Memory and Vision

Recently, I decided to do something about my PC, which was running like a turtle. It took forever to open new applications or to save data. I read somewhere that you can speed things up by adding a RAM card. Simply put, the more RAM memory, the faster the computer processes the data. My old Dell had only .5 GB.

I went to Staples. For $44, I was able to buy a 1 GB memory card which I was able to install in my computer. Presto, now my PC runs like a jackrabbit.

It occurred to me: Wouldn't it be great if we could just go down to the Mall and buy a snap-in, add-on memory upgrade for our human brains?

As we age, most of us lose our keys and glasses periodically, but these are not the dreaded signs of senility. The experts say that you don't need to start worrying when someone misplaces the keys; you worry when they don't know what the keys are for.

As I grow older I tend to be sensitive to memory issues. While I often have flashbacks that are vivid and detailed, I find that large chunks of memories have seemingly disappeared. Sometimes it is just a temporary lapse of memory, like when you are looking for your keys and suddenly you wonder "What the heck am I looking for?"

Not long ago, I read a new book by Nora Ephron titled "I Remember Nothing." If you have forgotten who Nora Ephron is, she wrote the screenplays to the movies "When Harry met Sally" and "Sleepless in Seattle."

She admits that she can't remember the names of people she meets at parties, and can't even recall the names of her favorite movie stars without Googling them on her Smartphone. She frequently gets lost.

This may sound like familiar complaints to aging baby boomers. It is inspirational to read her reflections which are often, admittedly, blurry. It shows that a mentally competent writer can forget important people and things, just like the rest of us.

My most annoying item of forgetfulness is reading glasses.  I am always losing them.  I cant read the computer screen, caller-id readout, or read the daily newspaper without magnifiers.  Recently, I decided to solve my vision problem. 
BJ's,  one of the warehouse outlets nearby was offering a free trial membership, and while perusing the vast aisles, we noticed a display of 4 pairs of eyeglasses (readers)  for less than $20.  Clearly this was the solution to the problem. The plan: put one pair by the PC, one in the bedroom nightstand, one on the kitchen counter and one in my coat so wherever I went there would always be a pair of glasses to read small print. 
This worked great for a few days.  Last night, searching for a pair of glasses, I noticed that there were five pair on my bureau. 

Where the heck did the other pair come from?

Fixed Income and Unfixed costs

For the past several years I have dutifully scanned the various job listings Internet for a good part time job.  I think I have wasted enough of your time griping about the seemingly nonexistent demand for skilled professionals who are only willing to work 20-24 hours per week. 

So it is that I remain on a fixed income (SS) plus the few occasional shekels I receive from oddball projects and selling my original works of sheer genius, humor and pathos as fillers for mass media.  The additional income barely covers my Starbucks and bar bills, so I am relegated to funding the bulk of living expenses against the SS pension.  I call myself a FFIY  (Frugal Fixed Income Yankee).

"What about your nest egg?"  you are probably asking.  You assume that I have stashed away a couple of mil against the future.  Or maybe you think I have a hidden trust fund like Paris Hilton. Well, dear reader, we are Irish, so instead of inheriting a trust fund, we had to chip in to bury my widowed mother a decade ago.

As for the nest egg, well some [expletive deleted] is probably living in Rio de Janeiro sitting on a beach surrounded by semi-naked young women, with an ice chest full of Sierra Nevada, puffing on a Cuban Presidente on the money we had invested in AIG before the big crash.   I am not jealous. 
I am confident that the Almighty has a plan for me too.  That's why I dutifully buy Powerball tickets, every week.

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Unfixed Prices.
Americans are not accustomed to haggling over prices.  Somehow we have been instilled with the idea that it is insulting to the seller for us to offer a drastically low price for a product or service.  We tend to think all prices are fixed.  Well, honey, they aren't!

At the Mall a few weeks ago, I happened upon a kiosk that was selling Dragon Software.  For those who aren't familiar, this software lets you talk into a mike, and the computer types out the text into a document that you can store and save. Pretty cool stuff for a writer, eh?  Especially one who types with two fingers, who has twenty years' worth of handwritten journals to transcribe...  

Well, I decided I needed this software.  The list price for the basic home edition is normally $99, but they were selling it on a holiday special for $75 (plus 6% state sales tax).  I resisted the urge to buy it n the spot, mainly because I am a frugal fixed-income Yankee who needs to check out all the details before I buy something.  There were questions:  will it play on my operating system? how much training is needed, yadda yadda.  Can I run it on more than one computer? What if I want to write in french?
I checked out a few of the usual internet sales outfits, and found various prices for the same item.
 Last week I ordered a copy of the software online at Amazon for $39 free shipping, no tax.  It was delivered three days later. (I haven't loaded the disk yet. Stay tuned for my product review.)
The point is that the price of things is so relative as to be shockingly disparate.  I checked today, and Amazon has raised their price to $49 plus $4.99 for shipping. 

I wonder what the price will be tomorrow.
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UPDATE:
I attempted to load the software, but the disk could not be read.  My DVD plays music disks so I think it still works for data.  I called the help desk, and did not have to wait.  The Tech Support guy (Rod) gave me a link to download the installation files via internet.  This failed, the error message says I do not have enough RAM to run the software.  Fine tiime to tell me.

Humph!  Now I will have to spend hundreds to use my new $40 software package.  Time for a new Laptop? 
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