MIKE'S COMMENTARY THIS WEEK'S SCHEDULE NEWS & NOTES BY SUE FOUST
MIKE'S COMMENTARY AND BITS OF WISDOM:
Patrick Crispen, co-editor of The Tourbus Newsletter, used the entire Newsletter to promote two very good causes. I want to share them with you and urge you to register with the Tourbus for a weekly epistle normally chock full of computering information. Patrick writes straight forward easily readable information. http://www.TOURBUS.com
If you could pass on to your readers that if they know somebody over here, they would enjoy receiving a care package of treats or a letter. It is great receiving something in the mail from home and friends.
The key words are "know somebody." Because of security concerns, the military mail service is no longer accepting packages addressed to "any soldier" or "any service member." Some well-intentioned people have tried to bypass this new restriction by sending large quantities of packages to a single, known service member, but the Defense Logistics Agency Defense Distribution Center cautions against doing this because it "clogs the mail system and causes unnecessary delays."
So, how can you support our troops in Iraq and other countries without clogging up the military mail system? Simple! Find a service member in your community who recently deployed -- chances are someone from your work, church, or school is currently stationed overseas -- and then contact that service member's family to ask if there is anything you can do for them.
For example, offer to buy the family some supplies to be included in their next care package. Newsweek ran an brief article earlier this week talking about some of the more popular items among the soldiers in Iraq: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5359303/site/newsweek/
Most military families already know this next part, but before you ship ANYTHING to our troops make sure to double-check the US Postal Service's most recent list of restrictions on overseas military mail. You can find the list buried inside the latest Postal Bulletin at http://www.usps.com/cpim/ftp/bulletin/pb.htm The Postal Bulletin is updated every three or four weeks. Just look for "Overseas Military Mail" in the Bulletin's index.
What if you don't know a service member but still want to show your support? Not to worry. The US Department of Defense has a huge "Support Our Troops" page at http://www.defendamerica.mil/support_troops.html that has links to dozens of support agencies that sponsor programs for members of the armed forces overseas. Better still, check out the Army and Air Force Exchange Service's "Gifts from the Homefront" page at http://www.aafes.com/docs/homefront.htm This page lets you purchase gift certificates that the troops can use in any military exchange retail store. You can send the gift certificates to someone you know or you can donate it to an organization like the American Red Cross or USO who will distribute your gift certificate to a random service member.
I hope this helps.
Patrick Continues: Wear Yellow, Live Strong I don't normally reprint press releases in Tourbus -- I prefer posting stuff I write on my own -- but a lot of people have asked me recently why I am wearing a yellow, rubber wristband with the words "Live Strong" on it. Well...
As a tribute to Lance Armstrong's inspirational fight against cancer as well as his historic attempt at a sixth Tour de France win, the Lance Armstrong Foundation (LAF) and Nike will launch the Wear Yellow Live Strong campaign. Nike will donate $1 million to the Foundation and lead efforts to raise an additional $5 million through the sale of yellow wristbands engraved with Lance's mantra, Live Strong. All proceeds will benefit LAF programs that help young people with cancer live strong. Source: http://tinyurl.com/342ou Live Strong yellow wristbands are available for $1 each at http://www.wearyellow.com/ And since Nike is sponsoring the Wear Yellow Live Strong campaign, you can also purchase the wristbands at all Niketown stores.
Though closer still the blinds we pull To keep the shady parlour cool, Yet he will find a chink or two To slip his golden fingers through.
The dusty attic spider-clad He, through the keyhole, maketh glad; And through the broken edge of tiles Into the laddered hay-loft smiles.
Meantime his golden face around He bares to all the garden ground, And sheds a warm and glittering look Among the ivy's inmost nook.
Above the hills, along the blue, Round the bright air with footing true, To please the child, to paint the rose, The gardener of the World, he goes.
~Robert Louis Stevenson~
GOINGS-ON IN THE AREA
GOOD ADVICE
KCNET CLASSES: Internet and Email 4 session course Topics include using the browser to find information on the Internet, web and email addresses, sending and receiving email, forwarding and replying to email, bookmarks, using the address book, and more. There is always time for questions and general exploration.
Beginner Windows 9x/XP 4 session course Topics include an introduction to all parts of the computer, learning about the desktop, mouse features and operation, and features and operation of the keyboard. Also creating shortcut icons, using recycle bin, wallpaper and screen savers, toolbars and taskbars, drag and drop, using window features (minimize, maximize, resize, etc), control panel, accessing the different drives, and more. There is always time for questions and general exploration.
Intermediate Windows 9x/XP 4 session course Topics include organization of windows programs, creating and organizing folders, file extensions, saving files from Internet, folder and file views, formatting floppy disks, installing programs, download programs from Internet, HTML email, uninstall vs delete, scandisk and defrag, email attachments, and more. There is always time for questions and general exploration.
Advanced Windows 9x/XP 4 session course Topics include a review of the management of folders and files, an introduction to photo manipulation, introduction to web page creation, using the sound recorder, attaching recordings to emails, introduction to eyeball cams and Internet transmission, and an introduction to burning your own CDs. There is always time for questions and general exploration.
KCnet Users Group: (formerly know as "Senior Net Learners" most recently called "Advanced Class"). I wanted to call this class "The Abusers Group", but Sue would not hear of that. Attendees are persistent in their search for computer knowledge. They ask great questions and present interesting challenges. The cost for this class is $0.00 for members of KCnet and $2.00 per session for non KCnet members. There is no set format for the sessions. Occasionally we will take a specific subject and do a detailed study over a period of successive weeks. Don't be afraid to ask questions. The folks that have been attending for awhile are always happy for a review and in most cases new or better ways to do things will surface. Questions stimulate in-depth exploration with the usual result being an understanding of how and why. We welcome new attendees from the Advanced sessions and our forever growing KCnet membership. This is an advanced group and we cover a lot of territory. We are kind of free flowing. You never know what will transpire. It is not necessary for attendees to have their own computers but it sure helps with the learning curve. KCnet Advanced Class computer knowledge and Advanced Class computer skills are necessary.
OTHER CLASSES: CLICK HERE FOR ORIENTATION - BEGINNERS - INTERMEDIATE - ADVANCED CLICK HERE FOR SCANNING - MAC- GENEALOGY - WEB PAGE - EXCEL - WORD - DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY - PHOTO MANIPULATION - OTHER SPECIALTIES
THIS WEEK'S CLASS SCHEDULE: Intermediate (Windows all versions) First and Second Sessions of Four Sessions July 20 & 22 - 9:00 -11:00 am Instructor: Wayne Smith There is still time to register
Kephart Plaza Seniors Computer Lunch Bunch Tuesday June 8 -- 11:00 - 1:00 Instructor: Wayne Smith
KCnet Users Group: Every Wednesday The starting time is 9:00 AM on this Wednesday July 21. We meet in Computer Lab 1 (The Big Room). Leadership is Mike Foust and anyone that wants to jump into the fray. Another good Wednesday of sharing and discussing. There were some side events worth mentioning too: Four or five of the group volunteered to help with a local veteran project by typing vet names names and appropriate service identifiers for a county master list. There are a lot of names. Thanks folks. The group agreed to financially sponsor a deserving youngster to the KCnet computer camp starting August 16. We also congratulated Carsten Ahrens and Tom Livingston for their recent election to the KCnet Board of Directors. Both are many year active participants in the Advanced Users Group and both have assisted KCnet by teaching. We critiqued the new proposed home page for KCnet. Sara has sent it on to us for suggestions and... We agreed that generally it was a great improvement to the existing one. We discussed a number of changes and sent 5 change order suggestions to Sue. Take a look at the new proposed homepage -- http://phpserver.kcnet.org/~sara/newkcnet/ Eventually we explored computer class stuff. We perused the Langalist articles about the Microsoft upgrades including the current beta SP2 package. (Read more on the technical page this newsletter.) We all agreed that installing any program on a primary machine can be disastrous. Keep in mind that the Beta SP2 is not uninstallable and has bugs - that is why it is Beta. We then accessed and scanned the info on the Microsoft update pages. We learned that Norton has a Bloodhound. (You had to be there for this one.) We downloaded and installed a nifty news scroller. It allows the user to position a scroll bar at the top or bottom of the screen. You can choose from seven categories of ongoing current news. You can stop the scroller and access the complete story for the desired headline. It is the nicest headline/news story program I've seen. Read/download/install: http://www.enewsbar.com/?n=kimcool Some did not know that Sara McCoy has left KCnet. She writes that she misses KCnet but is enjoying the west coast and of course the extra moola. She is in Seattle Washington and coowner of the company she joined. This was a not passable opportunity and challenge. For those that want to follow Sara's venture you can access some of her company pages from the sites below. http://www.v7inc.com/ http://www.v7n.com/forums/ http://www.v7n.com/design-web-designers.php (under construction) Sara is currently working on the following sites: http://www.seattle-city.com/ - Seattle City Guide http://www.las-vegas-nv-online.com/ - Las Vegas Vacation Guide http://www.vw-lover.com/ - Volkswagen Site By the way Sara is still constructing the new KCnet home page.
Other KCnet Classes Starting Soon:
COMPUTER CAMP II 6th, 7th ,8th Graders Entire week beginning August 16th 9AM--2PM Subjects include: Building a computer - Digital Photography - Web Page Creation - Sound Creation - Editing and Recording - Music Recreation includes Dance Pads and LAN gaming Cost: $75.00
Orientation to KCnet One-Session Class – No Charge for KCnet Members Third Wednesday of Every Month 6:00 – 8:00 pm Instructor: Bob Fenton
Genealogy New Sessions will begin in September. Instructor: David Wallace
MAC User Group New Sessions will begin in September. Instructor: Clair Falls
For more class details and to register visit: http://www.kcnet.org/class/ Registration can be done online, simply click on the course you are interested in and enter the information requested. Registration can be done via phone 893-8111.
NEWS AND NOTES WITH SUE FOUST:
Rest assured, we are working to make these statements easier to understand. The goal is to be accurate and efficient and also enable you to log in and look at your account to see if a payment has been received and how far ahead you are paid.
If you have received a statement and can’t make heads nor tails of it, just call the office and ask us to explain. Also, if you have not received a statement, it may be because we don’t have your correct e-mail address listed in your account. If you suspect this, don’t hesitate to drop an e-mail to accounts@kcnet.org or just call 893-8111 and have us check the e-mail address in our records for your account.
Have you noticed that Jon Ahrens now has his own vanity e-mail address? Many people have vanity plates on their cars. Now, KCnet is offering vanity e-mail addresses. For $15 per year, you can have an address like Jon has – jon@agingmaestro.com Isn’t that neat? Yours can be anything you can think of, as long as it has not already been issued. Examples would be Mike@11mikespeak.com or mikeandsue@theweedpatch.com (don’t send to these, they aren’t real). But Jon’s address is real and it is unique. Think about doing this for someone else – birthday gift, wedding or anniversary gift. You would give a gift that keeps on giving and receiving!
Until next week…
Ray McGill, owner of Nittany Travel, is the President of KCnet; William Raco is Vice-President; Judy Yoho is Secretary and Donald C. Miller of North Bend is Treasurer. Other members of the board are Fred Bierly, Donna Gebhardt Lannan, Earl Keen, R. Keith Kelly, Paul Korn, Amy Lapriola, Paddy O’Hara-Mays, Bob Rolley, and Rich Wykoff.
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