Best of Beth Bales: RIP Steve Jobs—You Changed My World

Put Steve Jobs in the same category as Walt Disney. They were magic-makers of the first order.

  When the world found out in February 1999 that Walter Payton needed a liver transplant, I was not particularly moved. It just didn’t pertain much to my life. Then, a few weeks later, film critic Gene Siskel died. “I am so very, very sad,” I told my husband when he delivered the news. “That’s the way other people feel about Walter Payton,” he said, mildly, but with import that has stuck all these years.  That sadness I felt when Siskel died doesn’t BEGIN to cover how I felt when my middle daughter, the child who loves all things Apple, who convinced me that giving her dad an iPad for Christmas would be a fabulous, if extravagant gift, who couldn’t wait to order the MacBook she received for her high school graduation, called Wednesday …

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forest barbieri

3:34 pm on Friday, December 2, 2011

Thanks Tony! Well said! As Sir Winston once said to Lady Astor when she admonished him for being drunk, "Lady Astor, I may be drunk tonight, but tomorrow I will be sober and you will still be ugly." Some people just do not get it.   more ›

Recycling Extravaganza

The West Suburban Chamber of Commerce teamed up with Lyons Township High School to promote recycling of old computers.

On Saturday, May 21, with the help of over 75 student volunteers from Lyons Township High School and 20 local businesses, the West Suburban Chamber of Commerce held its 6th annual Computer Recycling Drive. “The event has been growing and growing each year,” said Katherine Leibforth, foundation director for the WSCC. “Last year we collected 86,000 pounds of old computers and electronics.” This year was a little slower than in years past, but the event still managed to collect over 50,000 pounds of recyclable materials from old computers, printers, cell phones and other electronics. “It went really well,” Leibforth said. “We loaded about five semi-truck trailers of material.” In addition, this year’s event also included a Green Expo, …

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About Town

A Little Guidance With Computers Can Go a Long Way

It’s very easy to get frustrated with people without e-mail and word processing skills, but it can be rewarding to help instead.

I am far from a computer guru, but I can usually figure things out on my own and accomplish what I need to do. I grew up without computers—they were just starting to really be used in school when I was in college, and home computers were still not in a majority of homes. I was forced to learn how to use them because of my employment. My employer sent me to mini classes on how to open up files, save files, and use Windows. It was the basics, but it truly helped. I have found a lot of the older generations are intimidated or afraid of using the computer. They want to and or they need to, but have never been given the basics. I recently e-mailed a picture that was needed for a project to someone. I will call this person Mike, since I do not …

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