“If You Are A Senior or Love Someone Who Is….*”

Then this blog is for you!

When we started our business we were located in the same building as Eastern Agency on Aging – 81 Main Street  in Downtown Bangor, Maine.  The building is small and there always seemed to be a steady stream of people going in and out of their offices.  One of those people, Carol Higgins-Taylor was one of those people. She worked for the agency.  I met her one day and every day since when I see her she puts a smile on my face.  She is warm, smart and hysterical.

My Resource

I met Carol 15 years ago.  Lots of things were different back then, my father was alive, my Mom newly widowed, I was newly divorced and living in a new town with a new company.  But Carol is the same. Friendly, kind and whenever I have a question about getting help or advice in being a better daughter to aging parents, I can email Carol.  Today, Carol owns a PR Agency, (and our office has moved too), her specialty is Seniors and families. She often points me back to Eastern Agency on Aging and even though Mom is in Southern Maine, the resources are there too.

Knowledge is Power

I say this all the time.  Usually, it means, Knowledge gives me “piece of mind.”  I hate feeling like I cannot help my Mother.  I need support to navigate our (Mom’s and mine) journey together.

Senior Expo 2016

Sr.ExpoThursday, May 26th at Husson is the Senior Expo.  While you may think this is JUST for the OLD FOLKS it isn’t.   In the Newman Gym there are exhibitors – It really is a big Resource Room.  Come through, browse at your leisure.  It’s FREE.  And starting at 10am are Presentations in the Meeting House/Gracie Theatre Building. A Wide range of topics, Living With a Wound, Healthy Living For Your Brain and Body, Caregiving for your loved one with Dementia to Chair Yoga.

 

Come See, Come Learn. Stay for as long as you can. Feel the power of the Network.  With Carol at the Helm of this Event, it is something not to miss.

 

*Carol Higgins-Taylor – preceding her weekly Radio Show Senior Talk on WVOM. Click here FMI.

What Have I Learned? (Part I)

It has been years since I first learned the Theories Of Constraints philosophy. Like DECADES ago.  And like Total Quality Management and other “flavor of the month” advice that seemed to come our way in manufacturing, you just went along for the ride. Basically,  you were being paid to listen and not DO your job.  A lot of it felt like “fluff”  during those years.  This felt different. We were given  the book The Goal and it stuck with me as did the brainstorming sessions that our company held.

I have long left the manufacturing world and  tho I am still a “marketing geek” now what we are doing seems  (to me) is harder to grasp.  In manufacturing, you can see stuff being made.  You can SEE it. You can SEE when it is made well. You can SEE when it is made not so well.  When it “rolls off the line” you can SEE a finished product.

During my manufacturing tenure, it was first clothing, socks, boys sweaters, belts and accessories and then medical equipment.  In every case REWORK killed us.  Costs money.  Costs of wasted time, costs of frustrated customers and our sales force; then cash flow, revenue suffered. To me, “back in the day”  seemed that it was much more a black and white world – you could SEE results. Engineers and production folks were ACCOUNTABLE for failures because EVERYONE saw them.  Finger pointing existed, but it wasn’t as easy to blame the “wrong guy” and get away with it.

  • Enter technology.
  • Enter communication and technology.
  • Talk about the big black hole of the Blame Game!

TANGIBLE products that look good, don’t break, perform to a customers expectations or when you really WIN – you exceed them! Lots of what is done is hidden in lines of code or done in a way that people don’t see the flaws until it has long passed and it is in the customer’s hands.  Then, it is always something “on your end.”  Your computer, your browser, your email and now your phone.  We’ve all heard it.

Nonetheless, I am reminded of Eli Goldratt and The Theory of Constraints and what really is, The Root Cause Fix?”

The next couple of posts will discuss this. Perhaps if folks read these posts you may see yourself, your family or your coworkers in the words?  This thinking can be applied to work, home life as well as what you are tying to accomplish for yourself.  In marketing research we often say, “WHAT is the PROBLEM?”   Sometimes it is very easy to come up with the SYMPTOMS, but what is the real PROBLEM –  Eli Goldratt would say, if we cannot determine the PROBLEM there is no way in knowing what the “Root Cause Fix” may be.

You may not be in the manufacturing field now or maybe you never have been in manufacturing but it does remain that no matter the industry or situation, fixing a bunch of symptoms may be just that.  The PROBLEM still remains.  That is the hardest part.

 

 

More on iPODS


I know, I know you just think these things are gadgets that encourage anti-social behavior in public places and I cannot say that I blame you. When your kids “tune you out”, when that hot guy at the gym “tunes you out,” you look at them head on and they all have earphones in their ears and they are paying attention to IT and NOTHING else that is going on in the real world. NOTHING! So you hate iPODS.

It is a myth that you have to be anti-social to really USE an iPOD. I had a recent post about why I like them and how the average 40+ “Jane” or “Joe” can make real use of them. For stuff REAL people like us- like, you know, learning a language, listening to that book in the car you never had time to read. Click here to check that one out.

There are several things – none of them very expensive that can help you remove the anti-social piece from iPODS I promise it can work for you and easily!

SPEAKERS! Now here is a way to use your iPOD like a stereo. Remember it is better than carrying that stupid boom box that you finally embraced after the “Let’s Get Physical” era! Or those books of CD’s and you never have the one you really want to listen to!

Just like me, you are probably not an isolationist. You want to play your music or books so everyone can hear it. Or so you can cook dinner and listen without headphones on. There is also have a way to plug it into your iPOD into your car speakers and everyone in your car can hear it.

I went to Best Buy yesterday and found these speakers with the help of some very nice people there. I really like a “techie-type” store where I enter the place and there is somebody as old or OLDER than I am as a greeter. Then when I get to the area someone that actually cares about what I am looking for and doesn’t try to sell me something I am not looking for and don’t need.

I was looking for three things:

  1. Sound Quality
  2. Battery Power for when I take it on the road
  3. Portability, easy to carry and safe to travel – doesn’t break!!

I had all ready learned that having battery capability was important. You go on a picnic, you end up being in some camp with no power or there is no plug where you want the music to be. So flexibility was important. If I can only use something “sometimes” I won’t use it. I get out of practice and it lands on a shelf some place and I have forgotten about it.

My pick for speakers is the Sonic Impact. (as pictured above) It is perfect and you need to get one. You can tuck it away, take it to camp and share your music or take it on a picnic. The hardest thing about it is you need to keep it from your kids! They will take it to the beach and fill it with sand.

Here Now! – Techno Trapped in my 40’s

I am working on a new blog especially for people like me.

I am a “40 something.” I am too old to know how to understand text message talk, too young to retire. I think I am in a big group of folks that are trying to learn everything and just dont know where to start.

I just bought my first car with automatic windows and it practically talks. I try to embrace technology and explain it to people in a way that shows them why it is a good thing for them, but first I need to understand it and use it myself. Yes I have an iPod, yes I subscribe to podcasts, yes I know some things, but this trend of stepping away from the intimacy of person to person contact is a little disturbing, yet I know I need to learn to do it.