We’re making this up as we go along.

One problem that I’m aware of that I think is worth mentioning is that you’ll have to create another account in order to participate this BBS, which means that you’ll have another login and password to keep track of in addition to the account you created to comment on our home page. I’m sorry for the inconvenience, but there’s nothing I can do about that at the moment. This redundancy is due to the fact that our web site uses two separate web applications—one for blog posts (WordPress) and one for this new bulletin board system (PHP BBS). I lack the programming experience (and time) required to consolidate user accounts. (If anyone out there has programming experience and knows how to do this, send me an email!)

That said, I hope that you’ll take the time to poke around the BBS and that you’ll get involved with the discussion. Regardless of how slick any of this technology looks it’s all for nothing if you don’t participate.

Enjoy!

-i.

• We have the web site launched.
• I have just written the “About” page—something that will help someone on the east coast with the last name of Cutting to know what in the world we are doing.  (And maybe coax a little more genealogical information from them.)
• We’ve done initial research on the Cutting family genealogy.  In the “About” page, you will find the website for the Cutting name having some 394 entries.  Take a look.  Do we belong there?
• Family members are already signing up on the web site so they can participate–we invite you to do that, too.
• Ian says he’s working on the back end of the web site.
• I met with Ian at Southcenter (south end of Seattle) to hand off a couple old family photos for him to use in a mailing—which we hope will be going out by the end of this month.

Next:  We are thinking it would be nice to put out a monthly newsletter—an idea that is really in the formative stages.  Got ideas?  What kinds of things do you think we can share between now and July that will help us know each other better and have more fun?  Let us know!

Judy Cutting Spiers

It’s January 15th, and it’s a short time until the Cutting Reunion.  In case you are wondering, we selected the 3rd weekend in July because that is the time of year when it is least likely to rain.  Yeah!   

You may also be wondering why we chose Ocean Shores over Enumclaw.  That reason is simple, too.  There are more hotels to choose from, it should be easier to get reservations, and, there is far more to do.  Our beaches are a cool temperature year round, so only the most hardy swim.  But the beaches are great fun for wading, picnicing and building sandcastles–all of which are free.  For a price, you can rent mopeds, horses and 4-man bikes.  And Ocean Shores is great for kite flying. 

We are just in the very formative stages of planning.  And it is our hope that everyone will feel free to do whatever best suits your personal style for relaxation.  Our goal will be to build lasting relationships.  For those who wish to join in, we will undoubtedly have a few games or exercises to help us start the fun.  And there should be ample time for just visiting, sun bathing or napping—for long walks on the beach, to watch the sun set, and, hopefully, to roast weiners and marshmallows over a bon fire under a starry sky.             

I want to thank Ian for making this web site possible.  And I want to thank his girl friend, Mary Rock, for teaching me how to use it–and for researching hotels.  There is a campground right on the north end of Ocean Shores.  She will be researching both of these   accomodations and reporting back shortly so we can all make our reservations.

Welcome aboard.  We hope we can make the time leading up to the reunion fun and informative so that your time at the reunion itself will simply be the best! 

This web site has been set up as a blog so you can get involved, too.  We welcome your comments and ideas.  We invite you to check in on this site regularly as we will be updating it as new information becomes available.

Judy

There have been some inspired discussions about having a Cutting Family Reunion during the summer of 2007. With so much going on in our lives today it’s no real surprise that we have such a hard time getting on the same page. This site has been launched in an effort to facilitate our ongoing discussion.

There really aren’t many details I can provide at the moment. Judy Spiers has taken the lead to coordinate this event. The plan is to rendezvous at Ocean Shores, Washington, over the third weekend of July (20th–22nd). Some of us also thought it would be a good idea to launch this web site and to send out some emails to let other family members know that it exists.

The home page for this web site has been set up as a blog, which means it will be fairly easy to post updates relating to our plans as they develop. It also means that visitors to this site have the ability to post comments to the posts for others to see and comment on, which I hope will improve our discussion. (You do have to register with this site in order to comment— a minor inconvenience that better protects us all from spam.)

This site will be updated as time permits, so keep it bookmarked and check for updates.

Warm regards,

-Ian Spiers (Judy’s Son)