Archive for September 2016

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Tuesday Night

September 21, 2016

In the past, Tuesday nights were family nights. We would have our son and his family over for dinner. But now that the school year has started, doing dinner on Tuesday night became a problem. They needed to get our grandson Jonathan to bed by a decent hour so that he would get a full night’s sleep. School starts at 8:30 AM. and that meant we couldn’t do Tuesday dinner and get done early enough so that Jonathan could be in bed by 7:00 PM.

So, Paula and I suddenly had a free night. So I could go to my Shrine Club meeting with the guys. And Paula could go have dinner with the ladies. My meeting was with the Beach Cities Shrine Club at the Whale and Ale in San Pedro. The ladies were meeting at Trani’s, also in San Pedro.

So, if Mary was going to eat, she had to go with Paula. I heard from Paula that the service was none to good at Trani’s. We were getting text messages from some of the ladies that they hadn’t been served by 8:00 PM. By that time we were pretty much done.

So I had Fish and Chips at the Whale and Ale. This is one of their signature dishes. Very tasty. I had a “Dirty Martini” to wash it down. I need to do a blog post on various martini variations. So to make it short, a “Dirty Martini” is two parts gin, one part dry vermouth and an ounce of olive juice. I think I prefer a Martini straight up.

So I was home well before Paula hit the road. I used my “Find My iPhone” app to show me when Paula was coming home. So I asked her how things went. Terrible she says. She asked her mother if she had a good time. Mary says, “No, it was terrible”.

Apparently, Mary didn’t recognize anyone at the table except Paula. Even though she should have recognized at least half of the ladies at the table. This event made it clear to us that Mary’s dementia is getting much worse. We will most likely not take her to events like this in the future. No fun for us and no fun for Mary. In addition, she is having more and more difficulty in carrying on a conversation.

Categories: Aging, Freemasonry, Mary, San Pedro, San Pedro
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Mary

September 19, 2016

Well, its been a busy couple of weeks. On Sunday, we asked Mary if she wanted to go to church. She of course wanted to go, but when it got to be game time (ie. Time to hit the road) she decides to pass. Too dizzy she says. Actually, that made our life a little bit easier. Paula went to church and I went to the grocery store to pick up a couple of things. Then, to the bakery to pick up the cake for Sarah’s birthday.

Oh right, I forgot to say, yesterday was Sarah’s 2nd birthday. The family arrived at 12 noon on the dot. Little Jonathan, rushes in and announces, “Sarah is two!!”. Then Sara and Jonathan see the presents wrapped on the table, and Jonathan asks, “Is this for me?” He sees the Transformer wrapping paper which is definitely telling. Well maybe, we say. We’re not opening presents just yet.


It’s time to eat brunch. And then we have a birthday cake for Sarah. It was a banana creme cake from Amalfitano’s bakery in San Pedro with figure of Minnie Mouse on top (Sarah’s fave). Of course, Jonathan’s birthday is coming up in October (and he knows it). And he will tell you that is will be five. (And holds up 5 fingers)

Jonathan’s gift was a black Jeep truck. He was ecstatic. The anti-theft packaging was a pain. I needed to get out a screw driver to release the truck from the packaging. ARGHHl He knows that Grandpa drives a black Jeep (which he calls the “Jeep Truck”). Whenever we go somewhere he looks for it.

So let’s get back to the subject of Mary. We have her doing physical therapy twice a week. We still have her using the walker. She grumbles about that every now and then but uses it. We tell her if you don’t use it, you will fall and get hurt. (And perhaps kill you.) We don’t actually say that but I think that she knows. She continues to sleep a lot during the day.

Yesterday was a particularly busy day for her in that after the birthday party we took her to Shriner BBQ at LA Harbor Lodge. Her husband Harold, was very active in the Shriners. I got her a glass of White Zin to lubricate herself. Then Paula got her a steak and some salad. After dinner, there raffles of door prizes. I won a bottle of Johnny Walker Black. Made my day.

We don’t understand why she keeps blowing off going to church. One thought is that she is dizzier in the morning but she doesn’t complain about going to PT at 9:30 AM. Another thought that we have is that she doesn’t to have other people seeing her as old and weak. Who knows? We just go with the flow. If you want to go, then fine, If not, fine.

Categories: Aging, Family, Mary
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iOS 10 Update

September 13, 2016

2016-09-13-2Well, today is the date that Apple released its latest version of iOS for iPad’s and iPhone’s. So I not being someone who waits on the fun, I got started this morning after I delivered Mary to the Assistance League luncheon.

I started the OTA (Over The Air) install on my iPhone 6 Plus first. I made sure that my home WiFi was working and that I had a recent backup in the iCloud. I was quite surprised to see it done in about 15-20 minutes. Seems pretty good for a major release. I figured that was going to take an hour easy.

Next up was my iPad Air, also completed in about 20 minutes. Then did Paula’s iPad Mini 2. No problems. Only device that I couldn’t do was Paula’s iPhone 4s. The old trusty 4s is not supported for iOS 10.

After I had finished the updates, I read that some people were having major problems with the update. (ie. devices turning into bricks). According to the CNN article, the problem has been resolved by Apple. Which of course everyone should be reminded, do your backup.

So what’s new? Well the first thing that I noticed was changes to the messaging system. Incoming email and text messages are displayed differently on the lock screen.

So I brought the app store app and found that I had something like 40 apps that needed updating. Wow, usually every day had about 5 or 6 apps to update. So there are a load of apps that will be supporting iOS 10. I suppose that makes sense.

There’s a new app called “Home” for interfacing with devices in your home that can be controlled by a computer. Click here for information about “The Internet of Things”. It can be used for smart devices (thermostats, lights, etc.) I don’t have any of those devices (yet), so I don’t know how well this would work.

It’s going to take me some time to digest all of the stuff that has changed. On a related issue that auto manufacturers are going to do OTA updates to autos to upgrade and sometimes fix issues with cars. So someday you will be able to fix your car without having to go the dealer. GM already has some of the infrastructure in place with their OnStar service. Expect more news about this sort of thing in the near future.

 

Categories: iOS, iPad, iPhone
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Mary

September 5, 2016

Time for an update. Saints be praised! Mary went to church with us on Sunday. For the past 6-8 weeks, Mary has begged off on going to Church on Sunday and Bible study on Wednesday morning. Every time we suggested that she get dressed and go to church, she told that she was too dizzy and too tired.

So what’s different today? Well, for one thing we stopped one of her meds that was prescribed by her neuro doctor. She had an appointment with him a week or so ago, and we brought up our suspicion that it was making the dizziness worse. So the neuro doc agrees and takes her off of the med. I forget the name, but it doesn’t matter.

So she got hugs all around from the folks who hadn’t seen her in a while including Pastor Jacques. I think she enjoyed the attention. After the service we went out for lunch at the Gaffey Street Diner (one of our usual restaurants). Mary had some clam chowder. She pretty much finished the bowl.

We have Mary using the walker full time now. She grumped about it at first but she has gotten used to it. I think that she has come to understand that if she doesn’t use it she would likely fall again. Stowing the walker is a PITA when getting her into the car, but we deal with it.

A couple of weeks ago, Paula and I got away for a weekend up in the Bay area (Oakland) for an OES reception. We had our usual care-givers from CarenetLA to look after Mary. It was nice to get away for the weekend.

We’ll see if we can get her to Bible study this week.

Categories: Aging, Mary
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