Senior Net

It was still drizzling as the period approached when I usually ate my lunch on Friday. That's the day I spend several hours on the campus of Sacrament State University enjoying the offerings of the Renaissance Society. And since it was drizzling, I didn't feel like enjoying my lunch on the quad which was quite wet by then. But just outside the library coffee shop there were a few tables and chairs. Most of them were full but there was an empty chair opposite a cute young thing and another chair at a table where a man about my age sat, a Renaissance name badge around his neck. I sat down across from the man, noting that his badge said "Joe" and sported a pink dot indicating he was a new member of the Society. My badge was also visible.

After the usual greetings, I opened my paper lunch sack and removed a banana. Joe opened his bright blue reusable lunch bag and removed a banana. I removed an apple. He removed an apple. I reached into my pocket and pulled out my pen knife to cut my apple into slices. Joe reached into his pocket and extracted his pen knife to do the same thing. Talk about seeing myself across the table!

After finding out what he thought about the Renaissance Society (he liked a lot of things but bemoaned the fact that some presentations are really amateurish) and sharing what we had each retired from (he was in IBM marketing for his entire career), we got to talking about what we're doing now.

Joe said he was volunteering for SeniorNet, teaching computer classes for seniors, specifically Microsoft Works. As he described how the classes are organized I decided I would like to check into it and see if they could use me for an instructor. There are still a couple of afternoons that I could fill up.

According to their website

SeniorNet's mission is to provide older adults education for and access to computer technologies to enhance their lives and enable them to share their knowledge and wisdom.

They have over 200 learning centers through the country, two of which are located within easy driving distance of Carmichael. Stay tuned to see how much I get involved with this organization.