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Since the subject of home-entertainment technology has come up already this week, I thought I’d share this from 2005. The premise is valid but not entirely correct, not in the age of digital television anyway. In the event of a problem, you can unplug the modem or unplug the router or unplug the cable box or, if you’re living in the dark ages like some of us, unplug the Roku in an attempt to make things right again. After that, Waaaaah!!
I want you to know that this Web site has accounted for about half the money raised so far in the parsonage Kickstarter campaign. That’s pretty remarkable! You should be proud of yourselves. I am! I hope you have an enjoyable weekend.
159 responses to “Do Not Adjust Your Set”
Technology in the last 20 years has marched much quicker than just about any time in our history. I like to think that we are living in better times but there are some who shudder at the world our kids are being left with.
All I know is Mom and Dad battled the Great Depression, Influenza and Hitler. Mine fought the threat of nuclear destruction and social unrest. Times are tough now, but what got my folks and I through it was was Faith, Hope and Love.
Don’t forget humor! I hope this link works for everyone who needs a laugh:
https://scontent.fsnc1-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/13770395_277954842581413_204794121177398964_n.jpg?oh=83bd352a2ab434b0ea89a467d46e736c&oe=583746EC
If it doesn’t, it involves Spiderman preventing a Pokémon Go death.
Possibly the worst thing about being a “Pokémon GO death” would be how it would look in your obituary.
GR6, I have never known anyone who has read their obituary. Then.I also don’t hang out with zombies.
Debbe & Steve: Thanks for the good wishes. The first pound loaf of Claxton’s finest fruitcake has already been devoured with no ill effects. Tonight shall be steak night! Oh, it feels so good just to contemplate such!
I had a florist customer also a minister who wrote his own obituary, the service, recorded vocals of music and prayer, planned entire funeral and designed the casket flowers by teaching another friend how to duplicate it. I did not attend service but got gifted a copy of service. Texans take death seriously.
Funny, when I tried to reach this site, I got a big banner that said “Error establishing a network connection”.
Here’s a song all the candidates should listen to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1axx2FJUTg
Got that same sign.
Today I’m taking a (badly needed) R&R day, so I suppose this would be a good time to update you on my mom’s situation.
This week marks another mile-post of a multi-month saga involving her. Her overall condition had been slowly declining since the first of the year, and then in late May, with no prior history, she suffered the first of a series of seizures. Her short-term memory, which had already begun to fail, became much worse and her long-term memory was adversely affected as well; she was no longer able to safely walk without help; and she began to become easily confused. After another month, her mental facilities and her physical coordination had deteriorated to the point that it was obvious to me and her physicians that it was no longer feasible for her to continue to live at her apartment, even with daily assistance.
I was fortunate enough to get her admitted to the premier local nursing facility, where has been for the past month. She has made the transition well, and I am of course greatly relieved to know that she is in an environment where she is safe, comfortable, and being cared for 24/7. This week, my brother-in-law and I finished clearing her possessions from her apartment. Some of her things will be donated, but her furniture will be used in the home my sister owned when she and my brother-in-law married, which he is renovating as a guest house for visiting out-of-state relatives of both our families. I know that my mom and my sister would both approve of that.
The decision to place a parent in full-time nursing care is said to be one of the most difficult ones a person can make, and that was indeed the case for me. At the same time, it was one of easiest I have ever made because, having given it a month, it was obvious that it was the best decision for her. I know I will never have to second-guess myself on that. And now, perhaps my life can get back to some “semblance of normalcy”. Or, as I’m wont to say, “What we laughingly refer to around here as normal.”
GR6, it seems as though you made a perfectly fine decision for your mother. Blessings on you and yours.
Dave Barry had another fun column: http://www.jewishworldreview.com/dave/barry_convention16.php3
It includes an account of a man named Zoltan, who is running for president, too, and he wants our bodies to be replaced with machines so we’ll, among other things, be able to give up food and drink (even beer!).
@GR6 yeah, been there – hardest thing to do and easiest, the physicality and logistics and the realization what it means; but – you have to do it, it is the right thing to do
GR6
I had to make the same decision several years back for my Mom, also for much the same reasons. Initially I felt like I had let her down and abandoned my responsibility but it turned out to have been the best course of action for her.
I believe you will look at the same way one day in the future.
sort of in regard to the strip above, the last maker of VHS VCR’s is calling it quits this month. I have a little DVD recorder and put all my stuff I could onto DVD. I was left with three things with copy guard, I couldn’t copy. An old Garry Shandling TV special, but it’s on YouTube, an old government 1950’s atomic war short, also on YouTube, But I have a James Galway Christmas concert, that I can’t find anywhere, so have to keep a VHS player just for it, I suppose I could aim my camcorder at the screen and save it.
GR8-
Sounds like between you and your sister, your mother is is good hands. It seems are especially blessed to have a brother-in-law who treats his mother-in-law as his mother.
My mom has lived alone for twenty-two years and the years are catching up with her. Fortunately, she can still live at home, but she needs more and more oversight by we kids to make sure she takes care of herself; getting her to eat is hard, as dining alone is hard so we try to have a meal with her several times a week..
She performs at-home dialysis every night. Even though she complains about having to do it, a remind her that it’s better than the alternative and, besides, everyone needs a hobby. If it wasn’t for the home dialysis, she would probably have been placed in a nursing home years ago and I suspect would have passed on a long time ago.
As tough as it will be when she does pass on, I think the harder part will be cleaning out the house- it’s the house in which my siblings and I grew up in, and the thought of it no longer being in the family will be tough to accept.
Ghost, you are a good son. You did the right thing and your mom will be in good hands to help yours care for her. I knew things were going badly and have worried all year. You know I did both, mother in law in care, mom at home. Simultaneously. Both were right decisions but I always felt guilty despite being told over and over it was right. That is just being southern woman, we do that.
Take care of yourself. The caretakers need care too and do not feel guilty, you are doing the best thing. Much understanding and love to you and your family. Get some rest.
I’m back, and you didn’t even realize I was gone. Here the whole time, but cptr. on the fritz. Lesson: if your Windows 7 is doing all right, don’t fall for the free offer to download 10, which ends on 29 July. 7 is better, and HPs are still arriving at the local cptr. store [w/ in house experts, whose first language is English]. Restored my laptop for free.
Big straight line winds 0130 Thur. took out lots of trees in and nr. Bemidji, did some structural damage, but apparently hurt no one. I slept through it, but was appalled at the scene next morning.
Peace [nap before more reams of email],
That was me. Peace,
Thanks, one and all, for the encouraging words. I seem to deal with stress better than some, but I’ll admit it has been a trying year so far. However, I can tell I’m beginning to decompress, knowing her needs are being met when I’m not able to be there myself.
It’s OK to laugh too, smile and joke. May not seem like it now but it is. You helped keep me sane in the worst of times by making me laugh.
Thank you my Village.
Loved the Dave Barry column! Read it, laughing all through my dinner. Finished dinner to realize I had eaten roast pork loin, rice with beans and corn and salsa, sliced tomatoes and an entire sautéed plantain. South Florida and Miami comfort food. Dave would have felt at home.
Even drinking a lime and coconut water, yes Mark, it is good.
Liked the ending of the column. Read it Ghost if you haven’t yet. You will laugh. Going to bed with The Help, the book, not the help. Have not read it nor seen movie.
Ghost, you are handling things with a good vision of need versus want, as far as I can tell from what you say here. You have done very well to have balanced your sister’s illness, your mom’s needs and your own job for so long. And I think you have done a wise thing to pass your mom’s care to those best equipped for it now. Good luck to you all, and may your mom find new fields of interest among her new acquaintances.
My mom healed the ulcers on her foot with help from wound care and a podiatrist, so she does not have the foot pain anymore. She is back to walking around and has not fallen lately. But her short term memory is bad and getting worse. She can’t remember to do simple things like closing the window next to her chair at night, turning off the lamp, or putting the cordless phone back in the charger. She doesn’t throw trash into the can but leaves it on the counter, sometimes even putting it on the closed lid of the can instead of opening it. My brother and his wife may be moving to Montgomery, 90 miles away, and leaving me as sole caretaker of her. My sister-in-law works in a state job with a requirement that she actually live in Montgomery. For some time they have let her get by with just staying with friends there a couple of nights a week. But now the pressure to comply has gotten where she can’t ignore it. So their house is on the market, and when it sells, they move.
Yes, c ex-p, good to hear you have functional teeth again. I go slightly bonkers when I have a crown placed and my dentist says, “Don’t chew on that side until tomorrow.” I can only imagine what it’s been like for you.
Read a couple more chapters of The Help. I haven’t made it to bed. Good night all. This book is plunging me back to the 60s and I may not like that.
Maybe I should read Nora Ephron instead? Yes, Jimmy I will get your ex wife’s book Monday or Tuesday when I am in Tulsa. Only literate part of state possibly.