Classes and Plays

We had a nice turnout for our Vista class on Monday.

And, here’s a picture of the ladies in my ‘Computer Confidence’ hands-on class. This evening is the last session. Here they are learning by watching their DVD of Geeks on Tour video tutorials. Teaching the class this way allows them to learn at their own rate.

It reminds me of language lab in high school. hmmm, it *is* a kind of language isn’t it?

Jim is teaching a ‘How to set up your own wireless network’ for the computer club this afternoon. I’m looking forward to being a student in that one! Right now he’s out and about in the park troubleshooting their wireless network!

We’re not taking advantage of many of the fun things this park has to offer because we’re just too busy. But, they asked us to attend the play the other night, “Death By Chocolate” and take photos. Darn! We had to go out and play for the evening. It was really good – quite funny. I posted lots more photos on the Palm Creek Blog.

There was even a love? scene:

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Classes and Plays

We had a nice turnout for our Vista class on Monday.

And, here’s a picture of the ladies in my ‘Computer Confidence’ hands-on class. This evening is the last session. Here they are learning by watching their DVD of Geeks on Tour video tutorials. Teaching the class this way allows them to learn at their own rate.

It reminds me of language lab in high school. hmmm, it *is* a kind of language isn’t it?

Jim is teaching a ‘How to set up your own wireless network’ for the computer club this afternoon. I’m looking forward to being a student in that one! Right now he’s out and about in the park troubleshooting their wireless network!

We’re not taking advantage of many of the fun things this park has to offer because we’re just too busy. But, they asked us to attend the play the other night, “Death By Chocolate” and take photos. Darn! We had to go out and play for the evening. It was really good – quite funny. I posted lots more photos on the Palm Creek Blog.

There was even a love? scene:

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Geeks on Tour mentioned in the New York Times!

In looking at my Google Analytics, I noticed a LOT more visits than normal to our Geeks on Tour website. I was able to track the source to the New York Times. They have a small article in their personal technology section about how to learn to use Picasa, and there is a link to our Video Tutorials on Picasa! Pretty cool huh?

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The Voice of the Computer

Lots of RVers use GPS navigation systems that speak. Many of them have given their computers names like Tom, Betty, or Carol. Ours is Majel. Jim named her after Majel Barrett, the wife of Gene Rodenberry who created Star Trek. Majel was the voice of the Star Trek computer in all the series!

In preparing my Windows Vista seminar, I was looking for a video clip from some Star Trek show of a conversation with the computer. I wanted to show that, no matter how sophisticated computers get, there will always be frustrations. I found this great video all about Majel as the voice of the computer. For class, I just show the part with Scotty. Scotty is always frustrated with the computer in Star Trek – it’s perfect. But the whole video is great to watch.

The class went really well by the way. I found myself thinking, “I wish I could have taken this class when I first got Vista!”

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It’s Magic

We had a great day today. Lots of people in our Picasa class, lovin’ it. Jim did some major troubleshooting/fixing of Wi-Fi stuff. It was a beautiful, sunny day. I even did a few laps in the pool.

I worked some more on our Vista seminar handouts this afternoon. Really having fun. Then, just about 5:30, I turned to Jim and said, “Gee, isn’t it time we had a bottle of wine?” He looked at the time and said, “Actually, I think it’s past time.” Neither of us got up immediately.

Within minutes, a car pulled up in front of our rig. A man got out, and knocked on our door. He handed Jim a gift bag with a bottle of Shiraz (a nice red wine) in it. There was a note saying, “Thank you Jim – for your computer help.”

Wow! That was like magic! Ask for wine, and we’re handed a bottle.

Jim said, “Isn’t it time we had a LOT of money?”

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It’s Magic

We had a great day today. Lots of people in our Picasa class, lovin’ it. Jim did some major troubleshooting/fixing of Wi-Fi stuff. It was a beautiful, sunny day. I even did a few laps in the pool.

I worked some more on our Vista seminar handouts this afternoon. Really having fun. Then, just about 5:30, I turned to Jim and said, “Gee, isn’t it time we had a bottle of wine?” He looked at the time and said, “Actually, I think it’s past time.” Neither of us got up immediately.

Within minutes, a car pulled up in front of our rig. A man got out, and knocked on our door. He handed Jim a gift bag with a bottle of Shiraz (a nice red wine) in it. There was a note saying, “Thank you Jim – for your computer help.”

Wow! That was like magic! Ask for wine, and we’re handed a bottle.

Jim said, “Isn’t it time we had a LOT of money?”

Further your computer education
**Subscribe to the Free Geeks on Tour Newsletter**

It’s Magic

We had a great day today. Lots of people in our Picasa class, lovin’ it. Jim did some major troubleshooting/fixing of Wi-Fi stuff. It was a beautiful, sunny day. I even did a few laps in the pool.

I worked some more on our Vista seminar handouts this afternoon. Really having fun. Then, just about 5:30, I turned to Jim and said, “Gee, isn’t it time we had a bottle of wine?” He looked at the time and said, “Actually, I think it’s past time.” Neither of us got up immediately.

Within minutes, a car pulled up in front of our rig. A man got out, and knocked on our door. He handed Jim a gift bag with a bottle of Shiraz (a nice red wine) in it. There was a note saying, “Thank you Jim – for your computer help.”

Wow! That was like magic! Ask for wine, and we’re handed a bottle.

Jim said, “Isn’t it time we had a LOT of money?”

Further your computer education
**Subscribe to the Free Geeks on Tour Newsletter**

Teaching and Learning and Vista

We’ve been busy this week. Didn’t make the hike, didn’t go geocaching, I don’t think I’ve even taken one picture this week

But we have been doing what we love, teaching and learning computer stuff. We had our Wi-Fi class last week for an appreciative 28 people. Although we’ve presented this information hundreds of times over the last 4 years, it’s still new to LOTS of RVers. Later in the week, one of those 28 people came up to us and said, “It worked! I tried just moving my computer to a different angle and I get a much stronger connection.” Yep, it’ 2-way radio, moving your antenna just a little can make a big difference, and a better antenna will get you a better connection. We feel like a broken record, we’ve said that so much. It’s good to know that someone benefitted.

Jim has been out and about doing support calls most all day, every day. I’ve done a few calls myself, and taught my hands-on class. But mostly, I’ve been spending a lot of time preparing for our new “Windows Vista: What’s New” seminar that we’re giving on Monday. I’ve always said, “if you really want to learn something … teach it!” I’ve learned all sorts of good stuff. You can bet I’ll have lots of Vista tips in my upcoming newsletters. Although, my favorite Vista feature that I’ve already written about in our Newsletter, is still my favorite. No, I’m not going to tell you what it is here. You need to subscribe to the newsletter for that!

I was afraid that Vista had slowed down to a snail’s pace and was going to be unworkable by class time. Then I figured out that a major update had failed on my computer. I manually installed it, and Vista is working much better. If you’re running vista make sure this update got installed. You can view your update history from Control Panel, Security Center, Windows Update, View Update History. Notice on mine below that the automatic update on KB943899 failed several times. It finally succeeded when I did it manually. And, my computer really is running *much* better now.

Further your computer education
**Subscribe to the Free Geeks on Tour Newsletter**

Teaching and Learning and Vista

We’ve been busy this week. Didn’t make the hike, didn’t go geocaching, I don’t think I’ve even taken one picture this week

But we have been doing what we love, teaching and learning computer stuff. We had our Wi-Fi class last week for an appreciative 28 people. Although we’ve presented this information hundreds of times over the last 4 years, it’s still new to LOTS of RVers. Later in the week, one of those 28 people came up to us and said, “It worked! I tried just moving my computer to a different angle and I get a much stronger connection.” Yep, it’ 2-way radio, moving your antenna just a little can make a big difference, and a better antenna will get you a better connection. We feel like a broken record, we’ve said that so much. It’s good to know that someone benefitted.

Jim has been out and about doing support calls most all day, every day. I’ve done a few calls myself, and taught my hands-on class. But mostly, I’ve been spending a lot of time preparing for our new “Windows Vista: What’s New” seminar that we’re giving on Monday. I’ve always said, “if you really want to learn something … teach it!” I’ve learned all sorts of good stuff. You can bet I’ll have lots of Vista tips in my upcoming newsletters. Although, my favorite Vista feature that I’ve already written about in our Newsletter, is still my favorite. No, I’m not going to tell you what it is here. You need to subscribe to the newsletter for that!

I was afraid that Vista had slowed down to a snail’s pace and was going to be unworkable by class time. Then I figured out that a major update had failed on my computer. I manually installed it, and Vista is working much better. If you’re running vista make sure this update got installed. You can view your update history from Control Panel, Security Center, Windows Update, View Update History. Notice on mine below that the automatic update on KB943899 failed several times. It finally succeeded when I did it manually. And, my computer really is running *much* better now.

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Marathon Runner and Black Belt Tennis Player Catches Thief

This post’s title is the headline I saw last night while watching the news after the Green Bay/New York game.

Not a big deal, usually. Then the video started. There, on the news, was our friend Margo Foster. I’ve known Margo and husband Tom longer than I’ve known Chris. We are old dive buddies.

Last Friday, Margo came home from tennis practice and found a burglar in her house. The surprised burglar fled the house with Margo in hot pursuit! She struggled with him in the back yard before he got away and ran down the street. That would have been more than enough for most women I know. But Margo is not like most of the women I know. She took off after him and easily caught up with him about 7 blocks from her house. She wrestled him and held him until the cops arrived.

Margo’s husband, Tom was the best man at our wedding. When I talked to him today, he asked if I was surprised at what Margo had done. No, not at all. I was surprised that the burglar survived with all his parts intact.

Here is a link to the video.

Way to go, Margo!

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