HELP THEM, HELP YOU!

My friend Kelly (it is amazing to me how many Kelly’s I know!) sent me this in an email and I thought it was worth sharing with all of you.

Since this blog is really focused on the sharing of technology (when it makes sense) in a non-technical way. Picture this, your child is in a car or snowboard accident and they are unconscious. The “first responder” or EMT goes through the cell phone in the ambulance on the way to the hospital and they have no idea the codes your kid may have for you or another relative that could give medical consent or need notification.

This is so simple and if using this EMT speak helps them when you cannot do it yourself to say to them, “John is my point of contact in an emergency and here is his number.”

It costs nothing and it is a great idea – especially on your kids phones!

Paramedics are asking that everyone add at least one additional entry to their cell phone contacts list. Please add an ICE entry. ICE stands for In Case of Emergency.

This number should dial the person in your family that can respond to medical decisions if you (or your child) is injured or needs assistance.

If there is an accident, paramedics know to check cell phones for emergency contact information. Imagine taking a look and trying to figure out who to call out of the twenty (I have 178!) or more numbers on your phone?

By adding a contact entry that’s designated as an emergency contact number (ICE), you can make their job much easier and possibly save your child’s or your own life.

So program an ICE entry on your cell phone today, as a matter of fact, pull it out right now as you’re reading this entry. If you have more than one person the paramedics can contact in case of an emergency, you can add additional ICE numbers to your list. Your primary contact should be listed under ICE, then you can add the other contacts under ICE1, ICE2, ICE3, etc.

After you program ICE into your phone, have your spouse, your kids, your parents, and your friends do the same thing. If there are people in your life that you care about, they should all have ICE on their phones.

What the heck do I do with this old cell phone?

Let’s not even start on why they have to constantly UPGRADE when you are just getting used to working the one you replaced the last time!

Let’s talk about being green? Green is good, but really, let’s just think for a minute.

2 years ago you bought a cell phone, maybe your “significant other,” (S.O.) kids or whatever you have in your life and you not only have an out of date cell phone that no one will fix, can’t replace the battery or just plain wont work with the new technology on the towers.

I know at my house, I have a charger plugged in, my office I have a charger plugged in, my camp I have a charger plugged in. I also have a charger in my cigarette lighter of my car and my (S.O.) has one in his car for my phone and he is one in mine (we don’t have the same phone- NATURALLY) for his and on and on and on it goes!!

So of course I go off and “GROUSE” to my favorite cell phone dealer, Central Maine Wireless. They hear it from people like me all the time and have no power with Nokia or Motorola to have this nonsense stop. Central Maine Wireless has a program in place where your phone is donated and any money from it goes to a cause they support, in this case a local Project Graduation.

BUT there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Just like GOODWILL or Salvation Army, there is a home for your previously LOVED cell phone and all the components that go with it.

Here is a link for you: http://tinyurl.com/3vugzj this goes to an EPA website that gives you some tips. We also have a domestic violence shelter in our town called Spruce Run and they also can use these old phones. USAA and other veteran organizations often send out envelopes with the postage prepaid to return phones that they can reuse for families that need them.

So even though you have to learn a new phone all over again, you can be sure someone can use your old phone for a good cause. The first place to start is your favorite wireless dealer, pack up all the phones, chargers, earphones in a box and they can make sure they go to a good cause!

Let your computer remember those Birthdays!

Sure you remember your own kid’s birthdays or your siblings, but can you remember all those grandkids or in-laws?

I have a man in my life who has a million kids, grandkids, daughters and sons in law, step kids and step grandkids. I have no “organic” children – only my sweet brother and his family, so all this record keeping is new to me!

HELP!!??? How can I keep up??

So Hannah Mae, one of the daughters told me about birthdayalarm.com.
It is a God-send. AND it is FREE!! You login and create an account. Get your birthday list book ready and you can enter 10 at a time on one screen. They want name, date and year. One week before the birthday you get a reminder in your email box!!! It is wonderful and so easy to use!! They also have eCards if you want to send them.

PERFECT I say! If we have to use this crazy “BOX” called a computer all the time, we may as well make it work for our lives as well as our work!!

Bienvenue au Canada? I don’t think so!!

This isn’t meant to say, Canada (or Canadians) is bad – It is a great, beautiful place with wonderful people – I go across the border as often as possible, but remember it is a different country and they have different rules.

I live in Maine, and though the province of New Brunswick is closer to my house than the State of New Hampshire, you cannot treat it the same way as the rules in the United States, because it isnt.

I learned a couple of weeks ago from a newscast on Daily Buzz about a family from NJ that got a wireless bill after a trip to Canada of $18,000+ for ONE month.

How the heck did that happen?
It has to be mistake.

NOPE.

Well, it seems that these folks took a vacation in Canada to “get away from it all” and didn’t realize that their kids were” texting” their way through their vacation from the back seat of the car to their friends back home.

How the story goes is that between roaming charges and taxes charged to you by the Canadian carrier (and you have no choice in the matter who that is), you can rack up some serious fees that you wont know about until your next wireless bill long after you have returned.

Do your homework. Go see (or call before you leave) your cell phone people, I go to Central Maine Wireless they have a grip on what I need to do (or not do) before I leave. It takes 2 minutes and it is well worth it.

Think that is a fluke? It happened also to someone in Portland, OR going to Vancouver, BC – click here to read the story. The difference here is that this one is $19,000+ !!

When you talk to your cell phone partner, here are the questions I would ask.

  • Is there some temporary solution that I can use for the time I am there?
  • Are there things that we don’t do on our phones for the time we are traveling?
  • Should I just put the phones that I had carefully secured with the help of EMF products, like an EMF protection necklace, away (except for emergencies) while we are traveling?

Vacations are to be memory makers for the family to cherish for years to come, don’t get a “surprise attack” with your cell phone bill coming in the mail! I know a $19,000 unexpected bill- I would certainly remember for the rest of my life!

Other tips are listed here for Canadian travel, not just for cell phone usage from About.com