In the meanwhile, to keep Lynda happy, I started going out with the folks for dinners and visiting interesting places in the surrounding of Vegas.
The next weekend we decided to gather a group of folks and rented a van to visit Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area which was located only 17 miles west of Las Vegas.
It didn’t take that long for us to get into the area and the first thing we noticed was striking red sandstone formations, desert landscapes, and scenic drives.
We all were amazed with the some of the best desert scenery you can find. The vibrant colors that can be seen in the rock formations are stunning. The scenery is truly unique.
It was indeed a scenic drive, a 13 miles-one-way, paved road, provides access to explore the many special canyons and sandstone hills in the heart of the Conservation Area. There were 2 different trailheads and parking areas to begin the outdoor adventure.
We stopped for lunch at a very nice restaurant and took our time to have a relaxed lunch. As soon as we finish the lunch we drove around for a couple of hours before we decided to head back home.
Lynda was very happy that I was chatting and joking around with the folks we went with. While she was extremely happy with our house and friends in Vegas, she also wanted to make sure that I am not getting bored. She had a feeling that it will take a while for me to totally integrate with the folks and the environment where we were living but she wanted to make sure that I am not totally fed-up.
The following Monday I tried to investigate about the University of Nevada (UNLV). I wanted to explore the possibilities of getting an opportunity to teach or do some research to keep myself busy and at the same time make some money.
I found out that UNLV was a public land-grant university in Paradise, Nevada, United States. The 332-acr campus was about 1.6 mile east of the Las Vegas Strip.
I also found out that UNLV was a public, urban research institution that holds the nation’s highest recognition for both research and community engagement from the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching –R1, the gold standard for research institution.
Almost all day I made telephone calls to various places related to the university and left messages, explaining that I am interested in exploring the possibilities of doing some part time work and described my background and qualifications.
I never heard back.
Then somebody mentioned to me that the Community College of Southern Nevada is well known in Las Vegas and has campuses all over the map.
I started looking into to finding out who they were and what kind of courses were being offered by them. I found out that they have several campuses with offering various courses including computers. I thought I may have a better chance if I get connected with them. Accordingly, I made telephone calls and left messages with no luck.
I went back to my usual activities of attending the Chamber of Commerce meetings and going around and meeting with the members of the Data Processing Association. I had lunch with one of the members and he thought my skills better suited for more business-oriented cities like San Franscisco or Los Angeles. But I was not going to relocate as we were happy where we were and I wasn’t planning to go back to working full time.
I also tried to get in touch with some consulting companies, but they all appeared to be doing all kind of technical work in the casinos and other businesses and I neither had those skills anymore nor I was interested. I wanted to find contracts where I can exercise my management consulting experience with the focus to exploring and deploying technology.
One day we were watching the tv, Lynda asked me if I am okay. I said what made you think that I am not.
She said you don’t seem to be as chatty as you used to be and even Jean noticed that you were a kind of different.
I said I am just looking into finding some kind of activities to keep myself busy and I don’t want you to be worried. Nevertheless, I am enjoying living in Vegas without any doubt.
She said how about if you started helping folks with their computer problems?
I said I never thought about that.
She said Doreen was talking to her and said that she had been having problems with her emails and she had somebody to help her, but she had no luck. She still got the same problem after spending a couple of hundred dollars.
I said unfortunately I am not technical anymore but if you like I can take a look and try to help her.
She said I will mention to her tomorrow morning as we bunch of people get together every morning for coffee at the clubhouse.
The next day I had lunch with Earnie, and we discuss all kind of things that we could do to find a reasonable contract. I told him that at this stage of the game, I am not necessarily interested in making money, I am interested in finding something to keep myself busy.
Earnie agreed with me.
I asked Earnie, if him and Betty would like to go out tonight for supper with us as Lynda found a new casino, and she wanted to play there for a few minutes. I said to Earnie, I don’t know how I am going to support Lynda’s gambling habits.
Earnie said you don’t have to worry about that. Lynda’s a smart gambler. She knows when to stop playing. In any case, he said they will be delighted to company us as Earnie and Betty didn’t mind have nice food and gambling for a little while.
We went out that night and I took my book with me to make sure that while they were gambling, I can read about something more interesting than gambling.
We all had a nice time that night and, on our way back Lynda said. I made an appointment for you to help Doreen with her problem. I also told her that you may not be able to help her as your technical skills are a kind of rusty. She said she will be delighted to have coffee ready for you.
I thanked Lynda for arranging my time with Doreen.
The next morning after my routine and breakfast, I went to see Doreen.
Doreen was very courteous and pleasant. I had met her several times in the clubhouse but never had an opportunity to chat with her. She was single and relatively older than us. She had decorated her house impressively.
She said let’s have coffee first. Lynda told me that you don’t take anything in your coffee except coffee.
I said she was right.
She brought some cookies with the coffee, but I only drank coffee and didn’t touch any cookies.
I remember asking her about her problem with the computer.
She said her husband used to be a computer genius and he taught her to use the computer but since he’s gone, she’s struggling to continue to use the computer.
I asked her what she uses computer for.
She said she used email to communicate with her family in Chicago, used for writing letters or anything else using “Word”, and sometimes she uses Excell for balancing her bank account.
I said you must be smart enough to use computer for those things.
She said most of the time she feels proud of herself but from time to time she runs into difficulties.
I said not to worry we all go through those experiences whether we like it or not.
I said before I asked you to define what was wrong with her computer, I want to tell you that I am not sure if I would be able to help you simply because I have been away from technicalities. Nevertheless, I am prepared to give it a try.
I said what really would help me if I understood the problem before suggesting any solutions. So please tell me very slowly what you wanted the computer to do.
She said I have my family living in Chicago and Wisconsin. I don’t write them letters anymore. I have been communicating with them all the time but whenever I must write to multiple people, I must keep adding their email addresses individually and sometimes I forget some of them which is nothing but the result of my age.
I said don’t feel bad. I don’t even remember what I ate for breakfast. But just explain to me how many names that you totally have in your family?
She said 15, including my kids and grandkids.
I said that shouldn’t be a problem but let me ask you this:
- Do you ever include all those members of your family in an email?
- She said – Yes.
- How many ways you communicate with your family?
- She said sometimes I only like to write to my kids.
- Do you sometimes feel like writing to all your grandkids but not their parents?
- She said yes.
I said at this stage of the game you appeared to need only three labels.
She said what is a Label.
I said a label is a group of contacts which is made to send emails to. The name of the group must be unique. For instance –If you create a group of email addresses to send emails to everybody in your family. You may call it:
- Family.
And if you would like to create a group only to send emails to your kids, you may like to call it:
- Kids
Similarly, if you would like to create another group for your grandkids, you may call it:
- Grandkids.
However, you cannot use these names for any other label.
She said understand the concept but how can you make it happen?
I said I am not going to do anything. I am going to show you how to create those groups and hoping that based on that experience, you may create any other groups without my help.
She said, I will try my best.
I asked her if she knows how to create a contact.
She said yes.
I said let’s write the names of the members of your family on a piece of paper.
She wrote down 15 names.
I said please identify beside each name either kid or grandkid which she did right away.
I said let’s go and create three labels to cover your family, kids and grandkids and I showed her exactly how to create each label.
I also showed her how to populate each label with the appropriate names which she did successfully by clicking the newly created label.
Finally, I showed her when she is sending an email to her kids, what all she would have to do is to write “Kids” under where it says “To” and it automatically will include all your kids as defined under that label.
I said you will follow the same instructions for sending emails to everybody in the family, just write “Family” and all the names related to that label will be included in that email which she did complete successfully.
I suggested to Doreen why don’t you try to send an email to all your grandkids by following the instruction as I just explained and asking them to confirm the receipt of the email.
Doreen did exactly I asked her to do.
I said my job is done and hope it helped you to understand how to do what you wanted to do.
She said indeed now I understand the whole thing and thanks a million, Mir.
When I got home, Lynda said, Doreen just called to let you know that she started getting emails from her grandkids to confirm that they had received her emails.
When I checked my messages, I found out there was a message from UNLV and another from the Community Colleges.
I was surprised and didn’t think there was any reason for Lynda to know about it. Nevertheless, I called them back and had a nice brief chat with both of them. Made appointments with them to meet with the folks at UNLV in the morning and the other folks at the Community Colleges in the afternoon.
To make a long story short, I ended up getting two classes at UNLV to teach computers two days in the mornings and two classes in the evenings at the Community Colleges. Needless to say that I was really surprised how things turned out for me for a change.
