To Every Thing There is a Season

Yeah, zactly. Sorry to disappoint, it isn't going away. It was moribund, the new bunch is really changing that. We are members, we like it and we support Howard & company. I just don't understand why non-members who are convinced it is irrelevant, moribund, delinquent, whatever, constantly attack an organization of which they are not members, which does not cost them a centavo, and which does not interfere with them in any way. Try live and let live.

gringal wrote:

that is not the reason for my continued irritation

So what IS your problem with an organization of which you are not a member?

The extent of the poison verbiage regarding a harmless purveyor of various services used by over 3000 members indicates a real grudge. So, what is it?

It is the irresponsible waste of a formerly vital community asset by egotistical and incompetent folks who are systematically decimating the legacy of Ms. James though their incompetent administration of the treasure left to their charge so that, a single generation later, because of the inflexibility and lack of vision of administrators the whole thing resembles more than anything else, a harness intended for horses steering a Cadillac. What is sad is that this needn´t be the ignominious descent of an idea with originally positive intent.

Neil James´ Ajijic of the 1950s is not the Ajijic of today but her club is being administered by the same people Dawg remembers running Greenville High School in the days of the ´57 Chevy. 3,000 members? Maybe on the roll book but perhaps 5% of those members ever darken the door of the place with any regularity. Why should the small group of people utilizing the LCS benefit from Neil James´ largesse when the assets bequeated the community could be pit to more productive uses?

Just my opinion mind you. I also live in Chiapas where the foreign community, such as it is, far more actively supports community involvement without a palace near a lake used as a coffee shop and hangout for folks with no other place to go.

Some folks live to criticize, not live and let live. Why? I don't know. I doubt very much that Dawg's shots at the LCS are based on the altruistic wish that Neill James' legacy be put to better use. But who knows?

I agree with Mainecoons that things are looking up over at LCS. There was a point when I thought it was headed downhill for good, but men and women of good will have been working hard to change that, and the positive results are evident.

BTW, there are community service programs at LCS. The Childrens' Art Program, for one, and language classes for another.
I haven't counted the number of gringos who use the facilities, but who would pay for a membership without getting some use out of it? When I'm over there for books or videos, it's busy.

BTW, what's the matter with people enjoying a cuppa and company in the coffee shop, anyway? Geesh.

OK, maybe someone could explain what the LCS is supposed to be about. I've been by there twice and to me it appears to be a glorified information center where one can hang out with blue hairs, rent dated old VHS tapes or borrow gravy stained books. Oh yeah......if you sign up and pay your dues you also get a phone book.

Am I missing something here???

CanuckBob wrote:OK, maybe someone could explain what the LCS is supposed to be about. I've been by there twice and to me it appears to be a glorified information center where one can hang out with blue hairs, rent dated old VHS tapes or borrow gravy stained books. Oh yeah......if you sign up and pay your dues you also get a phone book.

Am I missing something here???

Yes, you are. The video center has been disposing of the old VHS tapes and acquiring current DVD's at a good clip.
The library has been acquiring new books, both fiction and non fiction. Without gravy stains.

Maybe you should drop in and see for yourself next time you're around.
The Curmudgeonly Dawg doesn't go there, so how would he know what's going on?

And, to quote my old mum: "If you stand around long enough, you'll get old". If you're lucky, you'll still have some hair, blue or otherwise.

Well unfortunately my hair isn't hanging around long enough to get blue however I will definitely check the LCS out again........

CanuckBob wrote:Well unfortunately my hair isn't hanging around long enough to get blue however I will definitely check the LCS out again........

Bald men are sexier. Ask any bald man.

It's all that testosterone, you know?
Mine is bald too, with hats. Lizzy

Well I'm getting sexier every year then. I still have it on top but only need a weed-whacker instead of a lawn mower now.......

Aw, come on C-Bob. Face it, you're getting "whackier" as the solar collector gets more use.
Nice hat, by the way. Lizzy

As a visitor to your fair town I am wondering if the LCS would be of any service to me. They rent books and DVDs, and it seems they serve coffee, are any of those services available to visitors or is it a members only sort of affair? What more do they do? Do they offer tourist information?

What is the cost of membership? And are there different levels of membership, like for part-time residents, full-time residents, visitors, etc? What is the advantage of membership?

I have been voted president of Morelia's ex-pat club for 2011. We are solely a social group that meets periodically to chat and exchange information - if we have any. We have no dues and the club does not sponsor any charities. In Morelia one could wander around for days and not see another English-speaking foreigner so our regular meetings provides opportunity for us to make contact. Ajijic/Chapala does not have that problem - or advantage, depending on how you view it. What more could LCS offer, and what more might Morelia offer?

See for yourself.

http://www.lakechapalasociety.org/

The grounds are open to visitors, the coffee shop as well.

Peter wrote:As a visitor to your fair town I am wondering if the LCS would be of any service to me. They rent books and DVDs, and it seems they serve coffee, are any of those services available to visitors or is it a members only sort of affair? What more do they do? Do they offer tourist information?

What is the cost of membership? And are there different levels of membership, like for part-time residents, full-time residents, visitors, etc? What is the advantage of membership?

I have been voted president of Morelia's ex-pat club for 2011. We are solely a social group that meets periodically to chat and exchange information - if we have any. We have no dues and the club does not sponsor any charities. In Morelia one could wander around for days and not see another English-speaking foreigner so our regular meetings provides opportunity for us to make contact. Ajijic/Chapala does not have that problem - or advantage, depending on how you view it. What more could LCS offer, and what more might Morelia offer?

The Lake Chapala Society has a website with all their activities listed as well as info. about membership. Let your fingers do the strolling.
Happy holidays.

Thanks all. I just took a look around the website and that answered a few questions but no mention of their coffee shop so Thanks David!

Next time we're in town, probably January or February sometime we'll have to poke our heads inside. Best way for me to get a feel for a place is to drop by for coffee. Looks like most of their activities are geared for residents and a one-months associate membership doesn't entitle you to any book or DVD lending so that doesn't do much good.

Perhaps just drop by to buy a cup and meet the folks and sounds like you can do that without membership. OK

xxx

I heard it's a solar collector for a sex machine. Lizzy

CanuckBob wrote:OK, maybe someone could explain what the LCS is supposed to be about. I've been by there twice and to me it appears to be a glorified information center where one can hang out with blue hairs, rent dated old VHS tapes or borrow gravy stained books. Oh yeah......if you sign up and pay your dues you also get a phone book.

Am I missing something here???

No you are not missing a thing. Those gravy stained books and old two-bit DVDs and video tapes hurt the community at large and local folks who might wish to open video rental or sales outlets or, perhaps, an English language bookstore are discouraged as they can´t compete with the subsidized old farts club providing marginal services to a community frightened by the fact that they have settled in a community where locals are not primarily English speakers and present a foreign visage to people used to suburban Nashville. This means that those opting for not participating in this farce do not have access to the commercially viable media outlets that would probably be availabe here without the unfair competition of the LCS which destroys the competitive friction that would supply the foreign community as a whole. It´s disgraceful that the LCS, originally dedicated to providing no services that would, by their very existence, discourage local entreprenurial ingenuity destroys the incentive for local businesses to become established, grow and prosper serving the large foreign and local community living here.because of the unfair competition presented by an insular club that has no rent to pay nor other onerous overhead to cover.

So, this marvelous property is being greatly underutilized as a (bad) coffee shop and blood pressure clinic and place for a marginal library for books and periodicals which would have been long ago discarded by any respectable library and a venue for unaccomplished agents awarded on-premise franchises on unexplained bases for selling products from insurance to hearing aids to eyeglasses without even a pretense of competitive accomplishment and just by the simple fact that these vendors of services are selling there in the LCS grounds provides the organization´s endorsement of and touting of whatever they are selling. That is disgraceful.

In 2002, after an insurance agent selling out of an office on the LCS grounds, had sold me a group health insurance policy available to LCS members and promising me that that group health insurance policy could not ever be cancelled for life, it was unceremoniously cancelled a year later and a far inferior product offered in its stead. When I went to the LCS board to complain, their explanation was that the insurance company had acted dishonorably and; get this; that the board really didn´t understand insurance and didn´t know what they were doing. Well, so much for integrity. I dropped out of the LCS that month and will never darken their door again.

That was 2002. It just keeps getting worse.

Looks like it might get lively, again. Do ya think it might be time to move this to the Octagon? Waddaya think, C-Bob? Lizzy

Geeze. Hound Dog, get over your grudges. You'll live longer. The same could be said of internet web boards. Instead of on the computer, we could be out patronizing local coffee shops & bars to chit-chat. Maybe you're p.o.'ed because they didn't follow all your suggestions.

If you don't like it, don't use it. There are plenty of people who do. It's really none of your business & I doubt anyone cares about your opinion of LCS. Nothing ever stays the same & the cost of importing books would make a local bookstore probably not a viable alternative. There's one in Guad. though. And the Kindle will probably do that in in a few years.

When your opinions and prejudices are over eight or nine years old, it's time to GET OVER IT.
Looks like the Dawg is stuck in 2002. Enough, already.

bobnliz wrote:Looks like it might get lively, again. Do ya think it might be time to move this to the Octagon? Waddaya think, C-Bob? Lizzy

Nah....still looks like a civilized "adult" conversation to me. Bottom line is that the next generation is downloading all their movie and reading materials from the Internet. I have over 700 movies in my collection (including releases that are still in the theaters) and I can get any book the wife needs for her Kindle. I used to burn the movies to DVD but now I just keep them on a 2 terabyte external hard drive that hooks right up to the TV. We haven't been to a theater or library in years. Hopefully these things are not the main source of interest for the LCS.......

Bob.......the thing is that some people just can't afford what you are describing. There will come a time when we all download instead of taking out books and movies.........but it's not quite here yet. Just for example: I'd love to use the NETFLIX movie downloads.......but they aren't available in Mexico.

Perhaps the primary function of LCS is as an information source for those who are new in town and need to find out what is where.
Free phone books are available elsewhere, so that's no biggie.

Dawg's issue appears to be a grudge problem and has very little to due with the current state of the organization. Personally, I have better things to do than hang out in the coffee shop, so I don't. There are people who do and find the companionship they need. Nothing sinful or illegal about that, either.

I have nothing against the LCS. I was just wondering why this discussion was so passionate based on the little info I knew about the LCS. I can see that they offer more than what I first thought.

Also the downloads I am talking about for movies and books don't cost a cent other than the blank DVDs that you may want to burn your movies too.

gringal wrote:Bob...... Just for example: I'd love to use the NETFLIX movie downloads.......but they aren't available in Mexico.

G-gal, I understand that netflix can be received SoB. Please peruse the following info..... If you are interested, I can put you in touch. This gent has a forum dedicated to the acquiring of Hulu, netflix and such SoB. Lizzy

Bottom line is "Yes, you can stream Netflix and Hulu SoB, but....":)

"You need a way around the "out of region" IP address. And the way to do that is with a VPN, or Virtual Private Network.

Two good ones are: Witopia.net and StrongVPN.com

They are subscription based at around 5-6 bucks per month on a yearly basis. StrongVPN, I think, offers monthly subscriptions while Witopia only has yearly subs at this point. I use the Witopia SSL OpenVPN (best speed, best encryption), so can certainly recommend it.

Free VPNs like "Hot Spot Shield" do not work SoB for Netflix and Hulu, or are so unreliable as to be useless.

The issue then becomes: How to implement a VPN so I can use the Roku?

Presently there are several ways:

1. Use your PC or Laptop.
- Setup a working VPN on the pc, then setup ICS (Internet Connection Sharing) Check the TV SoB forum for guides on how to do this...or go to the Microsoft web site and do a search for their guide for the particular operating system you use.
- Once you get the VPN working, setup the ICS to use the VPN "virtual adapter" to allow "sharing". That connects the ICS port (hardwired or wireless) to the VPN, completing the setup to allow the Roku to get to Netflix through the VPN.

2. Use a modified Router.
- DD-WRT.com has a free set of firmware for most all routers that are compatible. You can buy one of these routers and DIY, or just go and buy one already modified with DD-WRT if you are not a little tech-savvy.
- StrongVPN will assist you with support for your modified router. Witopia is supposed to have this service available some time this month.
- This option will let you BYPASS the need for a PC with a VPN installed.

As to the wireless connections, option 1 or 2 can be made to work on a wireless connection. However, forget any true HD streaming with the Roku. Even a 2Mbps Telmex service will not be enough; you will need to go to the 5Mbps service to get HD.

Roku does of course have a wireless wi-fi built in, but you still need to connect to some source that has a VPN!! So, if your DD-WRT router is setup and working with a VPN service, you could connect to it wirelessly with the Roku. If your PC/Laptop has a wireless connection, you could use the wireless for the local Wi-Fi service, and connect your Roku to the laptop using a hardwired ethernet cable."

Bob.....what is the source of your downloaded movies? Are they recent films?
Can you get this in Mexico?

The "passionate" defense was a Fairness Doctrine style response to a mean spirited bashing of LCS by one person with a grudge. It was also an unjustified attack, since it was by a non-member who offers neither support, constructive criticism, a modicum of tolerance for the group or even recent knowledge of the situation. The same kind of attitude created his description of this fine area where we have chosen to live as "Peoria on the Sump".
Sour grapes, anyone?
IMO, this topic is........