Welcome to the July 2008 edition of the HAL-PC/HALNet monthly eBulletin. If you wish to stop receiving these bulletins, send an email to e-bulletin-off@hal-pc.org. This month: Membership Drive, Amazon.com Associates Program, HALNet ADSL, Coming Events, Clear Lake, SIG News, Class Listing, Board Of Directors Election, Volunteer of the Month, Magazine.

HAL-PC/HALNet MEMBERSHIP DRIVE

HAL PC needs to members to remain viable and we ask our current members to invite their friends to join both HAL-PC and our HALnet service. If you are already a member you know the quality of service which we offer at competitive prices plus your friends can join you at the SIG's and informative meetings or take one of our many courses together.

You can get a free extension of time on your HALNet account for referring new users to our service! For every signup you refer, your account will be extended by $10.00 worth of time. Dial-up users will get an extra month, DSL accounts will get $10.00 worth of extra days. Here's how the program works:

1. Go to the User Account Login Page and login with your HALNet user id and password
   
   
2. In the upper left corner of the client administration page you will see a button labeled 'Referrals'. Click it!
   
   
3. The Referrals information page tells you how the program works. Look for the following words near the bottom of the page:
   
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   When your friends and neighbors use the following url to sign up for HALNet Internet Service you'll get credit for the referral!
   
   https://office.hal-pc.org/halnet/referrals/join1.php?more_time=XX
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   This is a specially-generated link to the online signup page that is keyed to your HALNet account. Be sure to tell your friend to follow that link to sign up so you will get credit.

HAL-PC JOINS AMAZON.COM ASSOCIATES PROGRAM

HAL-PC has joined Amazon.com's Associates Program. There is now an Amazon.com search box on the HAL-PC web site - look on the menu bar on the left side of the home page. All you need to do is start your Amazon.com search in this search box and any item purchased during that session will generate a commission for HAL-PC. It's that easy! Select books, CDs, DVDs, and a myriad of other products and support HAL-PC at the same time!

HALNet ADSL

Want the speed and convenience of an always-on broadband connection without the hassles of foreign call centers or notoriously poor customer service? HALNet has an ADSL plan for every user! Upgrade your connection now - call 713-993-3300 and ask for the ADSL tech to see if your phone line qualifies for ADSL.

HAL-PC/HALNet ADSL Customers: please have your ADSL phone number handy when talking to Doug our ADSL Coordinator. This makes an ADSL customer data look-up faster. Also remember, before calling, please do the ADSL Troubleshooting steps first. "Troubleshooting Your HALNet ADSL Connection"

COMING EVENTS

Basics 101 -- Convert Cassette or LP Music to CD
Saturday, August 2 - 1:00 - 3:30 pm
Now you can enjoy your old vinyl and cassette music in your car CD player! You'll learn how to convert / digitize your LP and cassette recordings to a CD format

COMING AT CLEAR LAKE

There will be no SIG meetings in July. See you in August!

SIG NEWS

The following Special Interest Groups have specific programs posted for their upcoming meetings. Please refer to the SIG Calendar for a complete listing of HAL-PC SIG meeting dates and times. If you are interested in starting a Special Interest Group that is not currently on our calendar, contact the Vice President for SIGS. Remember - June is election month for SIG leaders! Be sure to turn your paperwork in to the Member Services Coordinator in the office.

COMPUTER INVESTING SIG: Fridays -- 10:00 am (NOTE NEW TIME!!!):
Our Friday AM investment sig will continue to meet Friday at 10am. Our goal continues to offer programs to help investors deal with a difficult market using and demonstrating programs designed for the individual to assess and make thoughtful decisions. We use four different programs to accomplish this and they are demonstrated on a regular basis. We also maintain a refined market web site that is open to all.

MULTI MEDIA SIG: No meeting in July - See you in August!

BEGINNING VISUAL FOX PRO: Tuesday, July 8 -- 6:30 pm
Rich Monroe: Basic Form Development with Inheritance.

ADVANCED VISUAL FOX PRO: Tuesday, July 8 -- 7:30 pm
Rich Monroe: Tips & Tricks, Panel: Open Question and Answers of VFP. As always, your questions are welcome. After the Advanced session, join us at Ninfa's on Post Oak for our Even More Advanced Session/Nervous System Recalibration.

DATABASE & GUI DESIGN: Saturday, July 12 -- 9:00 am
What can your website do for you? You built it but who came and what happened? Google Analytics, a free tool for website analysis, is easy to install and provides a lot of information. But having web-site statistics is one thing, understanding what they mean and what you should do with them is quite another. Join us and learn how using Google Analytics can help you make more informed decisions about your website.

DIGITAL IMAGING: Saturday, July 19 -- 1:00 pm
Our meeting this month will cover two subjects that were requested by members. The first half of the meeting will cover shooting actions shots. The second half of the meeting will be an introduction to layers in Photoshop.

WEB DESIGN: Tuesday, July 22 -- 7:00 pm
For the July web Design SIG we will have a guest speaker, Cheryl D Wise, author of Foundations of Microsoft Expression Web: The Basics and Beyond Apress 2007, Microsoft Expression MVP, Adobe Community Expert - Dreamweaver. She will talk about and demonstrate Expression Web v2 which was released June 2nd, and conclude with a short overview of Dreamweaver CS4 currently in public beta. Bring your Expression Web and Dreamweaver questions. There will be a door prize drawing.

LINUX WORKSHOP: Wednesdays -- 6:00 pm
Installations & hands-on problem solving every Wednesday except when HAL is closed. This is an informal meeting where knowledgable HLUG members help each other & beginners one on one. Dinner after at Biba's West Grey 9:30pm. You don't have to attend the meeting to come eat with us.

Upcoming Classes - HAL-PC Headquarters

Check the Class Calendar for the latest additions to the schedule

BOARD OF DIRECTORS ELECTION

Results of the HAL-PC Board of Directors election are available on the election information page.

JULY VOLUNTEER OF THE MONTH

July's Volunteer of the Month is George Walker. George is the co-SIG Leader for the Build or Buy a Computer SIG. He helps people work on their machines at the Build or Buy SIG and also volunteers in the Friday morning Troubleshooting Workshop helping members upgrade and troubleshoot their computers. Thank you, George, for everything you do for HAL-PC!

THIS MONTH'S MAGAZINE

Look for informative articles in the HAL-PC Magazine online
If you do not receive your Summer edition of the printed magazine, please phone the office! You may need to update your address information, or renew your HAL-PC membership!