A number of Seniors Alpine Ski Club members coordinate carpooling to the major ski areas in the Calgary area. The two meeting places are: Canada Olympic Park (back of the west lot, across from Festival Tent (Note Change!); and Richmond Square Canadian Tire Gas Bar (on Richmond Road between 51 St. SW and Sarcee Trail).
To contribute to car expense, the Club recommends $10 each for Nakiska, $15 each for Sunshine or Norquay, or $20 each for Lake Louise. Make your contributions to your driver after your safe return.
Carpooling Goes Electronic for 2008/09
The Club directors have spent some of their summer leisure moments thinking about ways to make it easier for us to connect with each other to arrange carpooling. One of the things we hoped to offer was a web-based meeting place where members can exchange messages about day trips they are planning.
We’ve begun using a reputable networking application called Google Groups. I’ve created a group called sasccarpool. The discussions in this group will be limited to club members. When I (or you) want to find a ski buddy to drive to Lake Louise with, I sign in to the sasccarpool group and post a message. We give whatever details we wish. Of course the post has to include the destination and the date. Maybe you’d give your preferred meeting place and departure time. Perhaps also your phone number and whether you want to drive or be a passenger.
Anyone else who signs in can see your message and respond if they want to. They could leave a message that everybody else can read or they could phone or email you. The group will notify you by email of new postings. Members can set themselves up so every posting is forwarded to them or they can opt to receive a daily summary of postings. Another available option is to temporarily or permanently turn off notifications completely. A member with this setting would have to start up his or her browser and sign in to see what was happening.
It’s quite straightforward to use the group, but getting started requires jumping through a couple of hoops. The first one is to get a Google account. Some groups don’t require this but ours does so that we can control access.
Step one is to follow this link: https://www.google.com/accounts/Login. Find “Create an account now” on the right side of the screen under the sign-in box and click on it. Follow the directions. Before long you’ll receive an email from Google. There’s a link in the email that you click on to confirm your account creation. Then you’re ready to join the group.
Go to http://groups.google.ca/group/sasccarpool. The first time you arrive here, you get a rude warning that you aren’t welcome because you’re not a member. Click on “Sign in and apply for membership”. Here you’ll get to notify me that you’d like to join. Within a day or so, I’ll see your request and add you to sasccarpool. You’ll be notified by email that you’re in. Now you have the power to make yourself heard in our group.
Go back to http://groups.google.ca/group/sasccarpool. Unhappily, you’ll see the same rude message every time you come here, but from now on you can click on “Sign in to Google Groups” and get in. Add this page to your Favorites.
You are welcome to try out our group. Since the whole process can take a couple of days, why not start the ball rolling right away? We’ll try to help anybody who runs into a snag. Email me at sascmembership@telus.net or leave a message at 403-266-0003. Once you can sign in, you can create a discussion in the group about anything you’re having trouble with. We should have everything ironed out by the time the snow flies.
Jim Kinnaird