Ernie is another one of those people in Alamo PC who is willing to offer his services to the organization to help others learn more about computers.  I was working the desk at the Resource Center last week when a woman visitor asked me how the organization could afford to offer all those classes free to its members.  She was amazed when I told her that all the instructors/leaders were knowledgeable volunteers.

Ernie has led the Computer Literacy class (with Gene Goetz) and the Lotus 123 class for several years.  I asked him about the Comp Lit class, and why he likes to teach that one.  He said that it was fun to do, he got interesting questions, and he constantly learned things from the attendees.  He also gets some funny questions sometimes, such as "what happens if my mouse dies?"

Ernie tells me that his first computer was an IBM he bought in 1982, with a 10 Mg hard drive.  He chooses to continue using a Compaq that he bought in 1993, running with Windows 3.1, and loaded with Lotus 2.2 and Wordperfect 4.1 for DOS.  He takes a very practical approach, and says "if it does what you need, why change?"  He sometimes uses the Lotus 2.2 (contained on a single floppy disk !) for the Lotus class, since it is efficient, quick, barebones, and simple to explain.  He is, of course, familiar with the later versions (96, 97, Smartsuite, and Millennium).  He is also at ease with Windows 95 and 98, because he likes to keep current.

Ernie was in the forefront of computer users at the San Antonio Zoo, where he worked for many years, retiring as the Assistant Director.  They eventually bought a commercial program for the zoo, but it wasn't specific enough for their needs.  So Ernie wrote a  program for them to cover the 3 main areas of record keeping: membership (including the essential expiration date), the concessions (re-orders and inventory), and general inventory.  The use of computers for the record keeping for the Zoo made an astounding difference in the time required to keep those records up-to-date.  Just the general inventory area changed from 4 people working by hand for 4 weeks, to 1 person on the computer working only 2 hours.

Ernie's current personal uses of the computer include newsletters for several groups (including the Audobon Society and a gun club), keeping records and data for reloading his own ammunition, and records for taxes and for his CPA.

Ernie admits that he's looking into updating his computing machines (he also has an older Toshiba laptop with a 2.1 Gig hard drive),  so that he can be more efficient and do more things with scanners, with graphics,  and with his newsletters.  My conclusion is that Ernie Roney is a very practical man, and also a very busy one!