From the Trainer

I have been using computers in my personal and professional life for thirty years. Nevertheless, I still remember my first experience and the unmitigated dread with which I faced my first computer. It was 1981, my children were in grade school and my youngest son was sill a baby. We bought a Commodore 64 for Christmas and it sat on the desk for months surrounded in mystery and suspicion. At first I would turn it on, stare at it for a while and walk away. I would leave it on for hours hoping it would suddenly become a comprehensible thing.

When someone did begin teaching me how to use it - I asked the same questions over and over and over again. I wrote instructions on little pieces of paper and taped them all over the desk. I still ask questions and I still write notes to myself. I am still learning new and wonderful (and simple!) ways to use my computers.

As a trainer, I have 14 years experience with Hewlett-Packard, writing end-user documentation and training on-line support staff in the technical and soft skills necessary to effectively assist HP customers in using their computers and printers. From this, I developed a passion for teaching others how to use the computer and how to make the tools work for them.

I appreciate the benefits of both the MS Windows environment and the Macintosh system. I use all of the Microsoft Office applications and many design and graphics tools. I have never met a computer I did not like or a student who could not learn. I have taught children in a classroom to use computers. I have taught friends and associates how to master the skills necessary to do the things they want to do and the things they need to do.

I especially enjoy training seniors because they bring a lifetime of awareness and understanding to the learning experience.  Moreover, seniors, more than any other single demographic, deserve the use of this wonderful communication tool.  I was fortunate to begin using a computer at just the right moment in time; I was still young enough to appreciate new innovations when personal computers were just hitting the home market. After 30 years, I still enjoy the new challenges of an evolving technology; and when I can no longer dash off to the bookstores or drop into the cinema for a matinee, I will still have the world at my finger tips.

My mother had never used a type writer but she was a prolific letter writer with many friends that she communicated with regularly. When she was no longer able to write letters, I bought her a computer and slowly she learned to create letters and surf the web for interesting things to talk about.

My children's generation will bring with them this great new asset as they get older, but my mother's generation and much of my generation will have to learn to use this great new resource for sharing and communication. Moreover, seniors can bring a breadth and depth of information to the World Wide Web that no amount of speed and technology will ever accomplish. I want them to be out there in cyberspace computing in the cloud.

And I want you to be able to enjoy the use of your computer. Call me and tell me what you want to do with your computer and I will show you how easy it can be!

Sincerely,