Hi, and welcome to this week’s news from The Web on Wheels.

In this issue we’ll look at:

• keeping the mind active, while having fun;
• making cheap international calls with telephone cards;
• article on sleeping; and
• a light-hearted moment

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A quick note about the content of this message.
Throughout this newsletter I have included various links to websites, and included some pictures. Sometimes those links don’t work.

It’s NOT you!

Sometimes your computer, or the system you’re using (eg. Hotmail, Outlook) decide to look after your security and block your ability to go straight to an outside website or to download pictures. Sometimes it’s simply that your computer is set to get only plain text messages. So no matter what you do, you won’t get the nice looking, easy-clicking tricks, your message will be just as it says – plain text without any of the fancy stuff.

If a link doesn’t work, try looking on your screen, usually toward the top of the email message and see if there’s some sort of message saying something about the link not being allowed. It might say, “Click here to download pictures” or “to protect your privacy downloads have been prevented” or “links have been disabled” or something similar. Most of the time, it also gives you the option to click in that message area and give your computer permission to go ahead and allow the picture to come onto your computer, or allow you to get to the website, by clicking an “Allow” button, or “Mark as safe” link.
(Let me know if things don’t work as you expect and I’ll get it sorted for you.)

Until next week, please take good care of yourself.

Viv

“Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young.”   Henry Ford

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Site to See

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This week we’ll look at the site – Lumosity.

It is a website designed by a group of scientists “who all had a family member affected by the devastating impact of cognitive decline, and they’re dedicated to reducing this problem as much as possible.”

It’s a fact that when we exercise our brain, it works better. And no Vivienne I’m not singling you out as needing help in that department. I know myself that I get a bit sluggish at times. So these brain games, or brain training activities are great to get the old grey matter working. Apparently brains can start to slow down from as young as 30! But doing brain training can speed things up.

I think doing these activities is fun – hope you do too.

With the Lumosity site, you create your own account, and then you can start a free trial for a week.

It’s really easy to set up. Click on Sign up, enter your email address, make a username for yourself – and a password. (maybe to keep things simple, use the same ones as your Web on Wheels account). Click on the Sign up button. The account is set up. There is another window that appears where you can put in some personal details if you choose, then you have the option of signing up for their newsletter and getting email reminders. I like them, as it reminds me to go do the training, and then I’m always glad I did.

That’s it – you’re ready to go.

They set you up with a basic course, you work your way through any or all of the activities and watch your progress. When the 40 sessions are complete you can go on to other courses or activites. Or do the same course over again and see how you’ve improved.

Anyway, I hope you’ll try it out. Even if you just do the 7 day free trial, I’m sure you’ll have fun. Let me know how you go!! Maybe we can compare notes.

Scientific Brain Training: Lumosity Brain Fitness Program. Only $6.60 a month. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This week’s problem and solution

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This week’s problem is expensive international phone calls, and one way to make them cheaply.

My Mum was visiting and mentioned that she needed to get home early so she could pick up a telephone card from the newsagents. Do you know these phone cards? The ones that let you make international or interstate calls really cheap.

Anyway she wanted to call my Uncle in New Zealand, who isn’t well. So I quickly thought of a solution – after all it meant Mum could stay longer on her visit with us, so it was in my best interest too! I told her about the phone card I got the previous week. I wanted to call the USA to take part in a teleconference – where I could call a certain number, and listen to the interview, and by being on the phone call I could take part if I wanted.

There are other technology alternatives available, but we won’t go into them today. And although I love most technology, just as it’s nice to read a hand-written letter, sometimes it’s better for me to pick up a telephone and listen in on a call through the phone’s handpiece, I somehow seem to listen better. I wonder if you sometimes prefer that too?

To get the card, I did a search on Google for international phone cards, and looked at a few of the websites. The one I liked was Telephone Cards Australia.

I used the tools on their site to find out the best value to call the USA, then Registered, used my credit card to pre-pay $15.00, my codes were emailed, and I was ready to make the call. This all took about six minutes. Now I’m pretty familiar with buying online and filling out forms, so it might take a bit longer if you’re not as familiar. But it can be worth it.

To call the US for 1 ½ hours would have cost me around $20.00, even on a good rate – with the phone card 1 ½ hours cost me around $2. And beside the money saved each time I use it, I was happy not to have to drive to the shops, find a park, get to the newsagents and get home again.

The only thing is I don’t actually have a real card, just some numbers, which of course I need to remember where I put them !

Now when I need to call overseas, I simply call a local phone number, and select English by pressing 1. Then press the numbers for my account, and put in my PIN.

The automatic voice tells me how many minutes I’ve got left (last time it said I had 2,000-odd minutes, so I could have a r-eee-aly long chat). I dial my number, and that’s it, and I’ve saved money. Gotta like that.

So now Mum uses the same codes and it costs me just a couple of dollars each time she uses it, and she doesn’t have to bother going to the newsagents each time she needs a new card.

If you’re interested in doing this in the future, the step-by-step instructions will be in our How-to section in the File Sharing area of our member’s site.   The site is Telephone Cards Australia.

As always, if you’re a Full Access Member and you need a hand with making this happen, just Reply to this email and let me know what you need.

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How are you?

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Today I thought we’d look at sleep. Do you get enough? and is it good quality sleep?

From www.helpguide.org They’ve got some good suggestions here and I’ll definitely give a couple of them a try. As they say, nothing ventured, nothing gained. Why not check it out when you get time – who knows you might get a good night’s sleep out of it. (they have loads of info about all sorts of other topics too.)

Learn Better Sleeping Habits and Develop
a Good Personal Plan

Do you have trouble falling asleep, or toss and turn in the middle of the night? Awaken too early, or find yourself not feeling refreshed in the morning? You are not alone: millions of people struggle with falling and staying asleep.

Unless you’re suffering from a serious sleep disorder, simply improving your daytime habits and creating a better sleep environment can set the stage for good sleep. By developing a good bedtime routine and designing a plan that works with your individual needs, you can avoid common pitfalls and make simple changes that bring you consistently better sleep.

This is taken from a lengthy article. To read the full article, please click here:

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Humour me!

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Two jokes for you today.

The first joke this week comes courtesy of my six year old son, Braden.

Q:   How do you make seven even?

A:   Take away the ‘S’ …

This joke is from www.supremejokes.com

A man is walking down the street when he hears a voice, “Pssst you, come over here!”

He looks round and can see no one but an old mangy greyhound. “Yes over here!” says the greyhound “Look at me! I’m tied up here, I should be racing. I won 14 races in my career you know?”

The man thought to himself “Oh wow – a talking dog, I have to have it, it will make me rich, TV appearances, cabaret bookings!” So he goes in search of the owner.

He found the owner and said “I’d like to buy your dog, is he for sale??” The owner says “No mate, you don’t want that old moth eaten thing!”

“But I do!” Insisted the man “I’ll give you $1,000 for him.” “Ok said the owner but I think you’re making a big mistake!”

Handing over the money the man said “Why do you think that?”

The man replied “Because that dog’s a bloody liar, it’s never won a race in it’s life!”

Bye for this week,
Smiles and best wishes
Viv

The Web on Wheels
Phone: 61 3 9787 7500
Fax: 61 3 9787 5476
email: info@thewebonwheels.com.au

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