Special Events and Information

Annual Christmas Party: 

Our Christmas Party will be held on December 10. If you and your partner plan to attend, please call the QCC Office so that we have a count for planning purposes. Unlike our regular monthly luncheons, you will need to be escorted to the Cafeteria for this event. Someone will be on hand in the lobby with the tickets that you will need to get your lunch. If you are already on-site, please make sure that you get your ticket before going to the Cafeteria. Our buffet lunch of turkey and trimmings will be set up in a reserved area of the seating space. Everything included in our lunch will be there. If you wish to purchase anything in the Cafeteria, that is fine, but it is not included in our event. Your only cost will be your contribution to the dessert potluck. Hope to see you there.

World Community Grid: 

IBM Boulder is managing some of IBM's most valued assets for contributing to the good of the world community. One of them could really use our help: http://www.WorldCommunityGrid.org, the world's largest public computing grid benefiting humanity. Sixteen of Boulder's servers handle all traffic into and out of WCG, and the site has owned that critical role since it was announced in November 2004 by IBM and some of the world's leading health and environmental organizations.

WCG is an incredibly important research tool that uses grid technology for unsurpassed supercomputer research on some of humankind's most vexing problems, and its location here in Colorado is an important reminder to our friends and families of IBM's good corporate citizenship. Generations to come will benefit from the basic research being done or planned on the causes and cures of cancer, AIDS, muscular dystrophy, infectious diseases and global warming.

If you're familiar with our grid computing, you know how this works: WCG allows you to donate the computing power of your individual desktop or laptop PCs whenever your computer is turned on but idle, protected by the same processes used for IBM and customer networks. IBM does not require its employees to donate idle PC time - but strongly encourages them and retirees to participate. More than 100,000 IBMers and retirees worldwide have chosen to do so, along with hundreds of thousands of other people worldwide.

QCC members have two options for joining a World Community Grid team, which allows you to see how many hours of computer time we're contributing. It takes just a few moments to download the necessary software, and the security is guaranteed by IBM Boulder.

Take a moment right now, go to www.WorldCommunityGrid.org and click on the blue icon, BECOME A MEMBER. After you've done then, go to one of the following WCG teams and then click on "Join this team":

If you have questions, please contact me, an IBM retiree working with community service programs in Colorado Corporate Citizenship and Corporate Affairs: jprater@us.ibm.com, 303-682-0890. I've had WCG working on my laptop for about three years, on cancer research; and my home PC is grinding away on a piece of the research being done on developing a more nutritious rice to help cure world hunger. I set my WCG software to only kick in when my PC is otherwise idle, and I've never had a visible problem with performance. And there's never been a security breach attributed to WCG in its four-year history. It's just a very good thing we can do.
 

Thanks again.
Bill Prater
IBM Colorado Corporate Citizenship and Corporate Affairs
 

Boulder Central Optimist Club:  The Boulder Central Optimist Club is made up of men and women from age 50 to almost 100. They are dedicated to helping the youth of Boulder County.

Members volunteer for youth events and fund raisers. Because of the age of the members there is not a lot of pressure to get involved in these efforts but all help is appreciated. On average about 40 members and guests attend meetings each Thursday morning at the Boulder West Senior Center. The coffee is always ready by 9 and donuts show up slightly later. Reminiscing and discussing the events of the day takes place in small informal groups until the official meeting time at 10am. Each week about 40 minutes of the one hour meeting is reserved for a guest speaker.

Retired IBMers in the group include Jim Buck, Doug Enders, Jim Hahn, Charlie Jenkins, Don Johnson, Betsy Noyes and Al Zack. Come be our guest any Thursday or call one of the above to learn more.

Note from fellow QCC Member:  I just discovered that some states (including Colorado and New Jersey) have the legal requirement that any prescription filled in their state MUST state the expiration of the drug as ONE YEAR from the FULFILLMENT DATE. I discovered this when one of my mail in prescriptions (through Medcohealth) was filled in New Jersey. I was puzzled why the previous shipment of the same prescription expired AFTER the new shipment. So I called Medcohealth and was told of this requirement AND was also told that they keep of record of the true expiration date so that all one has to do is to call in and get the true prescription date.

As for Colorado: when I had a prescription filled locally, same thing - a one year expiry. Now I will ask the pharmacist to give me the expiry date from the container from which the prescription was filled.  -- Marda Buchholz

Where can you find the cheapest gas?:  If you are wondering where to find the cheapest (or most expensive) gas in your area, go to the MSN Gas Prices website and type in your zip code.