President's Message: Blood Moon, Lunar Eclipse, Vernal Equinox, Summer Solstice and other Omens

I am writing this on the day of a rare Blood Moon and total lunar eclipse, which occurred not too many hours ago. Were you lucky enough to see it? If you missed it, you will get three more opportunities on October 8, 2014, April 4, 2015, and September 28, 2015. After 2015, you will need to wait until 2032. I found it fascinating to learn that there is a name for when four blood moons occur consecutively, like what is happening now in 2014/2015. When four total lunar eclipses occur consecutively, it is called a tetrad. Tetrads are so rare that during the 300-year interval from 1600 to 1900, there were no tetrads at all. Rare and beautiful.  

Did you pause on March 20 of this year to reflect on the vernal equinox? Equinoxes and solstices were considered such important solar alignments that ancient civilizations built towering pyramids to align with these annual occurrences. But you already knew that. But did you, and do you, pause and reflect on their beauty and significance?  

From blood moons to comets and meteors, many ancient peoples watched for good and bad omens to portend a future event. It is a lot more fun to focus on the good ones.

GMIS International had its own version of a good omen in fiscal year 2014. While not quite as visually spectacular as a blood moon, it was still significant, albeit on a more terrestrial level. The momentous event was a membership renewal rate of 98.7 percent. Pause and reflect on the beauty and significance. This is huge. This means that GMIS must be doing something very right and filling an important void in the life of government IT professionals. The average renewal rate for large professional organizations such as ours is only about 80 percent. So GMIS knocked the ball out of the stratosphere. This is a good omen for where GMIS is headed. I want to thank each and every one of you who are loyal members of GMIS. Together we are making history.

Upward and onward. To infinity and beyond.

Janet Claggett

GMIS International President