Hi Joe,

This is a copy of the note I just sent to Dennis... No big deal. More a part of (hoping) to help him get "grooved-in" on using the internet (going to the library to check his email), than it is "serious business." He may THINK it is when he reads it (which may be tomorrow, or may not be until the next time he calls and I remind him to go to the library and check his mail), but it's really more about "using the net."

I'm just putting it here "for the record."

***********

Hi Dennis,

Glad to get your note from the library... Probably sounds dumb, but it's true... I don't know why I think it - and I know people say this all the time - but I think this internet thing is here to stay and that the people who use it will somehow wind up better off than the people who don't... So it's a good thing that you went to the library to use it.

Joe was here all afternoon. Good "session." Nice guy. Seems like "good people," and from what I can tell - and if we all do what we need to do - "everything'll work out okay."

Here are the most basic things we seemed to get figured out.

1. We'll come up with and get the "Basic Site" together by June 1st (they're getting anxious on account of an expensive mailing they're going to be doing in June in which they're planning on including the web site: they want that mailing to point people to their site).

Note: Getting settled on what the "Basic Site" consists of is important on account of the "no charge for changes to the site for 6-months" that Joe said you promised them... That's fine as long as that gets limited to whatever the "Basic Site" turns out to be... In a nutshell, what that means is the site we'll put together over the next few weeks: the home page; the "about" section; the "products and services" section; the "loan officers" section; the "pre-qualifying form/database." Once that's done, agreed upon, "signed off on," any changes to THAT will be free for 6 months... That's important when it comes to the idea of "additional things": Those things should NOT come under the heading of "free changes for 6 months" because there's no limit to ideas that crop up when it comes to the "possibilities" of things that can be added to a web site... Joe and I talked about that, agreed on the basic idea of what's involved in the above, and so there shouldn't be anything much to worry about...

2. As Joe has probably talked to you about, you need to get in touch with your "database guy" in order to get things rolling on the "Pre-qualifier" form/database... The "bad news" is, as we talked about that first day, I don't know how to do that stuff (the pre-qualifier form needs to be connected to a database on the server, the web page form needs to communicate with that database, and the database needs to send the email to whoever it's supposed to be routed to). The "good news" is, that MAY be the only real database work that needs to be done on the site... Please notice I emphasize the word "may": It depends on what I can find out about a program all the Midwest F. people use... If the company that makes/sells it makes/sells a networked version of that program (which they MUST), then that's the software they ought to be using for their real database stuff... We'll see how that one turns out.

You may want to put the database guy in touch with me so we can coordinate whatever it is we'll have to coordinate in order to get the basic version of the site ready to go in the next couple of weeks...

Bottom line seems to be the June first deadline: What we need is the "basic web site" (which I'll put together in conjunction with Joe), and that Pre-qualifier form/database/email system...

Okay... Enough for today.

Until next time,

Bill

-- Anonymous, May 14, 2002