February 4, 2010 General Meeting Minutes

Hello Mac Enthusiasts!
Our general meeting was  held on February 4, 2010 at the Colorado Springs Senior Center. 
The Senior Center is located at: 
1514 N. Hancock Ave
Colorado Springs, CO 80903
In case of inclement weather, call (719) 385-5933 to see if we are still having the meeting.
Here are your meeting minutes for February 4, 2010

1. Special Announcements
Jeff Jensen greeted the group and reminded them to pay their dues
a. 2010 SMMUG Dues Are Overdue
If you have already renewed your membership for 2010, we thank you.  If you have not renewed or started your SMMUG membership it is easy.  You can go to our website at www.smmug.org, click on the link “Join SMMUG”, and from the page that comes up you can choose to use our online form via PayPal or credit card or you can choose to download the form and either mail it in or bring it to our next meeting. Mike Marus demonstrated how to find the membership page.
b. The February SMMUG Newsletter is Posted
It was pointed out to the group that you don’t have to be a member to view the current newsletter, you need to login to view past issues.
Check it out on our website: www.smmug.org. Thank you Laurell for producing such a great newsletter!
c.  Learn iPhoto with Mark Pimentel, Mark is our presenter at tonights meeting and he always provides a lively presentation
We’d like to make you aware of a unique opportunity for you to learn more about iPhoto ’09 in a hands-on classroom setting at the Bemis School of Art, being taught by current SMMUG member and past Director-At-Large, Mark Pimentel.
Mark will be teaching a three week class on Thursday afternoons or Saturday mornings beginning this coming week on “iPhoto Orientation” and another three week class, “iPhoto:  Advanced Techniques”, again on Thursday afternoons or Saturday mornings beginning March 4th.  Since it’s a hands-on seminar, students are expected to bring a laptop computer with the current version of iPhoto (version 8.1.1 from iLife ’09) to the class.
You can get more details about class descriptions, times, location and cost on the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center website, under Bemis School of Art Winter / Spring Classes at the following link:
http://www.csfineartscenter.org/bemisClasses.asp
Agenda:
6:00 PM – Q & A     Mike Marus
Latest security update causing some programs to quit. Is their a way to uninstall a security. Advice…Look for a fix, can’t uninstall.
Question about selecting a specific group of cells in numbers a spreadsheet program that is found in iworks.
Macronni Utility does things in the background. Runs utilities that might be scheduled to happen when your machine is not on so if you leave your machine on these operations will take place. Unix maintenance. This program is available for $7.00, local user Tom Harrington wrote the program.
Connectivity issued was discussed with one new user and he was given some good trouble shooting techniques. Recycle moden and restart your computer. He was also shown how to get to his network settings.
One user suggested that once a month you can leave your computer on. There was a small demonstration on how to schedule events on your computer specifically so maintenance operations can take place. Macronni is a good solution to the issue of making sure that your computer is getting all the necessary updates.
6:45 PM – Networking break and One-on-One Q&As for “New to Mac” people
6:55 PM – Announcements
Jeff Jensen asked for volunteers to increase their website skills to be part of a team to work on the website. Upcoming programs were discussed.
Audacity
Facebook
Fresh Ink
ichat
7:00 PM –Mark Pimentel
 For those who would like to brush up on word processing techniques and applications on your Mac, this is the presentation! We’ll cover Macintosh options for word processing, like Google Docs, Microsoft Word, Apple Pages and TextEdit plus their various advantages and disadvantages. Then, using Apple Pages, we’ll describe common word processing concepts and techniques. Time permitting; these will include setting margins, tabs, paragraph formats and styles, different fonts and incorporating graphics into your documents. If you’ve forgotten (or never really learned) basic word processing skills this might be a great way to get on the right track.
What do you need to word process?
Computer
Application
Printer
With a word processor, what you see is what you get. Most word processing programs have common elements. Cut and paste moves text and pictures around. Automatic word wrap will fit your text nicely on your page. You can change the look of your document, font, style, graphics. You can merge files, create a table of contents. Page layout programs allow you to move your text and graphics around in a nonlinear way. Outliners can extract the key elements.
Here are some of the different programs that you might run on your Mac:
Text edit comes on your Mac, free,
Google docs, online,free
Pages $80.00,
Word $150.00, The standard, Very Common, The new version saves with an .docx file and if the person receiving your document doesn’t have the new version, they can’t open it. You can turn off the feature to save as a .docx
Pages is a powerful and easy to use program. The program has a bunch of themes that you see when you open the program.
Basics of word processing
Mark reviewed the different features found in the header and then he rolled into a presentation where he manipulated text, changed margins, copied styles, and demonstrated the value of using tabs. He showed the croup how to use the inspector and use tab stops. He showed the group how to put in tab leaders which they might use in a table of contents.

 
7:50 PM – Door Prize Giveaway
Ten prizes
March meeting will have a biggie door prize
5.  Door Prizes
We have a great set of door prizes so come and join the fun and you could be one of the lucky winners!  Remember, you must be a member to win.
8:00 PM - Adjourn
3.  Special Interest Group (SIG) News
Gerry Simonson discussed the activities that will take place at the Saturday meeting.
The Special Interest Groups will meet Saturday, February 6, 2010 in the Training Room at Voelker Research, 5026 North Academy Blvd.
The Mac User SIG starts at 10:00 AM. The Saturday Mac Users SIG focuses on digital photography and video projects for Macs. Come join us, and bring your questions and your camera! Members are encouraged to bring camera photos and projects they are working on.
The 12:00 Noon Mac OS X SIG will be led by Mike Marus. The Mc OS X SIG focuses on all topics related to the Mac OS. Bring your questions and any tips and tricks you would like to pass along.
4. Upcoming Meetings. Next Month…Audacity
If there is something you would like to see covered, go to our website at www.smmug.org and click on the “forums” link.  Once on the forums page, click on the “We Take Requests” link and tell us what you would like to see at our meetings.
6.  User Group Specials
Log into the SMMUG website at www.smmug.org and log in.  Click on the “members only” link and then the “Special Offers” link and you will see a complete listing of specials available to you as a MUG member.
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As always, we have a lot going on this month.  Why not come and see for yourself and bring a friend.
And don’t forget to visit your SMMUG website at www.smmug.org for the latest information and the best links to other Mac related stuff.
Cheers,
Mark
Mark A. Griffith
megriff@smmug.org
Vice President
SMMUG, Inc.
http://www.smmug.org