As I write this, a replay of the funeral of Princess Diana is on in the background. I am struck by the love of her exhibited by the world. What I didn't expect was the way the love of her family came through, especially in the words of her brother, Lord Spencer.

This brings to mind TARA's most important asset. Something that is light years above Field Day, the repeaters, meetings and all else. What I'm talking about is the "family" that we have become. Even here near Dallas, over 1,000 miles from Troy, I still have strong family ties to the TARA gang. From all reports, the "meeting" last month was really a family picnic. As you know, TARA had some humble beginnings some years ago. When I look back at those who were (and still are) the foundation of TARA, I can see that "glue" of family even then. I saw the great pictures of Field Day on the web site and I admit to being homesick. Yea, the operating at Field Day is great fun, but the feelings of working with family to accomplish something is what it's all about.

As we approach the Christmas season let's make a special effort to remember "the family." Over the years, members have come and gone. If you know a past member of TARA, why not make a special effort to welcome them back into our family. Remember the story of the prodigal son and how his father rejoiced when he returned. Let's have a special Christmas this year and welcome back some of our family. With your efforts, I know it can be done.

Compaq is considering changing the command "Press Any Key" to "Press Return Key" because of the flood of calls asking where the "Any" key is.

AST technical support had a caller complaining that her mouse was hard to control with the dust cover on. The cover turned out to be the plastic bag the mouse was packaged in.

Another Compaq technician received a call from a man complaining that his system wouldn't read word processing files from his old 5.25 "diskettes. After troubleshooting for magnets and heat failed to diagnose the problem, it was discovered that the customer labeled the diskettes then rolled them into the typewriter to type the labels.

Another AST customer was asked to send a copy of her defective diskettes. A few days later a letter arrived from the customer along with photocopies of the floppies.

A Dell technician advised his customer to put his troubled floppy back in the drive and close the door. The customer asked the tech to hold on, and was heard putting the phone down, getting up and crossing the room to close the door to his room.

Another Dell customer called to say he couldn't get his computer to FAX anything. After 40 minutes of trouble-shooting, the technician discovered the customer was trying to fax a piece of paper by holding it in front of the monitor screen and hitting the "send" key.

Another Dell customer needed help setting up a new program, so a Dell technician suggested he go to the local Egghead, "Yeah, I got me a couple of friends," the customer replied. When told Egghead was a software store, the man said, "Oh, I thought you meant for me to find a couple of geeks."

Another customer called Compaq tech support to say her brand new computer wouldn't work. She said she unpacked the unit, plugged it in, and sat there for 20 minutes waiting for something to happen. When asked what happened when she pressed the power switch, she asked "What power switch?"