SENIORNET COMPUTER
LEARNING CENTER NEWS
Aug. 1, 2002, Vol. 3; Issue #8; Mail Address: PMB 44, 12819 SE 38th
St., Bellevue, WA 98006-1326
Voice Mail: 206-232-5892; Email: senior@scn.org;
Classroom at Phantom Lake Elementary School, Bellevue;
For detailed Information, Class Schedules: www.seniornetps.org
By Phil Scheier
Adella stressed this is a
great opportunity to visit with our skilled instructors and classroom
assistants. Computer demonstrations and workshops, along with
information on upcoming classes will be featured. Demonstrations will take
place in the adjacent classroom and the school gym. Plus, there will be free prizes to be awarded, along
with a grand prize of a free computer course of your choice.
COUNT 'EM: SIX GREAT COMPUTER WORKSHOPS:
Adella announces this is a tremendous opportunity to learn or sharpen up your
skills for: (1) Working with online email; (2) Setting up,
updating and using your vital anti-virus program; (3) Organizing and
viewing photographs on our computer; (4) How to use the computer to
create a great history of you and your family; (5) A film scanner
demo will guide through the use of various film scanners to enrich your
personal library; (6) For computer users who worry about backing up
the key operating part of your computer, the Hard Drive, which stores your
documents, system settings, programs EVERYTHING. Thus, in event of a
glitch, and you positively, absolutely have to get back to them again to resume
your computer life, you can often do so easily. The Brown Bag outing
will provide that answer also. This workshop will stress backups in general,
using "Drive Image," with emphasis on "full system,"
and "hard drive images" backups.
So just remember, bring a
Brown Bag lunch and a non-refrigerated dessert to share with others. Soft
drinks will be provided, Adella says.
A great outing at the spacious Bellewood School grounds, which includes
that large, covered outdoor area.
MEMBERSHIP
MEETING TUESDAY, AUG. 20:
SeniorNet Membership Meeting will be held at the Crossroads Community Room
near Bartells on Tuesday, Aug. 20, at 10:00 am. Pres. Helen Hesketh will be
back from her travels to Iowa and Colorado. There will be no formal program
because the Brown Bag is on Thursday, Aug. 22, where you can acquire so much
computer information tips, demonstrations and more.
HURRY!!! STILL
TIME TO SIGN UP FOR FALL CLASSES: SeniorNet classes for Fall 2002 will begin
Tuesday Aug. 27, with eight classes beginning that week, according to Registrar
Louise Flora. Two of the classes are full - Introduction to Windows
95/98/ME - WIN-1 and Transition to Windows XP - XP Tran-1. But there
still is room to learn Using E-Bay on the Internet - EBAY-1 starting Aug. 27;
there is just one space left in Word Processing WORD-1, also on Aug. 27; Introduction to Windows XP WIN
XP-1, Wednesday Aug. 28; with two spaces left in Photo Editing & Scanning
Photo-1, Aug. 29; File Management File-1, Aug. 29; and Writing Your
History, Aug. 30.
To
speed your registration, call the voice mail 206-232-5892 for
further information, or just mail in your registration form, which is also
available on the SeniorNet web site at www.seniornetps.org for course listings
and for printing. Couldn't be any easier than that.
STILL
AVAILABLE later in the session is Database Management DB-1,
Mondays, Sept. 30 to Nov. 4. The three Basic Internet classes have
a few openings with choice of September, October or November starting dates,
Louise announced. "If you have already taken our Introduction to
Windows Classes, a good follow-up class would be Windows 95/98 Intermediate scheduled
for Nov. 7, and another session on Dec. 5. Can't find a file after you
have saved it? You should be enrolling in File Management File-1, one of
the classes that start the first week of classes in August. The skilled
volunteer SeniorNet instructor helps to alleviate the confusion of 'where did I put that file?' New
this session are two classes covering the basics of Microsoft's new operating
system XP. Win-XP-1 starts Aug. 28 and Win-XP-2 starts Oct.
15."
AIR
CONDITIONED KAFFEE KLATCH: It's always cool when
SeniorNet members and friends gather the first Tuesday of the month for the
SeniorNet no-host Kaffee Klatch at the Crossroads Mall Food Circus at 11 am.
And on Aug. 6 this informal
social gathering to which newcomers are also invited, our next such session
takes place. And equally important, in air-conditioned comfort.
WHY PHANTOM
LAKE STUDENTS LOVE GRANPALS: As so many of our SeniorNet members who have spent an hour or so a
week with students at the Phantom Lake Elementary School helping them
learn to read via our Granpals program, you never forget the look of
love and appreciation from the kids. The Granpals program is the SeniorNet way
of saying "thanks" to the school for hosting our computer learning
center classroom by helping
teachers, but particularly, the students. Heading the Granpals program this
year is Nancy Harsh, who succeeds Patricia Herzog in this key
program. Says Nancy: "I see by the clothing catalogues it is time to be preparing ourselves for
the fall season. One volunteer
service you might think seriously about is SeniorNet's Granpal program. As a thank you for all that Phantom
Lake School does for us, we have a couple of dozen members that volunteer their
hours in the school's classrooms helping the teachers where they can.
"Some like to work with
a single child weekly while others just like to help out with tasks where the
teacher could use some help.
Whichever, it seems to be appreciated. If you are considering being a
new Granpal for this school year, or know someone who is interested in the
program, please call SeniorNet
at 206-232-5892 or email senior@seniornetps.org to request further information."
WHEN ROGER GOES, EVERYBODY
GOES: There was an excellent
reason why Roger Dalton, who heads up the task of setting up the site
for our regular registration periods at Factoria Mall, missed the June
session. He and wife Barbara celebrated
their 50th anniversary in real family style: they took the entire
family, all 12 of them to their native home in England. There, they set up an anniversary
party at the Jaguar Social Club, close to where they lived in Coventry. The
family then spent a week on a canal boat followed by a visit to France to the
Normandy beaches , and finally to Southwest France. There they visited with their daughter-in-law's family,
making this an epic family reunion. The family returned home about a
week ago for a well-earned rest.
SOFTBALL MISHAP SIDELINES
SENIORNET INSTRUCTOR: It was one of those great softball plays-if it worked. Ross Roberts with a mighty swing
whacked the ball way, way out in recent senior league play. And like, Edgar,
was on his way. But, galloping around the bases he collided with an opposing
player. However, after a few days out of action in league play, Ross was back
on the field, and also able to address a special SeniorNet instructors' meeting
on the operation of Windows XP, one of the new courses this fall.
THINGS I NEVER KNEW UNTIL
NOW: A MICROSOFT MUSEUM: Here we are virtually living next door to Microsoft, and thanks to Ray
Hansen, now know there is a Microsoft Museum. Ray was putting together a
list of local sites for visiting relatives when he came across the facts.
Although he plans to visit the site with his visitors later this month, his
research shows there are a video presentation, games and other computer things
to do. It is located at 4420
148th Ave. NE, Redmond, next door to the VFW building.
The hours, Monday to Friday only, 9 am to 7 pm. You can call the museum at
425-882-8080 for details. Admission, naturally, is free.
With the war finally ending,
and confident the world was now safe for democracy, Clif returned to his
schooling, graduating from Washington State University in marketing, and
joining a petroleum company. His career in the oil business took him on a
regular basis to Los Angeles, Everett, Seattle and Portland. His last stop with that company was at Roseburg,
Oregon. In his motel room that
night, he got a call for a six-month oil company assignment in Guam. As Clif recalls: He said, "Yes,
but where is it?" After
six months on Guam, it was on the Philippines for five years, followed by five
years in Singapore-Malaysia. Finally, after all those years moving around the
world, Clif returned to Seattle and
another career appraising commercial real estate as president of
Westingconsul, Inc., a company he formed with fellow associates. And in 1990, when he felt the time had
come to retire, he read a magazine article about SeniorNet Computer Learning
Centers, which led him to our organization, years of great service, including
his role as immediate past president. Although he and Marilyn now reside
in Vancouver, Clif, who came up with the idea of a monthly Online Newsletter,
which he foisted on the current editor, handles the monthly email mailout which
goes to some 370 readers.
JOE PONTECORVO, who was our Facilities
Coordinator when we only had a rag-tag collection of aged computers with many
problems, has spent virtually his entire working life in the aviation industry,
starting with his service in the Army Air Corps. After receiving his Honorable
Discharge, he worked for several small airlines, operated a seaplane base on
the East Coast, and in 1949 went to work for National Airlines. Ten
years later he joined the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) as an
Aviation Safety Inspector. He worked in a wide variety of position with the
FAA, including being one of the first 12 sky marshals in 1962 to guard against
hijackings. And life with the FAA involved moving around a lot to such
assignments as Washington, DC. Newark, NJ, San Francisco, CA, Seattle, Rome and
Brussels, often moving back to some of the sites. While in Washington, DC, Joe was Deputy Director of the
Office of Airworthiness. These assignments included lots of flying,
something he now misses. In 1990 Joe retired from 45 years in aviation, but was
asked to do consulting. He prepared a training plan for future inspectors of
the Chinese Aviation Authority, utilizing Power Point, and helped
develop a data and setting up a network for the Philippines Air Transport office
in Manila.
Based on his past computer
experiences, Joe in 1989 started staring at computer ads in the newspapers. His
wife, Viola, watching him checking the ads, decided to buy him a
computer for Christmas. With the guidance and help from other family members,
she purchased a used IBM XT, along with a Peter Norton book on computers. With
a chuckle, he says, "One of my granddaughters says that was the biggest
mistake the family ever made. Knowing Joe, we can understand easily his
reading of all the computer books he could lay his hands on. The second thing,
of course, was to open up the computer, something many of us still are hesitant
to do. So Joe then upgraded his XT until it could no longer be upgraded, then
assembled some later model computers. It was in 1990 that Joe joined SeniorNet,
then located at the Bellevue office building of Dr. McIntyre on 116th
Ave. NE, and took several classes. Joe also began helping out answering the
phone, teaching and maintaining the old 286 IBM-type classroom computers, with
the help of other volunteers. With his considerable computer background, Joe is
also a Beta tester for Microsoft, working on Quicken and Turbo Tax. And of
course, Joe continues with his other hobby of skiing and operating his radio
controlled model aircraft...when he's not remodeling his home. Joe is also a
frequent speaker on computers at various senior sites in the area.
CAUTION NOTE: While all
computer-operating tips come from usually reliable sources, readers are
reminded you use them at YOUR OWN RISK. Again, in case you have friends who are online, and may be
interested in taking classes to expand their skills, forward this newsletter to
them by clicking Forward when this message is displayed. Then enter
their address in the To box, and click Send. We welcome your
personal news items sent to the editor at b26flyer@attbi.com.
If you wish to receive this newsletter monthly, email your full name,
phone and email address to the above email address. And if you wish to
unsubscribe, just send a message to same email address.
Pres.> Helen Hesketh; Vice Pres.>Adella J. Granger;
Treas.>Bob Swenson; Secy>Patricia Braun; Registrar>Louise Flora; Immediate Past Pres.>Clif
Wuesthoff; Curriculum Coordinator> John Wise; Facilities Coordinator> Ken Crandall; Member-at-Large>Delores Davis; Volunteers Coordinator>
Delores Davis; Granpals Coordinator Nancy Harsh; Catalogue Editor>Clair-Jo
Hugh; Public Relations & Online Newsletter Editor> Phil Scheier;
Publicity>Bill Kyle