The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/830613
The Press-Dispatch Home Life Wednesday, May 31, 2017 C- 5 Tech Tips from T3 Protecting your computer against electricity REAL ESTATE DEADLINE 5 p.m. Every Monday Pike County Personals by Judy True BIRTHDAYS May 22 – Mary Ford May 23 – Jim Sherman turned 95 May 26 – Austin Cox; Dor- othy Sanders May 27 – Brody Breiden- baugh turned 3; Skylar Wright turned 3 May 29 – Cheryl Hyneman May 30 – Terry Hightow- er; Peyton Wright turns 14; Aria Dickman turns 3; Ella True turns 2 May 31 – Tracey Berthiau- me; Neely Held June 1 – Audrey Morrison June 2 – Lanisa Hurst turns 22 June 5 – Barbara Ford June 7 – Inez King June 11 – Wanda Rowland June 13 – Mitch Breiden- baugh; Kenny Hurst turns 47 June 16 – Cliff Vinson ANNIVERSARIES Keith and Peggy Carroll celebrated their 30th wed- ding anniversary on May 28. Steve and Patty Sherman celebrate their 50th wed- ding anniversary on June 3. Jamie and Stacey Ivers celebrate their 12th wed- ding anniversary on June 4. Damon and Angie Pugh celebrate 30th wedding an- niversary on June 15. UNION SCHOOL REUNION The Union School Alum- ni Gathering will be held on Sunday, June 4 from 1-3 p.m. EDT at the Union Commu- nity Building. Refreshments will be served. If you have any old photos, bring them to share with everyone. Any- one who attended the Union School is welcome to attend. NEWS FROM WANDA ROWLAND Mother's Day Sunday was an eventful day. My daugh- ter-in-law Jane, her Mom, Marcia Perry, grand daugh- ter and I went to the movies and then out to eat on Sat- urday night before, then we all went out to eat at Taylor's in Oakland City for Mother's Day. At church, Shirley Ed- wards has a gift of a journal book and coffee cup for each Mom. What a great day! Wayne and I went to Gib- son Southern School to watch Padgett Theater on the road with Sounds of Memphis, which was a great musical of Elvis, some Blues, and other songs of that era. We were happy to see Sue Muncy, Liz Thompson, and Carol Slinker there too!! At intermission, since the seats were not all filled, I sat with them instead of my assigned seat and Wayne sat a little further back to enjoy with the gabbing of the women! HAZLETON ALUMNI BANQUET JUNE 3 The Hazleton High School Alumni banquet will be held on Saturday, June 3 at the Hazleton Community Cen- ter. Social hour will be held from 4-5:30pm and the din- ner begins at 5:30pm. Cost is $13 in advance or $15 at the door. Make checks pay- able to Beverly Belcher and mail to 842 E. State Rd. 56, Hazleton, IN 47640. For more information, call Bev- erly at (812) 784-2346. MT. OLYMPUS ALUMNI BANQUET JUNE 17 Mt. Olympus alumni ban- quet will June 17 with ha so- cial hour at 4 p.m. and din- ner at 5 p.m. catered by Schnitzelbank Restaurant of Jasper. The cost is $14 for the meal with a reservation, or $15 at the door. Checks with the graduation year on them can be sent to: Mt. Olympus Alumni, P.O. Box 236, Princeton, IN 47670. For more information, call Patty Craig at 812-385 -8228 or 812-779 -7409. WEEKLY TIDBITS A birthday party was held for Sylvia Downs at a restau- rant in Princeton last week. Sylvia was accompanied by her husband Bob Downs, daughter Vicky Shoultz, son Greg and daughter- in-law Theresa Loveless and Vicky's mother-in-law Joyce Shoultz. Everyone sang "Happy Birthday" and the folks at the restaurant presented her with a cup- cake and ice cream. Sylvia collects frogs and received many nice ones to decorate her shelves. Kenna Longabaugh of Hazleton was named to the University of Evansville's Dean's List. She is the daughter of Glen and Don- na Longabaugh and is major- ing in Accounting. Marie Tolbert went to Vin- cennes for rehab last week and is doing well in her re- covery. On Thursday, Maggie True Armstrong had lunch at Guacamole Grill in Princ- eton with her friend Neely Held. The Hazleton Communi- ty Center will hold a meet- ing on June 6 at 6 p.m. CDT to discuss plans for the com- ing months. The public is in- vited to attend. John and Tina Norrington of Campbelltown visited with Jim and Inez King who stopped by with a few oth- ers from their church to take care of the King's yard. On Wednesday, Bill Woods stopped by to help in the yard as well. On Tuesday, Walt and Marcella Robb went to town shopping. Sue and Ollie Double- mount went to Louisville on Friday to spend the day. Kay Reneer brought her mother Beulah White home to spend time with family over Memorial Day weekend. Marvin and Sue Ellen Barton went to Vincennes on Wednesday to do a lit- tle shopping before having lunch. Sue Ellen Barton report- ed that Betty Jo Bicher John- son, a 1949 graduate of Mt. Olympus High School re- cently passed away. Last Saturday Leon and Alice Whittington went to a graduation party for Kaycee Russell, a Princeton Com- munity High School grad- uate. On Sunday, the Whit- tington's went to the 60th wedding anniversary party for Marjorie and J.D. Reyn- olds, their longtime friends. Leon and Alice Whitting- ton went to the Gentle Shep- herd Church of God for their musical last Sunday. Alice's daughter Lisa and son-in-law Don Sinkhorn sang during the performance. Also at- tending were Sue Ellen and Derek Barton who sang and played the piano. Leon Whittington's daughter Susan Starkman came to their home for supper on Wednesday. On Thursday, Alice Whitting- ton went to town to a chiro- practor's appointment be- fore going to work. On Fri- day, Alice visited with Bet- ty Cain after work. Rita McGuyer attended the graduation of her grand- daughter Kendall Jewel at Lincoln High School on Fri- day evening in Vincennes and graduation party at the Hazleton Community Cen- ter on Sunday. On Saturday Rita attended the graduation of another granddaughter, Mikah Johnson at Princeton Community High School. Last week, Rita McGuyer and her sister and brother- in-law Nettie and Don went to Hansen, Ky., to deco- rate graves. They also met up with her nephew Gary and brother Tommy. On Wednesday Rita had lunch with her daughter Tish and sister Faye at a restaurant in Vincennes. Betty Jo Wright went with her son Dave Wright and grandchildren out to lunch one day last week. Dessi Waple hasn't been feeling good lately but did make it to the doctor on Friday before returning to work. On Friday morning Mag- gie True Armstrong picked up her friend Tracey Ber- thiaume at the Evansville airport. Tracey visits every year with the True-Arm- strong family and spends a few weeks in the area relax- ing and enjoying the slower pace of life in Indiana. Trac- ey is from New York. So far the girls have done some shopping and ate dinner out at La Fiesta in Vincennes. Theresa Loveless and Sharon Byrns went to the Union Cemetery to deco- rate the graves before going to Sullivan's Diner in Union and Smith's Greenhouse. Dallas Paul and Nan- cy Collins took her grand- daughter Julia out to dinner at La Fiesta in Vincennes on Friday. On Wednesday, they went to church at Bun- ker Hill Baptist Church. On Friday the visited with Sis- ter Harris. SUBMIT YOUR NEWS If you'd like to see your news and events in the Per- sonal's Column, please call Judy at (812) 354-6502 or email your notes to pikeper- sonals@wildblue.net. My mailing address is 7438 W. State Rd. 56, Hazleton, IN 47640. We'd love to hear from you and share your happenings. By T3 Residential Technical Services With summer storms on the ho- rizon, many homes will have power outages or even power surges. When these storms hit, they can destroy any electronics that are plugged into a power outlet. Even on a normal sun- ny day, the electrical service in a typi- cal household is neither clean nor con- stant. It can fluctuate by several volts on a regular basis. These fluctuations can damage a computer's power sup- ply and/or battery, leading to a fair- ly expensive repair bill. Even worse than the voltage fluctuations is the stat- ic electricity build-up. Static electric- ity can cause hard drive failure; it can cause the R AM memory in your com- puter to fail; it can result in the loss of data on flash drives or even their com- plete failure; it can even short-circuit the display, keyboard, or mouse that you use (although this is fairly rare). Your first question is most likely, if I need electricity for my computer to turn on, what can I do to protect my computer? The solution may be less expensive than you may expect. Next time you're at a store that sells computer stuff (there's that technical term again), ask a sales person to help you find the battery backup devices for computers. This device is also known as a UPS (uninterruptible power supply). It is a small but heavy device that plugs into your electrical outlet. In turn, you plug your computer into the battery back- up. This device maintains a very clean 110 volts to your computer, regardless of what is coming out of your electri- cal outlet. "But, wait! " you say. "I have a laptop computer and it has a battery built in. Do I need one of these UPS things? " In short, it can't hurt. Your laptop comput- er receives its power through a trans- former before it gets to your battery. If that transformer gets damaged, you may spend at least $ 60 or more to re- place it. It may cost you more if the electricity input on your laptop was damaged as well. This doesn't happen very often, but it does happen. Well, how much do one of these UPS devices cost? For a typical home com- puter, you can expect to spend about $ 35 to $40. This is much cheaper than the inevitable repair bill when some- thing does go awry. I also wanted to mention that there is a difference be- tween a UPS, a power strip and a surge protector. A power strip provides no protection for your devices, if the pow- er goes out or surges your electronics will be affected. A surge protector's on- ly function is to protect your electron- ics from electrical spikes in voltage but if the power goes out, your electron- ics will shut down immediately. A UPS provides the most amount of protec- tion, not only does it have a surge pro- tection built into it but in the event of a power outage, it will keep your elec- tronics on so that you may shut them down properly. A fter you have your computer pro- tected from power outages and surg- es, the next step is to protect it from static electricity. Let's start with the easiest step first … remove the dust and other debris from the computer. This is achieved by simply using either an air com- pressor or a can of compressed air (which you can purchase at Wal-Mart back in the computer area.) Try to avoid using a vacuum cleaner, since it usually can cause static electrici- ty, which as we know can be harm- ful to your computer. The vacuum is ok to use on the outside of your com- puter, but I wouldn't recommend us- ing it on the inside. If you have a regular computer, not a laptop, simply remove the side cov- er, and then direct the air flow from outside the computer through the back fan(s) into the computer. I know this may seem contrary to common sense, but hear me out. It's considerably easi- er to blow from outside the computer to the inside since you have easy access via the fan covers. Also, this is why we remove the side panel first … to allow for the air flow. Next, from the side of the computer with the panel removed, direct the air flow into the fan and heat- sink unit directly above the processor. Finally, you need to clean the area in the front of the computer either by re- moving the front cover or directing the air flow from through the vent holes in the front of the computer. Lastly, since no two computers are made the same nor come apart easily, when in doubt, please ask a profession- al for assistance. No, seriously, ask for help. I'd much rather answer a ques- tion or two over the phone then make an unnecessary house call. While these may seem like such simple steps to take, it can directly lead to the extended life of your com- puter. Just like a well-maintained car, a well-maintained computer can last well beyond its own expected life span. FARM Down on the Census year for agriculture By Hans Schmitz Extension Educator Gibson County Purdue Extension This year is special. While the average hu- man only fills out a census form every ten years, farmers get to fill one out every five. Even the year in which the ag census occurs is staggered out such that farmers get paperwork in the 0, 2, and 7 years of a decade. What fun!? If you're a beginning farmer, the US Depart- ment of Agriculture may not have your informa- tion to send you a sur- vey code a little later in the year. For this rea- son, you can head over to the www.agcensus.usda. gov site for the next few weeks and sign up to get your survey code. Those wishing to beta test the online version of the cen- sus form can also do so at this site, but keep in mind that you'll still have to fill out the version with your survey number later on in the year. When you get your sur- vey code and go to fill out the census, the paper ver- sion will still be an option. This go-round, the online option will exist, which skips questions that don't apply to your operation. That will be the plus side of the equation. Those of us who have filled out the surveys this year have also found that loading times for pag- es, even with high speed in- ternet connec- tions, aren't… fast. Make your choice wisely this year. The USDA asks all people who sell more than $1,000 in agri- cultural products during 2017 (or would have in the usual year) to fill out the census. If you qualify, head over the website and click on "Make Sure You Are Counted" by the end of June. That information is all for this week. Short and sweet is this article, much like census hope- fully will be for farm- ers when it comes time to give that very valua- ble information later this year. With that many "be" verbs in the last two sen- tences, no English teach- er read this far. For more about the ag census, con- tact Hans Schmitz at the Purdue Extension office via hschmitz@purdue. edu or 812-385 -3491.