[NJARC] InfoAge

[Ray Chase]

The museum openings on Sunday afternoon have been going good, traffic is
increasing every week especially after the recent InfoAge events such as the
USO Dance and the model train exhibits on three prior weekends.  On some
days the traffic was a bit overwhelming for two attendants.  The museum
committee has set up one day during the week as a work day (currently
Wednesdays) and several club volunteers have been able to get quite a bit
done.  Our current task is to use two former offices on the left side at the
rear of the museum to greatly expand our "hands-on" exhibits so we can
fulfill part of our mission of training young people about science and
electronics.  We are opening up the wall between these two rooms to have a
more open area.  Dave Sica has videotaped several of us given tours and
after editing this will be a useful training aid for other club members who
can volunteer as guides.  There is still much to be done to better balance
the displays and provide displays of interest to the general public but we
are moving along well.
As for InfoAge in general, the BRAC (Base Realignment and Closure) office
that administers the closing and transfer of the property to Wall Township
and us has thrown us another curve.  The long time Environmental
Coordinator, Chuck Appleby is being reassigned and a private contractor is
replacing him and he has threatened to cancel many prior agreements on
repairs and restorations.  (This only applies to properties not yet turned
over to us, primarily the "H" buildings, it does not affect the properties
that we now have).  Over the long term Chuck has been good to us and we have
lots of heavy artillery and high level contacts to counter these new
challenges but if we need more voices, I'll let you know.  To that end,
Chuck is moving out next week and quite a bit of Township property in the
form of furniture, file cabinets, etc. were loaned to him in his office in
one of the "H" buildings.  On this Saturday we need to recover this property
and move it to "our side of the fence" so anyone who can lend a hand on
Saturday from 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM or so would be welcome at InfoAge.  Let me
know if you plan to come so we can get an idea of who is coming.  Maybe
we'll get more volunteers than we need (what a nice thought!!).  You can
also see how we are doing and even volunteer do some demolition if you need
to work off some angst!!
Ray