Category Archives: senior lifestyle

The Queen Of Reservations

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I have the dubious distinction of being the Queen Of Reservations.

1-I was brought up in Queens

2-I eat out every night.

3-My name and phone number are registered on the computers in most NYC restaurants.

Many moons ago, I called all of the popular New York City restaurants to make a reservation under my name. Then I would eventually cancel the reservation but somehow my name would stay in the computer. Now when I call a popular restaurant to get a reservation during prime time, I get the royal treatment. The restaurants believe I am repeat business. All very clever.

Today you don’t have to work so hard to get into a popular restaurant between 7PM and 10PM. But you do have to pay for it. Resy is a new app that lets you pay an extra fee to book a table whenever you like. First you sign up. Then you pick a restaurant. You then have to pay a service charge so you are guaranteed a table. The fee is determined on-the-spot by the restaurant.

For the moment, Resy is only available in NYC with 20 participating restaurants. That number will grow every month and more cities will be added.

Money talks. No one goes away hungry.

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A New Type Of Food Delivery Service

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Sebastian,15-years old, showing off the striped bass he caught and cooked for our dinner party.

Most of you know that I don’t cook. Never made a meal. Okay, maybe a few times but never had a strong desire to cook until this past week. We were visiting friends in Provincetown, MA., where they host dinner parties all the time. In four days, we were invited to three dinners and two brunches. My girlfriend’s 15-year old son, Sebastian, even made dinner for us one night after he arrived home with the squid and striped bass he caught that day. I marveled at everyone’s creations and wondered why they cook and I don’t.

It’s probably because I’m too lazy or afraid of failing. Maybe both. This may be another false start, but I’m going to give it a try. I asked my girlfriend Dawn, to help me by suggesting very easy recipes for appetizers. She is going to email me one or two very simple ones to start. Now I worry about shopping for the ingredients. How would I ever know where to locate some of the unusual ones in the supermarket? I don’t want anyone to accompany me to the market. This is my project,

Surprise, surprise. I just heard about a new service that Fresh Direct, an online fresh food grocer, offers that can help me get started. Fresh Direct and Foodily, a leading social recipe network, have created Popcart, a technology that automatically takes a recipe and does the shopping for you. Yes, the website determines the ingredients needed and delivers them right to your door. When I Googled the service, I found a great explanation on Engadget.

The press release both companies issued said, “Popcart allows consumers to browse any recipe – across more than 150+ million food websites and blogs – and seamlessly integrates the ingredients right into a shopping cart.”

I was told by friends in the food industry, that many other food service companies, including supermarkets and specialty shops, will offer this service as well next year. Popcart for FreshDirect is now only available in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Philadelphia, and Delaware.

I promise that once I get the hang of it, I will do my own shopping. Till then, I need all the help I can get.

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It’s Not A Socket, It’s An Electrical Outlet

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I’m sitting in the guest bedroom in one of the most elegant homes in Provincetown, MA, better known as Ptown. I am visiting friends who have summered here for over a decade. I’m not suppose to brag, but their house has something most of us don’t have, and have learned to live without, ample electrical outlets.

You have never seen anything like this. My bedroom has eight pairs of electrical outlets. Each wall has two separate outlets, four places in total to plug in my electronic devices.

The first thing I did when I saw all of the available power, was to plug in every device I owned. Most of my digital equipment is stored in a plastic bag so this was a good chance to use them all at once.

I asked my friend why there were so many sockets in her house? She replied, “They’re called electrical outlets, not sockets.” DigiDame stands corrected. Then she explained that because she traveled so much and stayed at countless hotels, she was able to see the necessity for a multitude of outlets.

She noticed that most hotel rooms have a scarce number of electrical outlets. She promised herself that once her 1857 Ptown home was restored, every bedroom would get an generous number of outlets to accommodate the digital lifestyles of today.

I’m loving it. Finally, someone who understands the need to charge. Thank you pal.

I Just Deleted Today’s DigiDame

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I was just putting the finishing touches on todays’s post when the entire copy got deleted. It’s so late that I am not going to try to recreate it. I will simply say Good Night.

Here are more of my collections of signs to entertain you.

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Facebook Is Not A Law Enforcement Issue

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You are not going to believe this. The
Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department recently reported that local area residents call 911 when their Facebook doesn’t work.

While this is pretty funny, it’s also very sad. So many of us are addicted to social media. The minute it doesn’t work, we impulsively call the cops.
Facebook reported that “nervous residents feared that they were permanently cut off from the world of pictures of friends and their meals. They had been choking 911 and the regular police number.”

I also guess that Facebook is, for many folks, their connection to the outside world. Without it, they panic. I know many of my friends are Facebook voyeurs. They never post. They just snoop.

Okay by me.

The Hotel Business Is Going Digital

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I’m surprised it took this long. The Hilton Hotel chain is finally going digital. The company is currently spending $550 million on updated technology so that hotel guests will be able to use their smartphones to choose rooms, check-in and unlock doors.

I can honestly say I haven’t seen anything close to what Hilton is planning to do. In fact, the Wall Street Journal claims Hilton is pioneering the digital world for the hotel business. If they succeed, others will follow. Hilton plans to involve 4,200 of is properties worldwide.

Hilton is already using smartphones and tablets for certain hotel features in a few locations. In several months, full-scale technology will be available everywhere you see a Hilton name. Once everything is set up, Hilton plans to offer promotions and discounts to everyone who uses their digital platform.

I have been on the Hilton loyalty program for long time even though I haven’t stayed at any of their locations for years. I look forward to major savings and better accommodations. I just might return.

Virtual Medical House Calls

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I wonder how many of my readers know about HealthTap? HealthTap is an online service that allows you to type out health questions to legitimate doctors. It launched in 2010 by Ron Gutman, a serial entrepreneur and angel investor. I’m pretty amazed that he was able to do this considering several friends of mine tried to do the same thing a few years earlier. Most doctors didn’t want to get involved because of legal ramifications,

Apparently, Gutman found a way around the legal obstacles The company has so far serviced over 100 million people. This area of medicine is expected to grow to $1.9 billion in 2018, from the $240 million in 2013.

HealthTap just announced HealthTap Prime, a service that gives subscribers unlimited access to live video chats with well-qualified doctors for $99 a month. Each additional family member is $10. From now on, you can send photos and documents to the doctors during your call. They can also access your health records.

Don’t worry that your medical records will now become an open book.The entire platform is secure and encrypted. Even HealthTap’s engineers can’t even see it.

If anyone has used the service, please report back. We may all want to give it a try. The two videos above will give you a better idea about how HealthTap works.

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You Are Not Alone

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There’s a new campaign on Indigogo, the Crowdfunding site, that I wanted to tell you about. You may want to fund it. Twenty thousand dollars has already been raised of the $37,274 needed to bring The Silent Beacon to market.There are 45 days left. So far 378 funders have donated.

The Silent Beacon is a Bluetooth wearable device that notifies loved ones and dear friends of your emergency situation. The messages are sent by alerts via text, email, and push notifications with your GPS location. The person who hits the alert can also speak to the people selected to receive the message.

There are other products like this one on the market. I urge you to compare. The reason why I picked this one for today is because The Silent Beacon has a sizable marketing campaign on Facebook. It caught my attention many times. I also liked the fact that the companion app is easy to use and let’s you update frequently. As we get older, services like this will allow us to extend our independence.

Click here to take a look at the Indiegogo fundraiser. The site will give you more details about the product, the competition, and how much it will cost you to own it and the monthly fee. There are different programs.

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No More Sleeping Pills, Try A.S.M.R

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I am somewhat addicted to A.S.M.R, autonomous sensory meridian response. I never knew the name for it until I read a New York Times article today. My lawyer friend, Laurie Yadoff, from Lake Worth, Florida, sent me a link to the story. It’s a little weird, but I am completely into it.

There is no justification why A.S.M.R works on some folks and not others. Certain sounds, such as whispering, rustling paper, and tapping fingers, can put you in an A.S.M.R. state of mind. You feel a tingling sensation on your scalp, neck, arms, and chest. This is caused by different forms of stimulation from hearing, seeing, touching. and smelling.

I am not sure if this is the same thing, but I have experienced the tingling feeling when I get a massage or someone brushes or combs my hair. I feel like I am going to pass out.

Many people who listen to the A.S.M.R videos feel the soft tones lull them into a state of serenity. It helps them sleep, relieves their anxiety, and boosts their spirits. They claim it’s a way to shut down their brain. When you think about it, this is not that much different than hypnosis and mediation.

It’s worth watching some of the A.S.M.R videos. Either watch the ones above or visit YouTube to find others.

Read This Before You Buy A New Bike

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From the New York Times

A lot of my friends are taking their bike riding seriously. In the last few days, several pals told me they ditched their old bikes for new ones. The basic reason is that they want to look good on the road. Their old bikes date them. They now want to look relevant, appropriate and seasoned.

Here is a warning for those who want to buy a new bike. Carbon fiber is the new material that is replacing steel and aluminum in the body of bikes and in the wheels. All that is good for those who race in the Tour de France because of its lightness and flexible design.

However, a New York Times article just revealed that riders on carbon fiber bikes could be in great danger if they crash. Carbon fiber does not bend in a crash like steel and aluminum. It shatters. Riders are often hurled into the air.

To read more about what was considered a hush, hush topic until the NY Times published the piece, click here.

My girl friend Sheri avoided this situation completely when she recently bought her bike. See below. She is doing over six miles each outing several times a week.

Sheri we are proud of you!

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Sheri’s bike.