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Thread: What are they trying to tell me?

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jan 2004
    Location
    Lewiston, Idaho
    Posts
    28,504

    What are they trying to tell me?

    In this morning's mail there was an envelope addressed very formally to me. Inside was a letter inviting me to an upscale local restaurant for a free "flatiron sirloin steak or braised chicken breast" dinner where I would be introduced to devices that would allow me to continue to live alone in my home. On the letter were pictures of a stair lift, a "Please help me I've fallen and can't get up" alert system and walk-in bath tub.

    2 questions... 1) Is my wife leaving me? 2) What are they trying to tell me?
    Last edited by Ken Fitzgerald; 09-09-2016 at 4:28 PM.
    Ken

    So much to learn, so little time.....

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Apr 2009
    Location
    fayetteville Arkansas
    Posts
    629
    Hmmm, think they are trying to tell you they are willing to gamble on a $20 dinner that you will spend a few thousand on one of their products.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Sep 2007
    Location
    Upstate NY
    Posts
    3,789
    I could get 25 meals a year off of investments, hearing aids, medical insurance, etc. etc.
    Haven't seen the lift thingy yet.

    My wife won't go to these things.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Location
    Falls Church, VA
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    2,335
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    Their clumsy marketing aside, there's some pretty great stuff out there that can really help. They can put sensors all over a house and track your habits.

    1. Let's say that every night at about 3am you get up to go to the bathroom:
    2. You get out of bed (a weight sensor registers that)
    3. You walk down the hall (motion detector)
    4. You sit down on the throne (weight sensor)
    4a. You urinate and a device analyzes the glucose in the water (that's coming).
    5. You stand up and flush (weight sensor & sensor on the toilet to detect the flush)
    6. You walk back down the hall (motion)
    7. You get back into bed (weight)

    They have adaptive software that learns your habits and sets up allowable variations in occurance and timing. So if you do items 1-5 above but not 6 and 7, the system waits just a bit and then notifies a monitoring center that tries to contact you or a loved one.

    Of course these guys can do all the standard stuff. They can monitor doors, windows, cars and you. It all depends on needs and the ability to pay. It sounds expensive but it's really not if it can be made to work. The hardware and monitoring is a lot less expensive than full nursing care.

    They also have automated medication dispensors that will track your medication. This is really for a fairly narrow window of dementia where you just need a bit of a reminder. A pharmacy tech visits you once a month and loads a carousel into a machine about the size of a bread machine. When it's time for a med, a little cup is ejected out of the machine and the machine begins an escalating series of reminders. After a certain amount of time, the cup is re-ingested back into the machine and the monitors are notified.

    All of this sounds like big brother but I can tell you that my mother went through a stage where she might have benefited. She would forget to take her meds and get into a bad way. She would go to full time nursing for a week to get it all straightened out and then it would seem like she didn't need the meds. All she really needed was a bit of prompting to take those medications every day on time. The dispenser would have been just the thing. Unfortunately that window was cut short by a stroke and she went into Assisted Living where humans took over the monitoring.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
    Location
    In the foothills of the Sandia Mountains
    Posts
    16,619
    LOML turned 60 a few months ago. Now she's the one getting all the hearing aid junk mail. I can't help but smile.
    Please help support the Creek.


    "It's paradoxical that the idea of living a long life appeals to everyone, but the idea of getting old doesn't appeal to anyone."
    Andy Rooney



  6. #6
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Location
    E TN, near Knoxville
    Posts
    12,298
    Ken, when I get things like that it is obvious they are not directed to me. Good grief, I'm only 66 and can still race a teenager up the hill from the barn. But maybe when I'm 67...

    I think they just want me to know the things that are available so I can help the "old" folks I know. I'll be glad to forward things to you!


    Some of the things available are of course so, so useful to some. My brother-in-law is afflicted with MS and would have a rough time without his stair lift.

    JKJ

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Mar 2012
    Location
    Virginia and Kentucky
    Posts
    3,364
    Ken,

    I infer they think you are getting old.....have the reverse mortgage mailings started?

  8. #8
    What they're trying to tell you is they know your birthday...
    ========================================
    ELEVEN - rotary cutter tool machines
    FOUR - CO2 lasers
    THREE- make that FOUR now - fiber lasers
    ONE - vinyl cutter
    CASmate, Corel, Gravostyle


  9. #9
    We used to get "invitations" like that 50 years ago. They were selling plots of land in the Tennessee mountains. It turned out to be a big scam but they made an impressive sales pitch. Thankfully, I had less than no money at the time.
    Mike Null

    St. Louis Laser, Inc.

    Trotec Speedy 300, 80 watt
    Gravograph IS400
    Woodworking shop CLTT and Laser Sublimation
    Dye Sublimation
    CorelDraw X5, X7

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    SE PA - Central Bucks County
    Posts
    65,685
    Well, at least it's not a Time Share presentation...
    --

    The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Sep 2006
    Location
    Henderson Kentucky
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    Yesterday in the mail, I received an invitation to a new senior living complex open house. My wife thought it was pretty darn funny.

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