Saturday, February 26, 2005

Where "R" the Writers ? Send in the Writers...
ron thomas

Since we had our problem with spammers putting advertisements on the webpage we've had NO articles written by anybody but me. This of course leads to a boring and stilted web site with only one writer.It also leads to me running out of ideas as to what should be here on the page.

We had to take measures to remove those that had access to the website to publish posts (articles) in order to isolate where the SPAM ATTACK was coming from. At present there are NO folks signed on to publish articles. All that were had to be deleted to get rid of the Spam Virus that was causing the problem.


I would like to tell you a little bit about how this website works. There is the position of ADMINISTRATOR... This is typically the owner of the site. This person can alter the way the the page looks and what it can do by use of a code called HTML (hyper text machine language). This person can write and publish articles using a special word processor called an HTML EDITOR. This EDITOR allows one to put in colors, bolding, and different sizes of type face and also provides a means to which the writer can install any HTML coding that they may want. But it is in its most basic essence just a typewriter with a few extra bangles tacked on. If you use it... You only use those features that you know how to use. The ADMINISTRATOR also can edit and delete any article published on the site.

TEAM MEMBERS of the webpage are those that sign up to write on a regular basis on our website. They are given access to the HTML EDITOR to write and edit their own articles (called POSTS) but cannot do anything to other folks POSTS. They can come back and correct (EDIT)errors in their writing.

Everybody else can write on the page (MAKE A POST) by simply sending an email to the SPECIAL E-MAIL PUBLISHING ADDRESS. When something you write is sent to this address it is posted , usually within minutes, after you send it. This is done automatically. We DO NOT publish this address here on the website because this leads to SPAMMERS acquiring the means to send their junk to the website. Still, after a time the SPAMMERS inevitably find the address and we have to change it and then notify everybody to get it again.

This then is a capsule of how this page works. We would like you to participate. You can find the SPECIAL EMAIL ADDRESS posted on the bulletin board at the clubhouse or you can email me CLICK HERE and I will send it to you. Anybody that reads our website can get this address. That includes our children, grandchildren and other interested folks. Those who would like to gain the degree of access to the website of a TEAM MEMBER should also send an email to me and we will get you set up.

Finally, you should know the rules of this website. They have evolved to these rules of the road:


* The GOLDEN RULE is in force at all times. Do unto your neighbors as you would have them do unto you.

* Articles prostelitizing religion not allowed. We will create a site for those wishing to do so in the community as soon as a person willing to be responsible for it volunteers. Of course we will teach them how to use it too.

* Political discussions or articles not allowed. As soon as Jim McCrea gets back from vacation he has agreed to host such a site and we will build it for him linking it to our website.



That about sums up the website. I hope to see more participation. When even the comments fall off it is hard to see if we are going in the right-write direction.

classic cars

This one is for you Frank Mazzeo and all you other classic car buffs
ron thomas


Have a taste for the big machines of bygone years? Here you can find pictures and statistics of the classics ... Check out their pictures link ...

CLICK HERE



Friday, February 25, 2005

crossword puzzles

Crossword Puzzles anyone?
ron thomas


We will be trying out some new links here for your enjoyment. If you like something comment on it and we will link it to the web page for easy access. Here is one that provides different size Crossword puzzles. Follow their instructions on selecting a puzzle and you will have it right there on your screen where you can copy it with your printer... hours of fun. The solution to each puzzle is a link in the top right corner of the puzzle... Enjoy.

CROSSWORDS CLICK HERE



Thursday, February 24, 2005

BEFORE PICASA IS APPLIED (THIS CAN BE VIEWED IN THIS SIZE ONLY and in the dark)



AFTER APPLYING PICASA (THIS CAN BE ENLARGED BY CLICKING ON THE PICTURE)


DOWNLOAD PICASA FOR FREE FROM THE LINK ON THE LEFT....
New Items For Sale on the Electronic Bulletin Board!!

Wednesday, February 23, 2005

fritterer

fyi....
Jean Hart called and said there was a story on TV channel 8 about a modular home park being sold to its renters by one of the people that owns this park, Brian Fitterer. Research on the net revealed this story from the Keizer newspaper. We've put here for your information.CLICK HERE FOR THE STORY


Residents meet, fear property loss

Published: February 11, 2005

By ERIC A. HOWALD of the Keizertimes



Last month, the owner of a Keizer manufactured home park used a relatively recent Oregon law to try to force park residents to buy the land on which their homes sit or have it sold from underneath them.

On Monday, residents of another Keizer park owned by the same man gathered to discuss how they could prevent that from happening to their homes.

Residents of Briarwood Estates, off Chemawa Road North, met to discuss their options if the park owner, Brian Fitterer of Newport Beach, Calif., decides to convert the park into a subdivision and sell lots individually.

Contacted by phone this week, Fitterer said that he has no plans to convert the park right now.
In November, Fitterer notified residents of his other local park, Iris Village in North Keizer, that they would either need to purchase their lots or risk having the land placed on the open market.
Fitterer is allowed to sell lots individually once a park has been converted into a subdivision because of a bill passed by the Oregon Legislature in 2003.

He contends that by allowing the residents to purchase the land on which their home sits residents will build greater equity in their property.

"For some reason, it hasn't been explained well to the residents at Iris Village, but many of the ones I have talked to personally have decided to purchase their lots. Right now there is a lot of miscommunication which we're trying to sort out," Fitterer said.

However, according to Pat Schwoch, executive director of Manufactured Home Owners of Oregon Inc., Fitterer is abusing a law intended for different use.

Schwoch has been an activist for the rights of manufactured home owners for more than six years, and MHOO was an active participant when the legislation was drafted.
"We wanted park owners to be able to sell lots to fill empty spaces with stick-built homes, but we never intended for it to be used as a tool to remove people from the property they are renting," said Schwoch.

Schwoch attended the meeting of Briarwood Estates residents Monday because of her role as an activist, and because she's encountered Fitterer before.
"He owns several parks in Oregon, and he's the poster boy for the reason why our organization exists," said Schwoch.

Swoch's organization is investigating the situation at Iris Village and hopes to draft legislation to prevent the tactic at other parks in the future.
Advocates for the residents of Iris Village say the tenants should have been notified in writing that their park was being converted to a subdivision. Instead, survey crews inspecting the park's qualifications for conversion to a subdivision were the ones to inform most of the residents.

"That was the first time we heard anything about it," said Donna Burleigh, a former assistant manager at Iris Village.

Residents were told that they would have until Jan. 29 to either purchase their property or risk it being sold. Since the story mhttp://www.keizertimes.com/admin/images/addstory.gifade headlines two weeks ago, the deadline has been extended to March 1.

Fitterer said the window was extended to allow residents the right of first refusal, which began Jan1.

Two vacant lots have already been placed on the market and a few residents have secured financing to buy their lots, but many are opting to move.

Even if residents can secure financing, loan approval can entail a host of expenses including the condition that the home be placed on a foundation prior to or after the approval.

Since conversion to a subdivision has not yet begun at Briarwood Estates, the residents still have options. They can appeal to the city to disallow conversion or they could opt to form a non-profit corporation and purchase it themselves - a solution that has worked in both California and Oregon.

"At least know we know what's coming and we can act to prevent it," said Schwoch.

Tuesday, February 22, 2005


Donna Davi Operated on....
Ron Thomas


Ben Davi called this afternoon and said Donna was operated on at 7:30am and is back in her room resting. They were in Eugene for the operation and will be staying there today. Ben said they expect to be home tommorow. Donna's surgery was for a rotator cuff repair.


Think good thoughts for Donna and we will look forward to seeing her on the mend here at home.

Sunday, February 20, 2005


First Picasa lesson on the school house site!

The email that Alice McCllelan sent warning about a Virus is...

thanks to Jim Dodds for clarifaction:


The email making the rounds to a lot of us is a fraud designed to cause concern and worry to the recipients of the message. Jim Dodds provided several resources showing this message as fraudulent. Here is a link to Symantec (Norton anti-virus) that shows what the virus looks like in its various forms and explains it simply and concisely.
Symantec


Thanks to Jim Dodds for looking after the communities security concerns


Picasa!!!
ron thomas

Well it feels kind of like a Picasa kind of evening. Let's talk about what we are going to do and how it is going to come about....

First , many of us have noticed that our computers have our pictures that we have received through email and those that we have downloaded to our computer and even some we have no idea how they got on our computer. They seem to be all over the place and we have difficulty even knowing what we have let alone how to find them. If we had a simple way to find them and organize them and all others that came along we might be interested in investing a little time in that project?

What if we organized them into different albums and could make them clear and sharp with the click of a mouse? What if we wanted to play and put a red or green lens on the picture to give it a sureal quality? What if we wanted to click on a button to make our picture look like an old tin type? Maybe we don't like Uncle Ralphs slobering dog standing next to him but the picture of him is really good..click with the mouse and dog be gone. Increase or decrease the size of the picture? Clic, click done. Turn a summer sky into a winter sky..click ..click..Done.

Click and an album is put on a slide show on your computer..Except if you have TIVO then the slide show can be seen on your 54 inch TV screen..Clear as a bell. Organize your grandkids pictures in chronological order and watch them grow before your very eyes.

Ah yes... And all this wonderful new hobby for you comes to you at the cost of ...... Not a dime! No kidding. I've already gone through most of the process using Picasa 1 which I thought was a bit difficult for most of our seniors but now there is Picasa 2 and it is so user (that's you) friendly that you almost know what to do before they tell you.

If you want to try this there is more after everybody gets this one going we will move on to downloading the FREE sister program to Picasa which is called HELLO.

Hello uses a different technology for sending and receiving pictures. You know when you are in a chat room and type an answer to someone's question? Well hello incorporates a chatroom and at the same time you are talking pictures are sent in a second where old technology would have taken minutes and that is at dialup connection speed. Hello also allows you to leave and share pictures with those friends and relatives on your personal list.

So this is quite a project. I would like to point out to you that in order to put pictures on the website I have to pay about $40 a year to second site that stores what I want to put on the website but Hello will do it for nothing and so I soon will be experimenting with ways to put the icons on Hello (icons are pictures).

So , all retirees wanting a new fun/free hobby to use your computer and camera we are about to embark on an adventure. I will be your guide for part of the way but expect to be overtaken by those with a real love of photograpy along the way.. We may even start thinking of ourselves as a computer picture club down the way. Might even have meetings to share discoveries... Who knows?

Now you know what we are going to do I'm writing the lesson now. For those chomping at the bit go ahead and download Picasa now... There is link on the left side of the page... If anybody has trouble downloading it let me know .. I can help you even if I have to come to your computer and scold it for being difficult.