Challenge #12
If you’re reading this, you connect to the internet somehow. Technology offers us a wonderful variety of entertainment, communication, and educational outlets. Over time, my beloved and I have accumulated two PC’s, two laptops, an e-reader/tablet and two cell phones, and a few “peripheral devices like scanners, printers and backup drives.. There are also the TV, DVD player, and my camera. The trouble is, these things won’t last forever (some of them are rapidly reaching retirement age). and over time, on a limited budget, we will need to decide which to replace and what to replace them with.
Here’s the thing – my techie needs are evolving along with what’s available to me to meet those needs. I want to do more work on my family tree and photos; I want to keep blogging. I need to keep track of my finances better. I may do some other writing.
In retirement, how connected will you want to be? You’ll certainly want a phone and internet connection. How many devices will you need? In the future, a smart phone or tablet may do most of what you need. How much or your budget are you willing to spend to stay connected? Do you expect to spend the same amount of time with your electronics? More? Less? What technology will accompany you into retirement, and what will you use it for? (Ideas: movies, hobbies, reading, blogging, photography, staying in touch?) How do you feel about the move toward Cloud computing?
As part of my retirement theme, I offer this weekly Thursday “Future Challenge” to get people of all ages thinking in general about their futures and/or retirement. Each challenge goes with a post of my own on the same general topic. Hopefully we’ll start some interesting discussions!
If you’d like to share what you think, or post on it, that’s great – and I’d love it if you’d share those thoughts in a post or comment (please tag posts TRS Future Challenge and link to this post) so others can also see them.
If you choose not to share them, that’s fine too – but with any luck, you’ll still gain some insight on where you’re headed (or would like to be), and how you can get the most out of your own journey.
To see my own take on this week’s challenge, see my post Is the Cloud Friendly?
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Images: Kindle Fire Amazon.com page, WordPress.com Add Post page, HTC Sprint Smartphone
The Retiring Sort 
I find that I need to be connected to the outside world daily. Living on a tropical island in Central America has its drawbacks, especially where a fast and reliable internet connection is concerned. I made a woktenna ( kind of like a mini-satellite with a wok lid) to funnel my signal for a stronger internet connection. It works like a charm for 30 cents for the wok lid. The tropical heat and humidity, as well as fluctuating electricity, can destroy electronic equipment quickly. I bought a Universal Supply system that gives me stable power and is a back-up for when we have blackouts.
And the bugs! We’ve had a family of geckos living in the sound component of our TV, an army of ants nesting in our power surger, a rat peed on my keyboard, and book lice invaded my Kindle..yes book lice..thousands of them. It’s always a challenge to protect expensive electronic equipment here.
I use my Macbook Pro for online banking, Skyping my elderly mother daily (minus the video because our signal isn’t strong enough for the video), blogging, photo programs, and numerous other things. My husband says he is a computer widow ( or is it widower?) because I spend so much time on my computer. Fortunately, he has his own laptop, too. Don’t share one laptop..it has never worked for us! lol
A Kindle is an absolute must for us. We each have a Kindle because we are avid readers and we can download books quickly and easily. I don’t think there is one bookstore in Nicaragua. Nine years ago, we relied on reading Jehovah Witness pamphlets in English because that was the only reading material we could find on the island.
I just bought a used iPhone when I was in the states. When we travel, I can take it with me to check email, Facebook, and other things, instead of my laptop. Plus, it has so many cool apps: My favorites are the Night Sky ( just point the phone in the sky and it will identify constellations, etc.), Google maps, electronic translator, and currency converter.
I probably spend more time on my laptop, now that I am retired. I love blogging and sharing my life with others. I always buy reconditioned electronic equipment with a one year warranty. It’s cheaper and if we have a problem within one year, we take the equipment back to the states on our frequent trips and send it off to be fixed.
I think I’ve written a book, here. Using Cloud needs another comment page. lol
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You have really been creative in your quest to stay connected! Sounds like you manage well! Thanks for taking the time to share your methods, and this slice of your life! 😉
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These are things I think we maybe do not think enough about…At least from my experience men often want the latest technical device without questioning what it’s for or much they will use it…And this long before retirement too. We all need to think this over! Good to bring this up!
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Thanks for that… We certainly need to think about it in our house. My hubby will likely always need a PC or a laptop – and a cell phone. The question will be whether we’ll ever learn to share again, especially when we’re both home!
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