by Doris Collins, VP of Programs

     If you didn't attend the March meeting, you missed a lot of excitement! No, the speaker wasn't that great; in fact, instead of a speaker we had smoke pouring from one of the heating vents. It turned out that, in this case, where there was smoke, there was no fire, but the room smelled so awful we could not hold the meeting. So....Eric Johnston has agreed to return next month to present his lesson, as described below. For those of you who were unable to be at the SNUG meeting the morning he spoke (the third Thursday in March), you missed a real treat. Don't miss the April 20th meeting - you will learn a lot!

      Do you ever wonder what the future holds? Wish you had a "crystal ball" to see what is in store for you. Well, if you come to our April General Meeting, at least part of that question will be answered.
      No, we are not having a fortune-teller as our guest speaker. However, we are having someone who beta tests software for Microsoft, and therefore knows where Microsoft Windows and Microsoft Office are headed in the next few years. This promises to be a very interesting and informative session.
      Our guest speaker will be Eric Johnston, who last visited us in 2004, when he discussed multimedia. This month he will show us how the new Windows operating system and Microsoft Office are evolving.
       Eric has been using, programming, consulting, and teaching about computer hardware, operating systems and applications for the last twenty years. He is a freelance technical editor of the Office XP (including VBA), Win XP, XML, and Dreamweaver MX manuals for Course Technology. He holds the following certifications: MOUS - (Microsoft Office User Specialist) Certified Master - (Expert) in Word, Excel, Access, and PowerPoint. COMPTIA A+ - Certified Technician. BrainBench Certified – Technical Writing, Word 2000 Expert, Excel 2000 Expert. He is currently a freelance technical editor/graphic artist of the Office XP (including VBA), Win XP, XML, and Dreamweaver 4 manuals for Course Technology. He should be able to answer any questions you might have on the subject he's presenting.
       Eric always brings along a CD of helpful, useful programs that he's accumulated from various sources. Copies of this CD will be made available to the group as soon as they can be duplicated.
      Be sure to attend this meeting at 7:00 on April 20. Eric's presentation should last about an hour (or more, depending on questions from the audience), and then we will have our drawing for door prizes. Each month we give a free membership to a visiting non-member. Thanks to the generosity of one of our newest members, we also have a copy of the "Click 'n Burn Plus" CD recording software to offer one of the winners of the visitor's drawing. We will then draw two names for prizes from among the membership. This month one of the prizes will be a copy of Microsoft's "Digital Image Suite 8," which is a complete organizing, photo editing, sharing and archiving program. The other prize will be a copy of McAfee's Internet Security Suite 2006 - with a 128mb MP3 player included in the box! This program includes virus software, a firewall, a spam killer and much more, plus free technical support, if needed.
      Be sure and join us for an informative lesson from Eric Johnston and stay for the drawing for these great prizes!