By Phil Scheier
26 Courses Offered:
Computers for Beginners; WIN XP; Budgeting with Excel; Writing With
Word; Riding the Internet; Photo Editing; Scanning; Genealogy; Managing Your
Files; Track Finances,
Investments Using Quicken
SENIORNET EXPANDS COMPUTER COURSE OFFERINGS;
REGISTER TUES.,
NOV. 12th AT 10 AM, CROSSROADS
MALL
A dazzling and expanded choice of 26 computer classes-from beginner basics to advanced students-- for the coming year by the all-volunteer SeniorNet Computer Learning Center will be on tap for seniors registering for next term classes on Tuesday morning, Nov. 12th at the Crossroads Mall, Bellevue, 10 A.M-12 Noon. For those unable to register in person, call the SeniorNet voice mail at 206-232-5892 to receive registration forms. Also check courses offered via our SeniorNet web Site at www.seniornetps.org.
Registration Co-Chairmen
Harry Shedd and Ray French said classes will be assigned on a first come, first served basis. "We are expanding our Windows XP
training, and now offer four different courses for XP users this
semester," they said, adding,
"Life Stories Follow-up", is a new follow-on course for those
who have taken the initial course. A new course entitled, "Budgeting Using
MS Excel", will be offered. "Fun With Recipes" is a course that
has been asked for...it will be offered for the first time. The course that
most people should opt for is called, "Where Is My Stuff." We make
files and more files and most often can't find the file we know we made. This
course is for all in that category. In all, 26 courses will be offered. The
basic Windows, Word, and Internet classes will again be on the agenda, as will
Photo Editing and Scanning, Genealogy, and Track Your Investments/Finances With
Quicken."
The Crossroads Mall, with
its famed and enticing varied Food Circus, is located at 156th
Ave. NE, and NE 8th St. And as in the past, Co-Chairmen Shedd and French
said, "registration will be at the south end of the Mall, between Old Navy
and Bed and Bath and extending around the corner toward the south entrance to
the Mall (N.E. 8th St. side) where our tables will be set up. Registration will
be from 10 A.M. - 12 noon. Numbers will be handed out starting at 8:30 A.M. for
early arrivals. Volunteers should begin to arrive after 8:15 A.M. (coffee and
donuts will be there for them).
BRING A FRIEND TO
REGISTER-AND YOU BOTH WIN: A great way to help a friend take advantage of the
learning opportunities at our all-volunteer SeniorNet Computer Learning
Center, is to bring her/him to register, and you both win. With class
registration scheduled for Nov. 12 (see above story) if your friend joins SeniorNet and
registers for a class you will receive a gift certificate for a free class.
Call the voice mail and a coupon will be sent to you. They are also available in the classroom. If you have any
questions about this offer call the voice mail at 206-232-5892. This
offer expires December 20, 2002. But the benefits for your friend wanting to
either start learning computers, or to expand his/her skills, and the benefits
to you, just keep on growing.
MEMBERSHIP
MEETING NOV. 19TH:
LEARN HOW TO GUARD AGAINST STROKES The need to learn of the threat of strokes, vascular
disease and osteoporosis, and how to watch for warning signs, especially for
seniors, will highlight the Tuesday, Nov. 19th monthly Membership
Meeting 10 am, at the Crossroads Mall Community Room. Kayce Field
of LifeLine Screening will discuss some of the major
health risks via a Health Risk Assessment, according to SeniorNet Pres.
Helen Hesketh.
Helen urged, "Educate yourself on strokes, vascular disease and
osteoporosis by attending this informative program and take a Health Risk
Assessment. You might even win a free screening. I did at the program I
attended, and got a free screening. Fortunately I received a good report. There
is no pressure to sign up for a screening. A National Stroke Association survey
indicated that 97% of the adult population surveyed could not recognize the
warning signs of a stroke. Can you?" she asked.
"Come hear about some of the major health risks we face today. Stroke is
the nation's third largest killer, right behind heart disease and cancer. It
can be debilitating. The chance of experiencing a stroke increases with age.
For each decade after age 55 the risk of stroke doubles. By identifying health
risks early and taking preventive action, a person's quality of life can be
improved," she said.
EXPERT
ADVISES: DO YOUR HOMEWORK BEFORE INVESTING: The featured talk at our
monthly October Membership meeting didn't have much to do with computers. It
had to do with something almost as important: your life savings, with the talk
given by a top expert in the field. Because of the high interest in the talk,
the meeting was held at the larger meeting hall at the Bellevue Regional
Library.
Alicia Haus, manager of Education
for the Department of Financial Institutions for the State of Washington Securities
Division alerted members to the dangers of investment fraud, with seniors
major targets of scammers. "Financial scams and fraud cost Americans over
five billion dollars each and every year," she said. "Unfortunately, the majority of
those dollars are stolen from senior citizens. This is doubly tragic, not only because they have lost their
life savings, but also because they don't have the working years ahead of them
to recoup the losses they've suffered. This is why it's so important you do your
homework any time you're considering a new investment, or you've encountered a
financial services professional you might want to work with. We can tell you," she said,
"whether or not the investment you've considered is registered, or the
investment professional you want to work with is licensed - two very important
components that weigh in on the successful side of your investment
equation. You can reach the
Department of Financial Institutions with these questions at 1-800-FRAUD-03."
Of special interest to her
SeniorNet audience, most of them online, Ms. Haus stressed: "There are
many resources for understanding or reporting fraud. For members interested in researching or reporting
fraudulent email or internet scams, please visit the Internet Fraud Complaint
Center at http://www1.ifccfbi.gov/indec.asp. For members who want to prevent
financial companies from sending them loan and credit card offers, please call 1-800-5OPTOUT
and request that your name be permanently removed from such offers. This
number reaches all three credit bureaus simultaneously, and it is okay
to give them your social security number to process your request as it's
associated with your credit report.
Finally, for those interested in the research, investigation, and
prosecution of white collar crime, please check out the National White Collar
Crime Center at http://www.iir.com/nwcc.htm."
She thanked SeniorNet members for their "dedication and
determination to educate, empower and inform themselves and their community
members with the many computer classes and programs they offer." SeniorNet members interested in
assisting the Department in spreading the message of investment fraud awareness
to their peers or community members, are asked to contact Alica Haus at
1-800-FRAUD-03."
HELEN HESKETH ELECTED 'VOLUNTEER OF THE YEAR:' No surprise to those who
really, really know Helen Hesketh, the busy president of our SeniorNet
Computer Learning Center of Puget Sound, that the King County Retired and
Senior Volunteer Program members
recently elected her as "Volunteer of the year." Here is how
Helen was hailed by Seattle Times columnist Sherry Grindeland in her
Oct. 29th column:
'Among other volunteer jobs at SeniorNet of Puget Sound, Helen
Hesketh of Bellevue counts ballots when the group votes for anything.
" I had to sit there and keep counting my name," she said. "It
was strange to open all the votes and keep seeing my own name." Her name was then sent to the King
County Retired and Senior Volunteer Program's (RSVP) volunteer-of-the-year
contest. When the RSVP folks selected Hesketh as volunteer of the year, they
had difficulty tracking her down.
'She and her husband, Joe, were at a recreational-vehicle rally
in Nevada, 100 miles south of Reno - putting on a seminar about relationship
challenges for RV couples. "I played telephone tag long distance with the
people at RSVP," Helen said. When told she was the winner, Hesketh agreed
to attend an awards ceremony. However she had to change airplane tickets
to do so. She traveled about 900 miles in two days to return for the SeniorNet
meeting In October and then jumped on an airplane that afternoon, arriving at
midnight in New Haven, Connecticut. There was a SeniorNet conference that Helen
attended and where she spoke about our Learning Center. "Then the trip
home found us arriving at midnight on Monday for the next day's
ceremony," she said. "I was tired, but it was worth it." Currently,
Hesketh is president of SeniorNet of Puget Sound. She has been volunteering
there since 1995 and has helped the group upgrade computers. Other members joke
that even while Hesketh travels, "she directs and keeps the group
shipshape via email." '
SEE
YOU AT OUR MONTHLY TUESDAY MORNING KAFFEE KLATCH: Yes, it's time again for
our monthly informal, no-host Kaffee Klatch socials at the Crossroads Mall
Food Circus, Tuesday, Nov. 5th, at 11:30 am. Just look for a couple of tables
pulled together near the north end of the food circus area, slide into an empty
chair, or just pull up another table.
MARILYN EMERSON was born with a sense of adventure sparked, she
says, by her living closely in her childhood in Sacramento, CA, to the famed
Sutter's Fort of the 1849 Gold Rush era. This, she says, has kept her going
onwards and upwards ever since to a Nursing Degree and many years working in
the operating room of a large hospital here. Although she and Clif Wuesthoff
moved their home to Vancouver, WA a while back, she and Clif remain active
SeniorNetters. Clif, the immediate past president of SeniorNet, is the person
who dreamt up the concept of this monthly online SeniorNet newsletter. And
persuaded/threatened this writer into creating it some three years ago. Clif's
contribution is to handle the newsletter's monthly online distribution and
growing mail list to almost 400 readers.
Marilyn
attended the University of California, San Francisco, for a degree in Nursing
before returning to Sacramento to raise a family. As Marilyn recalls: "The job market led to Bellevue,
Boeing and the University of Washington Hospital. Busiest years were working in the operating room at the UWMC
for 25 years and at the same time keeping up with family ventures and
activities. It was an honor and a
wonderful learning opportunity to be a nurse at the University Medical
Center.
"At retirement I decided to finally get
organized (ha!!) and thus I bought a computer. My discovery of SeniorNet was with the hope of better
understanding the universe of computers.
This new direction led less to getting organized than to wonderful new
friends, new knowledge and access to endless information about
---whatever. A good way to keep
updated with my son and family in California is now through the phone line
messages (e-mail). Of course, one
very special person entered my life at this time. Looking for an easier means of survival (time and
energy seem to be decreasing as time goes on) and with much research via travel
and the computer, a move to Vancouver, WA, seemed to be the right choice. Clif and I enjoy our new home but we do
miss the SeniorNet community. I
have enjoyed being active in different ways as Registrar, briefly as
Instructor, as class assistant and helping at the Brown Bag and
Registration. Thanks for the
memories." And we thank you and Clif.
JOIN US ON A
SPACE TRIP---VIA COMPUTER: It wasn't enough for SeniorNet instructor and retired Air Force
Major Ross Roberts to spend a virtual lifetime flying the world skies
aboard an Air Force C-130, and other planes before retiring and joining Boeing.
The Air Force Academy grad is now in his free time-virtually--zooming through
outer space aboard a unique Spacewanderer Web site which carries him
from the Moon, to Jupiter, Mars and intervening points all measured in light
years. Light years? The distance light travels in the course of a year which
is-(You figure it out!)). With the use of actual color shots of space, and the
surface of the Moon and Mars, travelers sitting safely in front of their
computers, can-again, virtually-achieve astronaut bliss---without even having
to steer anything.
Ross who teaches
internet courses, includes the URL for other would-be astronauts: http://spacewander.com/USA/english.html. And for an added chuckle, The Planetary
Society with tongue-in-cheek (a difficult job for an organization this size)
has an offer few can refuse: "SpaceWander offers real trips to the International Space
Station, sub-orbital flights (Edge of Space trip), zero-gravity flights, and
simulation trips. If you are interested in the
above options and are over 18 years old,," according to the straight-faced announcement, "
please email chas@spacewander.com
your FULL information (first and last name, mailing address, & email).
Prices range from $98,000 (Edge of Space Trip) to $20 million (Space Station
trip). We also offer less expensive options with our Zero-Gravity Flights
($5,400), Launch Tours ($1,150), Russian Space Tours ($2,675), Antarctica
Meteorite Expedition ($44,000), Deep Sea Diving Trip to the hydrothermal vents-
where there is no sunlight! ($21,950) and much more!" The line forms at
the right.
AND BELOW-HANDY COMPUTER TIPS
INTERNET EXPLORER (IE)-To speed write an URL that
has http://www. At the beginning and .com at the end, you
can get there quickly by typing the word that comes in between, hold down the CTRL
key, and press ENTER. IE will automatically add the rest of the URL.
(From Smart Computing
Q and A)
EMAIL DOCUMENT DIRECTLY FROM WORD- If you use Outlook
Express as your email default, you can directly send a Word 2000 document
to the email page ready to send out after you type in the address. In Word 2000
open the document you wish to email. Select the email icon from the Standard
toolbar at top of page.(Click View, Toolbar, check Standard). The OE page
will open with the document already installed in the OE page. Just type in the
address and click on Send. Cool!