Hi everyone!  As you all may know, I became an Admin here a few days ago and one of the first things I wanted to accomplish was reaching 100 members by the weekend. I started searching the N.J. groups and the Team USA: Northeast Group as well. I looked for possible members all over this site, checked the Maps as well for anyone I might've missed out on. That first day I must've sent out 9 or 10 invites alone, and three people joined that first day, giving us 100 members seemingly right away. I was ecstatic!! Then I got an idea!

   I began searching the local maps for Masters in the N.J. area and came across a few people. Naturally, I began to think how nice it was to have Masters on the team, thinking about upcoming matches and the like, and I was really getting excited about it. But I also know that they are very busy, usually with web sites, writing chess columns, teaching, and other activities, so they might not have time for tournaments. But, I sent them invitations just to see. It can't hurt to try right?

   Well, I just wanted to write about this, because it is very exciting. Ghost(TJ) was thrilled too when I told him. He said he was trying to get 100 members for a while now, so it made me feel good to help him and the Group like that.

   I'm going to try my best at this and hopefully, as a team, we can get stronger, participate in more events, and just  have fun playing chess, because that is what it is all about.

   So, this is Mark signing off, and telling you how much pleasure it has been to be a part of this group, even though so far it's only been a few days.   Thanks for taking the time to read this.

   -Mark