As a follow-up to my recent advice to get some computer skills and get on the web, I thought it wise to let you all in on the following: I have won the lottery! Now you won’t see me on The Big Spin show or anything like that because I didn’t win the California lottery. It’s the Irish Lottery! And I didn’t only win once, I won twice! Oddly the same fellow, A Mr. Anthony Chagnot has notified me of both prizes without noting the other. If I email him my contact information, he can wire the money directly to my account! Funny, I don’t remember buying a ticket. And Ireland doesn’t have a lottery. I also get weekly offers to get me my inheritance from family I didn’t have. Also I could help a guy in a Nigerian bank get some money out of the country. One more scam is to send a real looking note to confirm your password, by a bank or other financial institution. This is called phishing. They get your email address somewhere. Mine is published in a newspaper every week. They send this nonsense to a thousand internet users and if just one or two bites, they have a phish on the line! With a few promises of wealth they get the number to an account and authorization to drain it every month when a pension check comes in by direct deposit. Sometimes I ask the phisher to send me proof of his good intentions. I want a photo in front of the bank where he works. Sometimes I ask him to wear a distinctive garment, so I know it’s him. A pink dress is my favorite. I like the idea of some fat guy in Bakersfield trying to figure out if he really should get a picture of the Bahrain Bank of UK with a guy in a pink dress out in front of the building. I never hear back from them. All in all, be careful, even in virtual reality, there are crooks everywhere.

I took the girl scouts to see Wiicked at the Pantages. The backstory to L. Frank Baum’s Wizard of Oz gives a new perspective to looking different, unreciprocated affection and altruistic sacrifice. At least that’s what the girl scouts thought. The older adults I’ve talked to don’t like the character changes. One told me that Glenda has always stood for purity and helpfulness. Her human frailty in the stage play was disappointing. A week later I sat behind some older adults in a matinee showing of Charlie Wilson’s War. I could see their physical reaction to some pretty provocative language in the film. Each bad word caused a stir of shocked disapproval and embarrassment. I heard one lady say it had ruined the movie for her. The codes of behavior that we learn in our youth tend to stick with us as we age. I know that in leading group therapy for older adults a rule about curse words is expected and followed. While younger adults seem to require a few expletives just to communicate at all. I know all those words existed 50 and 60 years ago. It just wasn’t acceptable to use them.
The girl scouts don’t like it either. But they do expect to call almost anyone, regardless of age, by their first name. Familiarity is not the issue it was when most seniors were in their youth. It would never have been ok for Eddie Haskell to tell Mrs. Cleaver “That’s a lovely housedress you have on today JUNE.”
Rules to remember when meeting older adults. 1) Use formal address like Mr. or Mrs. until invited to do otherwise. 2) Don’t cuss. 3) Agree that Glenda really was a good witch.

A couple of news stories caught my eye this week and got me thinking. One was about 84 year old Ester McCullogh in Texas. She tried to run down a neighbor in her car. She had a record of violence since she assaulted a policeman in 2005 with her cane. A Canadian man was ticketed and had his car impounded for “street racing” at 100 MPH when he passed a cop car. He’s 85 years old, so he beat the record previously held by two 75 year old men who were cited under the same law. What I got to thinking about is social pressure. How much of our tolerance for company, and need for support do we carry into our later years? Canada and rural Texas have a lot of space that is becoming more crowded. Since these two were born in about 1922, what are the population changes?
I like to take my dog to the dog park. I like the one in Sierra Madre best, but since I don’t pay taxes there, I generally go somewhere else. My dog doesn’t seem to have a preference since he tries to sit on my lap the whole time, regardless of where we go. It may sound cute, but he’s a big old Lab and thinks he’s a lap dog. He seems to have social anxiety but I don’t think starting him on Prozac is indicated.
I don’t expect the dog to “begin enjoying the support and company of his peer group.” I do sometimes expect older adults to start going to congregate meals and social functions after being solitary for years or even decades. The unexpected consequences of company may lead to bad driving behavior. And I won’t let the dog drive us home from the park.

I’ve had feedback about my contact information and the information I put here about various agencies that are often only accessible by computer. I know that many older adults didn’t use a computer at work. Some tried it for fun and it was too difficult to type all those instructions in code. I encourage those older adults who haven’t tried it for a while to get back on the web. It’s not like you never use a computer nowadays. The ATM at the bank is a computer. The gas pump at the filling station, your cell phone, and your satellite receiver are all computers. And the kind that sits on the table and uses a keyboard is now as easy to use as the others on the list. The reason why I want to promote computer literacy is simple. Everything in the world is designed to come to you this way now. I had to call Medicare this week to find out why someone was disenrolled from their Part D insurance. I had to wait for a long time and punch way too many numbers on the phone menu. The computer gets right through. I wanted to contact Paul Petersen, the actor turned advocate. I didn’t think I could figure out who his agent is, send a letter and get an answer. So I e-mailed him. And got a response!
I work with three people who are “old enough” to be on Medicare. All of them use the computer at work and at home every day. They print snapshots from the digital camera. They edit the Christmas letter. They find out if there are enough people left from the class of 1957 to hold a reunion! It is doable. Monrovia Adult School has Beginning Computer Classes for Seniors starting this month. “Patient, gentle instruction, no tests, no homework!”And lastly, you have to use a computer if you ever want to Google yourself.