 The magazine of the Melbourne PC User Group PC (President's Comments) Morris Tobias president@melbpc.org.au |
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Gary Taig - you have shown your true colours! The October PC Update, which you put together at unbelievably short notice is amazing. You obviously worked 24 hours a day to make the deadline, let alone creating the style and layout for these temporary editions. On behalf of the Members of Melbourne PC User Group, I salute you. Thanks.
There is an old expression that states "Your Blood is Worth Bottling". This is still true, except that now it is put into plastic bags. Every Summer, between 1 December and the last day of February, the Red Cross Blood Bank hosts The Summer Challenge to community groups to see which group can give the largest number of blood donations.
This is an excellent campaign because it achieves several objectives:
- It raises the awareness of a need for blood supplies in emergency and surgical wards in our hospitals.
- It provides a really personal way to show the community that you care.
- It provides Melb PC members with a way to publicly show our community mindedness as a group.
- It probably keeps many people alive who might otherwise die without these important contributions.
Giving blood is a fairly painless exercise. In order to qualify as a blood donor, you need to be under 71 years of age, and in good health. There are a few questions asked of you each time you give a donation to ensure that you have maintained your health. Simply phone the Blood Bank on 13-14-95 to make an appointment.
After you have given your donation, you are invited to go to the refreshment area for something to eat and drink, and at this time you can register your donation on behalf of Melbourne PC User Group.
Of the 25 or more community groups that participate, we have a reasonably large membership and could be in with a big chance to win the challenge.
With your help, and with the help of your family and friends, we could move closer to the top and give benefit to the community and Melb PC in general.
So if you are healthy and want to help, call 13-14-95 and make your appointment for a Blood Donation before 29 February 2000
For further information, please contact Morris Tobias on 03 9682 2577 during business hours.
Volunteer of the Month
The honours for the November volunteer of the month goes to Graham Ackland. Graham began his career as an electrical engineer with the now defunct SEC in 1957 and retired in 1990. His interest in computers began in 1957 when he was taught Fortran programming for an IBM mainframe computer (punched paper tape in those days). In the 1980s he began to use PCs and purchased a Tandy Color Computer (32 KB RAM) and taught himself some assembler language.
Upon retirement, Graham bought a real PC and joined Melbourne PC User Group. He quickly became a regular and invaluable helper in the office.
When Melb PC's First Aid service started - where calls are diverted directly to members' homes between the hours of 10 am and 3 pm, Graham volunteered and was rostered on one day a week - something he is still doing all these years later.
First Aid can be a challenging job, anything from computers that won't start up to data recovery, and of course, many questions relating to Internet access. While challenging, Graham concedes that he has learnt a great deal from figuring out other people's problems.
Outside Melb PC, Graham is an active member of Rotary and Probus, and regularly babysits his two grandchildren.
Reprinted from the November 1999 issue of PC Update, the magazine of Melbourne PC User Group, Australia
