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Nov.1, 2000; Issue #11; Mail Address:PMB 309 4038 Factoria Blvd. SE, Bellevue, WA
98006-5236
Voice Mail: 206-232-5892; Classroom: Phantom Lake Elementary
School, Bellevue
For Detailed Information, Class Schedules: www.seniornetps.org
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CAN WE TALK????--- The monthly Kaffee Klatch and idea-swapping no-host social at the Crossroads Mall Food Circus is scheduled for Tuesday, Nov. 7, at 11 am. And as always, you can spot your fellow SeniorNetters at the grouped tables, very close to the exciting fast-food stands. If all the seats are filled, just pull up another table, drag over some chairs, and join the always interesting conversation.
REMINDER: OPEN REGISTRATION, THURSDAY DEC. 7---Starting at 10 am, at the southern end of the Crossroads Mall, SeniorNet will again hold registrations for classes starting in January. Volunteers are asked to report at 8 am, by Registration Coordinator Roger Dalton. He has also issued an appeal for volunteers to sign up by emailing him at rdaltonesq@aol.com. The last open registration at the mall was a huge success, thanks to the volunteers who manned the sign-up tables, served as guidance counselors on our many computer courses to the many new and returning students, and did whatever chores were required.
SENIORS FLOCKING TO COMPUTER CLASSES--Our SeniorNet Classes are now 90 percent full, according to Registrar Louise Flora, the only class with openings that has not already started is Quicken Plus QP-1. This class will be held Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday December 19 through December 21 - 1:30PM to 3:30PM. Cost is $30.00. Call the Voice Mail 206-232-5892 to register.
WATCH FOR NEW CATALOGUE---Wrapping up the
challenging task of writing and preparing for distribution the new SeniorNet
catalogue, are Clair and Jo Hugh.
(This is the catalogue etc printed on old-fashioned paper. Remember
paper?) listing upcoming courses, registration data and the Puget Sound
SeniorNet News. Save the catalogue and bring it with you when you come in to
register at the Thursday, Dec. 7
open registration at Crossroads Mall starting at 10 am.
FACILITIES COORDINATOR KEN
CRANDALL,
He’s the very busy volunteer who keeps our classroom’s complicated electronic
stuff and computers working, was awarded a certificate for outstanding
volunteer service from RSVP, according to Volunteer Coordinator Delores
Davis, at a gala luncheon held by the Retired Service Volunteer Program. A
great choice, and our congratulations.
DELORES GREETS 19TH GRANDCHILD—Delores Davis reports she has “just returned from Chicago visiting my 6-month-old handsome grandson (number 19!!). He is John Wilson Davis lll. I also stopped by and went to service at my elementary school church and stopped by my high school and community where I lived 50 years ago. It was all a wonderful and emotional experience-even more so to see them still located there.”
SO, WHAT’S YOUR
BANDWIDTH???—Join the techno-jargon crowd. Be a leader in your group. One of Bill Gates' (Our Redmond neighbor) reported favorite putdown of
someone used to be that "He lacks bandwidth" -- as in the
mental bandwidth to understand something.
RESEARCHING DESK CHANGES---A study is under way for a new design for classroom desks to (a) provide more desktop space, and (b) decide where to move the computer box for easy access to the A floppy drive. Curriculum Coordinator John Wise discussed proposed changes at the recent Leadership Meeting. A sample change can be seen in the desk just to the rear of the instructor, where a desk “hip pocket” has been installed. This will allow placing the computer box out of the way, on the side, and just off the floor. When students have to insert or remove a floppy disk into the A drive in the computer, a slight, genteel bending is only required. Also under study are desks with the built-in cases underneath, and also a slide for the keyboard to lower the height for easier typing. John is seeking feedback from students. He is asking students to look at the mock-up and give their views either to the instructor, or else email John at jandlwise@worldnet.att.net with comments.
YOU RUB MY BACK AND…--Leadership Group members of SeniorNet, the officers, instructors, coordinators and active helpers, received an unexpected back rub at the Leadership Meeting when the guest speaker, Henry Wiener of Seattle, started to describe, with tongue-in-cheek, “Adjustments to Retirement.” Henry, representing the Retired Senior Volunteer Program of King County, began his talk by asking all members present to stand up. Then: Now turn to the left!. Now raise both your hands! Now place them on the back of the person in front of you! (A gasp!) Now start massaging the back in front of you!.” Another surprise gasp, but they don’t call these busy SeniorNet leaders leaders for nothing. All 30 or so smilingly swung into action, with the massagees sighing with pleasure. A smiling speaker said he really only wanted to loosen everyone. Henry did it. He was introduced by Vice Pres. Bill Bumpus..
FURTHER WEBSITE IMPROVEMENTS---Our very successful SeniorNet website, www.seniornetps.org, which carries key information such as class schedules, courses and other important stuff, will be further improved, according to Jay Schlechter, who is working with Hal Mozer in creating and maintaining the website. Jay told the Leadership Meeting he and Hal will be adding more information on the instructors, along with photographs and other items of interest. Also, volunteers are being sought by Jay to assist in this project, and also to keeping the website continually updated. This is a great opportunity to work on the website with the help and guidance of experts. Jay can be reached at ajay@sprintmail.com.
SPREADING THE WORD FOR SENIORNET---A major challenge facing SeniorNet is getting the
word out to Seniors of the great learning opportunities here in learning
computer operations in a hands-on training program. Harry Sully at the Leadership Meeting, asked those
present for ideas on how best to reach out to Seniors to help them get over
initial fears on mastering the machine.
Joe Pontecorvo reported on his ongoing program of giving talks
and demonstrations, with the help of a video. He said he was willing to put on
more presentations, adding, “We must promote them.” Hal Mozer suggested contacting AARP to demonstrate
the SeniorNet hands-on learning programs.
HMMMM? WHOSE NUMBER IS THAT? --You have come across a phone number and you would like to track it down, or you know the person, but you want his/her mailing address. How to do just that? Thanks to Microsoft Network (MSN), there is a Reverse Phone Lookup program on MSN. First insert the URL, shown below, (Uniform Resources Locator) into your browser address space: http://www.infospace.com/_1_4O1TUGS09C1CVR__info.msn/reverse.htm?XNavigation=ylw
LOOK FOR THE FINGER—If the above URL shows up as purple, it is a live link If so, move your cursor and see if a pointing finger emerges,
pointing straight up. If so, left-click the mouse. Providing you are already
online, this should bring you right to the correct MSN page. If, for some
reason, it is just a regular black type on white, select or highlight the
address, press CTRL-C to copy it to memory. Then place the cursor into a blank
URL or address space on your browser, and press CTRL-V which pastes/inserts the
address into the space. Then hit Enter. In a moment or so, depending on your
computer speed, the MSN page will appear, with the Reverse Phone insertion box
showing. Type in the phone number, then click the Find button at the right..If
all goes right, you’ll see the name etc.
ARE YOU OPERATING FAST ENOUGH? --Want to know how fast
your connection to the Internet is going? Or how much CPU (Central Processing Unit) processing is
taking place? Windows 98 has a neat, seldom used tool in the Accessories/System
Tools menu with the Programs menu. The utility is called 'System Monitor.'
Open it, then select the edit menu. This allows you to add and delete items.
Now you can have a real-time display of how fast your modem is actually
bringing down information.
ADD FOLDER TOOLBAR TO TASKBAR---Is there a folder you
access all the time? Consider adding it to your taskbar as a toolbar, so you'll have that folder's contents
at your fingertips--no Start menu or desktop necessary. Right-click a blank
area of the Taskbar and select Toolbars, New Toolbar. Navigate your way
to the folder you have in mind, and then click OK. The folder's name and first
item will appear on the Taskbar to the left of the tray. To resize the toolbar,
hold your mouse pointer over the vertical line at its left edge, and when the
cursor changes to a double-pointed arrow, click and drag in either direction.
(Follow these same steps to resize any other toolbars, if necessary.)
Now let's suppose you need to access a file in the folder. Click the
double-arrow at the right edge of the new toolbar, and the folder's contents
appear in a pop-up menu. Select the file after, and it appears on screen.
WHEN ALL SEEMS LOST—GOBACK--This program takes an electronic picture with all
the settings etc etc, on an ongoing daily basis, noting the exact date, time,
etc when that particular so-called pix of the computer settings were taken. And
so? When...not
IF....your computer crashes, or develops glitches it didn't have before and you
are trying to figger it out, you bring up GOBACK. You know the date and even the time when your computer was
just zipping along in great shape.
With GOBACK, you just scroll to the date and approximate
time the computer was working just fine, click on it to bring the settings as
they were at that good performance moment, and presto, the settings are
returned to the setup when all was good. The only downside is that the program
costs around $70 or so. There is a similar program, Second Chance, which
sells for about $50.
QUICK
WAYS TO HIGHLIGHT TEXT---To highlight a word, move cursor to word, double-click it; to
highlight a line, click once to its left (in the left margin); and to highlight
a paragraph, double-click to its left (again, in the margin). Now let's look at
some bigger selections. To highlight a large area of text, click once at the
beginning of the text, then hold down Shift and click at the end; or while
holding down Shift, use the cursor keys to expand the selection. To highlight
an entire document, place the cursor at the very beginning of the document and press
Ctrl-Shift-End; or, with your cursor anywhere, press Ctrl-A.
PASS THIS ON TO A FRIEND—Feel free to forward this Online Newsletter to friends who may be interested in learning or expanding PC computer skills. That’s the beauty of email.
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Pres.>
Helen Hesketh; Past Pres.> Clif Wuesthoff; Vice Pres.>Bill Bumpas; Secy>Dave Lewis;
Treas.>Bob Swenson;
Registrar<Louise
Flora; Curriculum. Coordinator>
John Wise; Facilities Coordinator> Ken Crandall;
Member-at-Large>Delores Davis; Volunteers Coordinator> Delores Davis;
Online Newsletter Editor> Phil Scheier; Publicity>Jo Hugh; Public Relations>Bill Flick
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