Technology doesn't help old people

I'm back! And life has a pace again - oh, Lord - life has a rhythm. I'm so happy. So happy to be working and so happy to have a home again. So happy to be living out of a dresser and not a suitcase and happy to be repaying debts and gifts of kindness; half of which required no reciprocation.

I missed you, Internet world! I can't say how many of my truly lovely friends find my sentiments baffling and this favored medium of interaction, somehow, artificial and insincere. But in having to take a hiatus from my laptop created space for some new observations to take place that have inspired me and caused me to be more enamored with our technology and more in love with people.

More on that later.
I am taking my last class this summer. I will finally have my overdue BA in Sociology by mid-July. You are all invited to the party - it will be a grand affair consisting mostly of a large scale scavenger hunt and a lot of food. (I am planning on investing more time in setting it up than in my class... unwise?)

Below is my first short essay. It's awful. AWFUL. But I think it makes some interesting points worth commenting on. The course is Intro to Gerontology and the topic was an exploration of whether or not technology is a help or hindrance to the elderly. What do you think?

Technology, by definition, is the ultimate byproduct of human creativity and pragmatism; it is the development of tools that aid humans in their pursuit of enlightenment, comfort, or vitality. Technology is the human response to the preservation of both individual and collective lives and lifestyles. In a consumerist culture, the most valuable life is that of the consumer. When faced with the question of importance and application of technology for a specific sub-group of a given culture, we must consider both how able the group is to consume and how applicable to their lifestyle, and therefore how interested they may be, to the product in question. Because technology is funded and perpetuated by the demand of the consumer, particularly in America, it follows that technological development caters to the most normal and high consuming demographic. The elderly (65+ y.o.) only make up just over 12% (but growing) of the US consumer market while the bulk of the working and consuming age group (20-55 y.o.) make up well over half of the population. It is logical to assume that most technology is developed for this sub-group of the population and their specific demands and needs.

For the growing elderly population, technology is only as useful as it is consistent in its application. The cell phone may be slightly helpful to the elderly lifestyle because it is simply a more advanced version of a technology that previously existed, the telephone; but computers, particularly new forms of social interaction available via technologies, are more difficult to implement and are not designed for use by the elderly. A glance at the ads and layout of social mediums like facebook & myspace will reveal a format hardly conducive to the inevitable site and audio difficulties developed later in life. Likewise, the growing necessity of usage of such social networks further isolates the elderly from a generation with a unique form of relationship. This is not to say that the elderly cannot adapt and communicate in these fashions, but the rate at which technology evolves and changes is not expected in the aging generations as it is by the modern children of technology.

The lack of demand for assistive technology for the elderly is the result of several factors working against the potential development of technological aid. The 65+ group cannot create a demand for itself as it does not carry enough influence as a minority population. There are simply not enough people in the sub-group to unify under this specific consumer demand. The elderly also represent a significant portion of the population that is not working and, therefore, cannot independently pursue or afford a perpetually more convenient or comfortable lifestyle. Due to the sharp decline in veneration of our elderly, advocacy for the minority by more highly represented consumers does not exist either. Because of poor representation for needs of the elderly in the technological market, most developments, it would seem, are unsustainable, expensive, or difficult to attain and implement. Such assistive tools that do not have the proper support can be dangerous or a hindrance to an elderly lifestyle.

Technology that does exist in an assistive or enriching form for the elderly is simply residual consequence of products developed for the aforementioned, larger subgroup. For example, the development of the medical alarm necklace, or panic alarm, commonly used to send an emergency signal in the case of an accident or out of reach phone was originally designed for government facilities and guards as a security device. There are several examples that include creative uses of mobile devices, hearing and sight amplifiers, medical tools, and even food, etc, that originally had little to do with assisting the elderly. But such creations that were not intended for operation by the elderly may contribute to sedentary, unhealthy lifestyles or dependencies that suit the primary consumers’ demands more than they benefit their users. In the case of the panic alarm, such technology replaces what was originally human responsibility – the application of this particular device encourages a lifestyle of independence more closely affiliated with the primary demographic than what may be most conducive or beneficial to its elderly user.

Before technology can be truly helpful to our aging population, the majority must recognize the elderly as valuable social group worth preserving and assisting with our technological endeavors as our own needs and comforts are.

Lost in Translation

If you read Traditional Chinese... maybe you could help me out with a comment I received. This is what Yahoo Translator gave me:

You need the indoor design? Please look for extremely the shed! He has gang this fragrant 舖 to make the decoration, who did the fragrant 舖 website design ask to do links SEO also to do said! Your indoor design met a pile too to be also tired my mother Ye! Recently in the friend family do some people married do not know need the wedding ceremony video recording? ISEE this probably good Ye! The Aurora style's Yilan people sleep in there cross the honeymoon to be very idle, the Beijing View Advertisement Design Company designs the wedding ceremony gift box's thing is really very good! Wedding ceremony scene also some people take add the throttle to refuel for the new person, conference site scene flare very US, happy pair's medal is also satisfactory, Lian Liche the headlight is the LED white light moves the peach garden from Nankang, the new home needs the indoor design? Asks this family not to have good which the wrong this family indoor design does! The indoor design's ten methods they have, the indoor design's truth they also know, the wife secretly will not go to the motel with other man, the house also needs two embryos? Your family needs to illuminate? LED will be the future mainstream commodity you knows! The LED province electricity the environmental protection, really wants to buy one to try, my company serves the project has a health foods generation of labor, the vegetarian diet capsule You need to lose weight? Quick movement! The indoor design also contains the space design! Rents a room the net publication free not to spend money in the clear boundary farm sheep to be very lovable! Which is the Middle Ages vehicle performance actually the good indoor design must look for to be quite good! a383 website in? which a383 do you know the website in? The second-hand furniture is also cheap also the easy to use Wenshan Moving company's service telephone good Moving company to introduce that which you fitness to the bodily very good tasty tea buy! What can A piece of many younger sisters look at SEO the place unamusing = = SEO place? How does SEO arrange quite on quickly! Does not tell you the fine Moving company please to look for the yellow page to look how the Moving company does choose quite good Taibei Moving company which good? The Taibei Moving company moves the flow Taibei Moving company, the Taibei Moving company visitors is Ye! This family's appeal thing design is diverse! The appeal thing packing is occult you to need the appeal thing to be auxiliary? The appeal thing uses well! The appeal thing, the appeal thing, the appeal thing, the appeal thing, the appeal thing, the appeal thing, the appeal thing, the appeal thing, the Taichung Moving company, A piece, the Taibei Moving company, the Taibei County Banqiao Moving company, the appeal thing, the appeal thing, the appeal thing, the appeal thing, the appeal thing, the appeal thing, the appeal thing, the appeal thing, the appeal thing, the appeal thing, expends the ticket, the appeal, the appeal, the appeal, the appeal appeal, the appeal, the appeal, the appeal, the appeal, appeal world many people are = = Jan Zhuanfan the tool to be very easy to use! Drafts the letter society service to be fine, 絕 does not make do! Every month the freight transportation company removes goods has the fixed price pickled vegetable delicious Ye uniform invoice to check lottery results the indoor design company light bright this family who 26 must check lottery results to be good! The heat-insulating cardboard has used hotly! The indoor design company usually designs the family is very beautiful! which does the led flashlight illuminate the ultra luminous second-hand stack board to buy? a383 has a look! Moves serves the area to be as follows: The Da'an area moves, Sungshan moves, the mountainous area moves, eight miles move, five move, Taishan moves, Datong District moves, the area moves, the indanthrene moves, Wan Hua moves, rains when supports the umbrella, here has a fine umbrella to let you, the uniform cannot drip wet! The uniform clean is the good baby! SEO　　 This second-hand vehicle's performance is very good

In the Mean Time

Sorry - I'm trying to set a good pace with the voting & writing, etc - but things have been a little hectic around the Northend-Sheean household with work and not work and interviews and cars breaking down, etc.

Matt's dad flew in from Kenya Tuesday night and came to work on our car WEDNESDAY afternoon! And we've had a number of friends offer the use of their cars in the mean time. What beautiful community we have.

In YOUR mean time (while I write a post on the winning topic) I thought you might enjoy some of my favorite people on the Internet:

MattSheean.com - If you haven't been here yet, you're not my friend.
This is my husband's beta website. You can also see his more recent work on his blog. He just got signed to book that will be at ComicCon, too! But even I can break his NDA so all I know is that there are some pretty good illustrations in it. =D

Micah's Blog - My brother in-law luv's website!
This is another fantastic artist whom I recommend checking out from time to time. Without being a totally biased sister, Micah's pretty fantastic. I'm particularly fond of his accuracy with the guns he's draws... ;-)

MalachiWard.com - Matt's other brain.
By far the most attended and anticipated art shows at our university were ones involving Malachi, go check out his work and you'll understand what I mean. I hope he doesn't mind me tooting his horn, but I'm a big fan. Malachi participates in Illustration Friday, too, so you can count on a weekly blog posting.

That all for "In the Mean Time." By popular vote, "Why THIS Universe Doesn't Have Masked Vigilantes" will be up over the weekend!

Stupid Things We Heard People Say at the Huntington Library

Last week's poll results are in:

And I must honor the voters! Unless I'm the California Supreme Court. Oops! Did I say that? Whatever. Politics. Onto silly people saying stupid things!

Last week I started my new job. As it turns out, I have the first Thursday of the month off! As it also turns out, the Huntington Library is free (thank you Wells Fargo) every first Thursday of the month! We found this out by accident when searching out an opportunity to speak to a supervising security guard about a job opportunity.... and this is where the adventure began.

As we approached the Huntington, we noticed an unusually large crowd before the gates. Above them was a sign that indicated it was "Free Thursday!" This didn't make finding the head security guard easy. After the doors opened and the crowd thinned, we found him and Matt approached, having a conversation that went something like this:

Matt: Good morning, sir. So-and-so told me that you would be the person to talk to about the application I submitted a month ago.

Sir: Yea, that'd be me. We haven't been hiring due to a freeze, but it was just lifted and we have one slot open.

Matt: Oh, well I'd like that slot!

Big Dog: You workin'?

Matt: No, not right now.

Kahuna: Of course you want that slot. I'm workin', you're not.

Matt: ...

Main Man: You got people skills? Because this job's just about people skills. No kung fu, no mace, no nothing. Just common sense.

Matt gave him his name and number and they parted ways. We decided to take advantage of the Free Thursday (a very nice attendant had some extra tickets - apparently even though it's free you have to pre-order tickets) and we meandered in to the cactus garden. We found a secluded little corner next to a giant agave plant to have a quick kiss but were interrupted by an approaching group of 20-something women. We sort of scuttled passed them while they admired the plant and heard one say,

"Oh how cool! This plant a total throw back to the Jurassic period or something."

Now, just to be sure, I stifled my laughter until I checked Urbandictionary.com; I'm pretty sure the young lady was using the 4th definition provided:

4) throw back
	very old fashion damn that mc hammer video is throw back

We giggled about other plants in the cactus garden "sporting their spring time flowers" and "totally rockin' that prehistoric vibe."

Eventually we made it to the made our way to the bonsai garden (which was absolutely amazing!). To get there, you enter a bamboo forest and find yourself among traditional Japanese architecture and landscape. After the bonsai exhibit you immediately find yourself in a zen garden. You can sit and admire the sculpted trees and manipulated rock patterns. We couldn't avoid the man in boat shoes, obviously wearing short for the first time this season, explaining to his wife, who stood very close to the description placard that this was "some kind of meditation garden."

After relaying this story in writing, I realize that it was far funnier to Matt and I who spent the next 20 minutes chuckling about the tendency that type of museum goer has to share their "outside" knowledge before reading the description placard.

The final leg of the trip landed us outside the arboretum. I was simultaneously admiring the magnolia trees while searching for the nearest exit to relieve my aching feet when I noticed a gate seeming to lead to the parking lot, "come on!" I told Matt and traipsed in its direction. Matt lagged behind a bit looking at me quizzically, I reached the gate and said "what is it? let's go, my feet hurt!" He strode without rushing toward me, shyly eye-ing people passing who I had not noticed were looking at me, and said, "I think we should go this way..." I took me a second or two to notice the sign next to me that said "exit"; it pointed the way the stream of people was moving and was obviously placed next to the gate I'd forced open to avert confusion...

So much for my high horse. =)

What would you like to read next?
	On Street Soliciting.
	Das Reihngold: My First Time at the Opera
	Why THIS Universe Doesn't Have Masked Vigilates.

An experience with tears

I know it's a bit lame to blog about personal experience unless they are extremely interesting and revolve around a particularly developed social groups' interest...
And I know that the polls are in and the vote on the next blog is "Stupid Things We Heard People Saying at the Huntington Library" and not something about crying.... but I can't find the notebook where I wrote all the dumb things people free to romp on Thursdays have to say.

With that being said (and while I wait for my new password on morphthing.com to take) I thought I'd write on a very fresh experience I just had.

Matt and I recently returned from a trip to Vroman's. We've been avoiding places you buy things at because of the ridiculously dire straights we've found ourselves in. Not to worry, we will buy things later. But we decided to have a cup of delicious coffee in the book store's cafe anyway. Instead of talking about plans, which seems to be what we usually do in coffee shops, we reminisced. The closer we got to the the present, the more solemn our language got. We started to talk about mistakes and "what-ifs" that would've made this time in alternate universe a little easier, a little less fraught with the unknown.

I suppose it really got me down without my realizing it. By the time we got home, I had already forgotten the walk we had just taken, my steps only existing to get from the last to the next. Usually I take in everything - fresh air, what color car is parked by our house, and the "our" zip-tie I put on the overpass to remind us of the many trips over 210 we've taken to Vromans. It unsettled me to have been so deep in such depressing thoughts.

I sat down on one of the three pieces of furniture left in our home and started to cry. I knew it would only last a few minutes and I didn't really want Matt to see me with puffy eyes or streams down my face; so I leaned forward to keep the tears from rolling down my cheeks.

While I waited for the wave of frustration and sadness to pass, I thought about how clever I was to lean forward and keep my tears in place. I thought about the hyperbola the salty water was making on my downcast eyes. One tear dropped, hit the fabric of the sofa and splatter into a shape similar to the blood splotch on the Watchman logo. While I continued to cry, another tear from my other eye fell and hit the couch, making a similar shape. I took note of the distance between the tear drops and thought about measuring them to see if they were the same distance between my pupils (mind you, I was still very very sad while all this was going through my mind). I was still waiting for the waterworks to end. But then, in a startlingly lucid thought, it occured to me that my very clever position was providing me with a rare opportunity to see through the tear-drop hyperbola as it formed. I closed one eye and watched the tear gather, and stretch, get brighter as it picked up light in the room, and finally fall on top of the Watchmen teardrop that had come before it (all this time I am also doing the math to figure out how much we need beyond my paycheck to eat). I watched a few more tears fall and took notice of the very distinct thudding sound they made. The 3rd or 4th layer of tears was begining to sound more squish-y than thudd-y. I was still so sad and I wondered, if I cry enough, will I have enough tears to go all the way through the couch?

But by the time I had resolved to crying enough to create a column of wetness penetrating the couch, I was already too busy thinking of what words I would use to write this blog and I had nothing to cry about... in fact, I was so quick to jump on the writing, I forgot to wipe my eyes and blinked some risidule tears on my eyelashes onto the keyboard!

Oops. Such is life!

(PS Morphthing worked. One I told Patrick of Vroman's I thought he looked like Liam Neeson. I didn't think I was totally wrong upon meeting him today, but I think my image of him in my head looked more like this.)
(PPS "Stupid Things We Heard People Say at the Huntington Library" will be up tonight!)