We had a very friendly and interesting guest for our Friday morning class - his name is Apollo and he is a Guide Dog Puppy in training. His "mom and dad" Carol and Bob Rone gave us great info on their work with Southeastern Guide Dogs in Florida. This organization uses six breeds of dogs including Labrador Retrievers, Golden Retrievers, Goldadors, Smooth-Coat Collies, Australian Shepherds and Hungarian Vizslas. Apollo is a Vizslas with a smooth, short golden red coat. His puppy exuberance was held in check by his good training. Perhaps you would like to join in their mission to provide mobility, independence and dignity for the visually impaired. Please review the attached info to learn more about this worthwhile organization. Click Here
How would you like to organize your address records....well you should create a simple Mailing List in Excel. Library Director Mick Stafford showed us the steps of setting up a mailing list in Excel - which will later be used along with the "merge" features in Word. It is really simple to set up the mailing list if you follow the standard format that Excel and Word recognize. Attached you will find a list of the "standard" column headings used for a mailing list. Also attached is a sample worksheet showing how a typical mailing list is set up. Be sure to come to the next class where Mick will show us how to "merge" the mail list in Word to create envelope addresses and/or letters.
Scott Jones with the Galveston Bay Foundation told us how all citizens in our area should be concerned with maintaining a healthy Galveston Bay.....even if we don't live in the immediate area. We learned how water flows from north Texas all the way down to the bay. Water conservation and cleanliness will be priority issues as population continues to grow. Water is critical to economic growth of industries as well as serving personal needs of the population. Please review the material that Scott provided to learn more about the subject.
Burt Greenfield opened each class session with a poem about Sherlock Holmes.....the man that never lived and therefore never died. We all remember and love the stories about Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's fictional detective Sherlock Holmes. This semester we watched two movies and then discussed the details and actions of the characters. The group agreed that we want to see more of these movies, so we have invited Burt back in the Fall Semester....maybe we will even have popcorn.
Do you like to travel? Would you like to find someone with similar travel interests? The purpose of Friday's travel class was to bring together people interested in traveling to various destinations. It is always more fun to travel with a friend rather than alone....and many times it is more economical. Peggy Presnell has graciously taken on the task of putting travel-minded ALL members in touch with each other. There is a big, beautiful world out there.....let's go see it while we can.
Mick Stafford taught us a lot about Excel formulas and worksheets. Attached is information on Working With Basic Functions and Creating Complex Formulas. Class members worked on a sample worksheet for Yearly Expenses. We learned about date functions, currency functions, and formulas for totaling columns and rows. Then came the lesson on how to link one worksheet to another worksheet so that your totals roll forward....in this worksheet we have January, February and March. Proper formulas will allow Year-to-Date totals for January to roll forward to the February worksheet and those new totals to again roll forward to the March worksheet. Look at the attached Yearly Expense Worksheet and play with the numbers....you must have the Excel program on you computer to pull up the worksheet and work on it.
Librarians Monica Norem, Tracy Williams, and Melanie Wachsmann, presented an excellent two-part program on Jane Austen. Jane Austen, an English novelist, lived from 1775 to 1817. Her books are primarily romantic fiction describing the gentry class during that time. Even now her books are among the most widely read novels....many of which have been adapted to film. Please review the attached for a listing of books, films and even modern TV shows based on story lines from her writings. Click Here.
The class on Decoupage Bracelets was a lesson in how to turn "trash" into "treasure". Linda Gabrielson is soooo creative. We had a fun time picking out decorative paper that we then learned how to apply to discarded tape and ribbon tubes. Creative people make the world a more fun place. Thanks Linda!! Instructions
One of the featured speakers at the Focus on Social Security and Medicare was Barbara McGinity of the Better Business Bureau. She gave us a great overview of the guidelines and benefits under the Medicare program. Click Here
Peggy Presnell has presented four travel oriented classes to the ALL members. She, and others, shared information from their personal travels to many locations near and far. Click the following link for some of Peggy's "Random Tips to Remember in Planning Your Travel." Now that we have had the discussions, it's time to actually travel. Look at the bottom of page two for a couple of trips for which she has reserved group space for ALL. Wouldn't it be fun to travel with some of your ALL friends. Call Peggy at 281-304-7127 for more details.
Ken Lambert is the Funeral Negotiator. He is not a salesman nor does he does he work for a funeral home. He works to educate and assist families when the inevitable happens. Don't let your loved one make expensive mistakes during this sensitive time. Ken takes on the tasks of negotiating expenses related to funerals. Please review the attached info to learn more about the services of Ken Lambert as the Funeral Negotiator. Click here for info.