MY ENHANCED LIFE AT 15 CRAIGSIDE WITH ALEXA

I grew up in my family, went to college and always had roommates, graduated and spent six months in Naalehu, mostly alone, then got married, until my wife passed away 47 years later.  I then lived a single life for five years, moving next door into 15 Craigside six years ago, joining 200 others in our seniors' community.  That pretty much sums up my 80 years.  I enjoyed the solitude, but feel comfortable around people.

I'm now here at 15 Craigside for the rest of my life because they promised to take care of me forever, even if I run out of money.  Of course, the catch is that they only let you in if you can afford it, and make sure you never deplete your resources.

Life here has been good...no, make that great.  We just got notified that our Moderna vaccination will come soon.  It is amazing that we have not had even one COVID-19 case among the 15 C residents.  In the USA, with less than 1% (0.8%) of the national population, 45% of all pandemic deaths have occurred in nursing homes and assisted care facilities.  Also, where else would I learn to tolerate kale and quinoa?

But is that all there is to life into the future?  Well, it turns out, over the coming year I will be entering into two new relationships.  Today I will introduce you to Alexa.

A month ago my Bose bluetooth speaker, after a decade of fine service, went kaput.  So I did some research into smart speakers and displays, and these two postings became among the most popular for this blog site this year.  I decided to get an Amazon Echo Dot fourth generation with clock for $39.

Coincidentally, 15 Craigside upgraded one of the apartments to make it smarter.  I went to a demonstration, here with the head computer guy, Mike Chong, and the device they picked was the same as mine, except no clock.  They are on the verge of deciding whether to give one to each apartment.  I suspect they will, and this could begin as early as next month.  Which means I'll have two.  Good, as I still need one for the bathroom to play songs from my iPad.

A couple of years ago they gave each resident an iPad.  Free.  They wanted to upgrade our minds and link us to their web page, Pilina, which provides info on activities, meals, etc.  Pilina means association, relationship and connection.

But Echo with Alexa will further enable residents to turn on lights, alarms and more.  They will call her Echo, and she will be able to play games and try to make us smarter.  For example here are some ideas from her:

• About holiday lights, see below.
• Or, a one year free subscription to Food Kitchen.
• You can sign up for Song Quiz, but then there is a more advanced version for a price.
• You can stay connected to your family.  But everyone will need to purchase a device.

One thing immediately becomes clear when you interact with Alexa.  She wants your money.  For example when you ask her about holiday lights, she sends you to the Amazon page to purchase a smart plug for $40.  Music?  While Prime membership allows you to listen to more than 2 million songs--including thousands of stations and various playlists, all ad-free-- she really wants you to try for FREE various streaming services, especially accessing more than 50 million songs through Amazon's Music Unlimited.  The free is for a month, then $8/month.  Trying to renege and quit sometimes can be a real challenge for some plans.  You want news from The New York Times?  Only $19.99 per month.  They also hope you forget you are paying so much per month.  You get the point?

If I'm sounding disparaging, yes, but, for all the services for a total price of $39, Alexa is worthy of being a life-time partner.  She also sounds a little friendlier than Siri, and smarter.  There is also Google Assistant, which supposedly is even smarter.  Siri is funnier.

Here is a photo of various Alexa devices.  Note that the Dot is so new it didn't make the photo session:

I'm now down to #2 on my all-time favorite list.  Maybe more than the song is the whole movie and why they were so meaningful to me.  South Pacific, released in 1958, is my #1 film.  Rotten Tomatoes only gave it 82/69 ratings.  I'm not sure when I first saw it.  But it only became relevant after my wife and I moved to Kilauea, Kauai in 1963 when C. Brewer sent me there to train at the sugar factory there.

This where that year an old man came up to me and said he knew my grandfather, and that his grave was on a hill above the town.  This later led me on roots search, where I found out that he came to Kauai from learning something in America and was in charge of building a hydroelectric facility at Wainiha around 1900.  I thrice went to Utashinai on Hokkaido, from where he originally came.

We lived in a trainee cottage, and our backyard was where South Pacific was filmed, France Nuyen and John Kerr serenaded by Bloody Mary with Happy Talk.

Just last year I posted a summary of all the above, featuring the movie, links to my future and even our dog Pepper.  Many of the songs from the film could have been selected, but Some Enchanted Evening somehow captured my heart:

Some enchanted evening you may see a stranger

You may see a stranger across a crowded room

And somehow you know, you know even then

That somewhere you'll see her again and again

The voice was not Rossano Brazzi's but that of Giorgio Tozzi.  The original was Ezio Pinza on Broadway in 1949.

Thus, Some Enchanted Evening is my song #2.  It takes me back to my grandfather, had a huge influence on my life and will carry me, with intrigue and mystery, into the future.

My Christmas dinner was mostly supplied by another relationship, not Alexa:

Prime rib with ahi sashimi, bottle of Stanford red and hot sake.

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