The check’s in the mail

Well, checks that is. Two of them. One to the IRS and one to the California Franchise Tax Board (which oversees California income taxes).

And no, I am not talking about my 2008 income taxes. I am talking about my applications for 501(c)(3) tax exempt, non profit status for a new corporation that I’m forming along with Bruce and Loren from BayLUG/BayLTC: Bricks by the Bay, Inc. The three of us met on Tuesday evening to sign the bylaws and review the paperwork before I sent it in. We’re using the Nolo Press book “How to Form a Nonprofit Corporation in California” to set it up.

Why are we forming a nonprofit? Well, we’re putting on a show! We haven’t made any official announcements yet – we’re waiting for the tax exempt status before the deal can be finalized – but the plan is to have a LEGO conference in the San Francisco bay area in April of 2010. We’re forming a nonprofit to run the conference as well as other local LEGO-related events, including BayLUG/BayLTC exhibits.

We need volunteers! You don’t have to be local, or even come to the show, to help! If you’re interested in helping out in any capacity, please let me know. We have a mailing list and a wiki to help with planning.

For official announcements, visit the Bricks by the Bay Web site. I’ll be blogging here periodically as we continue through the planning process, too.

January BayLUG meeting

Each year for the past several years, Bay Area LEGO Users’ Group has been invited to hold a meeting at the home of one of our members, Dave Porter, at his house in Woodside, CA. He has a huge LEGO display in his house every year, and we get to see it in person before he takes it down each February.

Dave Porter's home layout

At the meeting we had a lot of people bring their latest models for display, bulk LEGO shopping in Dave’s home office, and of course viewing of Dave’s home layout (pictured above). We also held a business meeting to plan for the Bricks by the Bay LEGO convention which we are organizing for April 2010.