Sunday, April 15, 2012

Older And Wiser?

In the maybe not too distant future, a new computer is going to be a necessity for me. I'm doing research, a lot of research, with the view to help me decide if I'm going to be buying the whole shebang or a laptop. At the moment, I'm leaning towards laptop. I'm also female with the genetic right to change my mind. Right now the only thing I've ruled out completely is a netbook, the screen is too small for my tired old eyes. I need a 15 inch at least.

If I were using my computer the way I used to, I'd invest in a desktop. Then again, maybe I wouldn't. Just occurred to me that I'd still be spending those minutes every week down on my hands and knees dusting the ball of tangled wires behind the desk. I do it all the time now and it still is hard to get back up on my feet afterward. You'd think that doing it would help maintain the ability to do it, wouldn't you? I seem to be at that age when despite ones best efforts, strength is not what it used to be. My doctor says I move faster at my age than all of the kids in her Family Practice Clinic do. The focus of that particular clinic is adolescent obesity. So, at nearly 63 I move faster than a bunch of obese kids do. Good topic for a future blog post.

When I think about the hours spent online daily while I grew fatter and older, I could kick myself in the ass. There I was talking to people I'd never met while growing older, fatter and causing myself all types of "sit on your ass for hours" health problems. Where are all you people who helped me waste my strength? Hopefully, you're reconnected to a walking around life that is beneficial to your health. Don't wait until you're 60 to try to get it back because it's not going to happen the way you want it to. I've managed to get some of my strength and flexibility back, but not nearly what I might have had if I hadn't sat down on April 26, 2006 and joined Blogstream. I miss many of you that I have lost touch with, but Facebook is out of the question with me. I have to take care of myself and that is leaving less time for online socializing.

Now it's 6 years later and with an acquired sense of balance so sadly lacking back then, I need to make a decision about what I want in a computer. I believe my needs would be served adequately by a laptop. I spend much of my time in face to face situations with clients, family and friends. I paint more now, which reminds me that I need to buy a frame for my last piece and I'm making time to read books. My online time has been reduced sometimes to minutes a day rather than hours since housework has become a priority for me. If I buy a laptop, I won't have to spend all that time dusting that ball of wires behind my desk. WINNING!



10 comments:

  1. Sherry,
    I have a Dell laptop and love it. Get you a plug in the side internet connection (Verizon or AT&T) that way you can take it anywhere. I have a friend who loves new toys and got himself a notebook - I agree, too damned small.
    He also looked at the I-pad - and I helped him nix that. Now, he does have me sold on upgrading my Iphone to the 4G with that Siri thing that is a personal assistant.

    Definately shop around - but beware of those who speak "Geek" - bacause they will confuse the shit out of you if you let them. Make yourself clear about what you want to do with the computer and have them tailor one to your needs. Watch that warranty crap too.


    Ron

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think it's going to be a laptop, I just need to dicker some with the boys at Staples when I have the money.

      Delete
  2. If you buy a junktop you'll be so, so, so sooooorrrrryyyyy!

    Harder to fix, MUCH more expensive to fix, runs much hotter, a comparable desktop is cheaper to buy. Stick with the dust ball magnet.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. GRRRR,
      I disagree - unless mobility isn't a issue.


      Ron

      Delete
    2. Future,

      If I was using the computer more than an hour or so a day, I'd buy a desktop. As it is, I could stand the mobility so I'm looking at laptops. They're much better than they used to be. Technology is great.

      Delete
  3. Sherry, you don't have to have one foot in the grave at sixty-three. It is called movement and diet. I'm seventy-two and my wife is sixty - we are both active...the operative word is active. A year ago my wife (who is not fat) decided she wanted to loose some weight and she enrolled in Weight Watchers and I went with her - In three months she lost the fifteen pounds she wanted to loose and I lost twenty-five. We have a membership at the local gym and work out twice a week; we also belong to a senior bowling league and bowl twice a week. Over half of the bowlers in the league are older than me - and better bowlers. There is a woman I bowl with that is 89 - she weighs all of one hundred pounds - her average is 165 and her fast ball is faster than mine - she lives by herself and heats with fire wood. The oldest bowler there is ninety-one and again a better bowler than me. These people are limber and agile and live active lives.

    I ride a motorcycle, and I made my first solo parachute jump two years ago.

    I am not trying to berate you but just to tell you that you don't have to be stiff and feel old. Join Weight Watchers; find a friend and enroll in a gym - or at least get together and walk a couple time a week. In one year you will be amazed at your progress.

    Life is damn good at seventy-two, so you've got some good times to come
    the Ol'Buzzard

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Buzzard,

      Oh my, where do I start?

      I work in homecare, this means that I am making or changing beds for clients and myself a total of 20 times a week. I'm sweeping, mopping and vacuuming another 20 times a week. Lifting clients in and out of showers, carrying laundry, cooking, doing dishes, scrubbing bathrooms another 14 times a week. I spend probably 4 hours a week walking around various stores to shop for 4 of my clients. Three of my clients have dogs so there's another half hour or more spent walking the dogs 5 days a week.

      I have a condition called Ankylosing Spondylitis which is an auto-immune disease. Essentially rheumatoid arthritis of the spine. My sacroiliac is frozen. Which, of course tends to create a problem with the piriformis muscle in my right hip and causing me sciatic pain. There are days when picking the leg up to get it into the car requires 2 hands and some serious grit.

      For this condition I see a doctor every 60 days, sometimes more often. I start my day out with a series of deep muscle stretches which allow me to remain as limber as I can. It is the fused sacroiliac that creates the weakness in my right leg muscles, along with the necessity of a hip replacement. I can have that when I qualify for Medicare at age 65.

      I lost half of the weight I needed to lose, however, with the medical problem I have, I am on Prednisone. Steroids tend to cause excessive gain, and I have managed not to gain a pound. I am being weaned down, have just a few more days at 5mg and then I get to halve that. Once off the Pred I will most likely be able to lose the balance of the weight.

      It's not the age that makes me weak and tired, it's the damn constant pain. For which most doctors are willing to prescribe morphine. I am unwilling to take it since I work with people on it and know what they and I have to deal with. Most of the time I keep a smile on my face and just keep on doing what I need to do. Once in awhile I feel the need to whine. That's why I have a blog.

      Delete
  4. Sherry,

    I know you are not a whiner, so lets not go there. As far as a laptop I would go with HP for any computer product, order it direct, don't go to a store and buy it. I hate to hear of your health issues, and as far as not blogging much I don't think any of us are. Even though I have a facebook I'm barely there, work sucks the life out of me...LOL...and raising this 9 year old and 2 cats. Huggzzzzzz. I miss you.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Bella,

      Thanks for the tip on the laptop situation.

      Be grateful you have those pressing difficulties. The necessity to change your habits might just have stopped you from ending up with some of the problems I have or others like it. They aren't kidding when they say the body is designed for movement.

      I wasn't aware what was happening, and taking that dog walking case back a few years may have been what saved me from really being in trouble.

      Delete
  5. I don't know I'm fat & sassier than ever! LOL

    ReplyDelete