# Keeping busy after retirement.



## Mitch86 (Jul 27, 2021)

I keep mega busy since I retired especially in the buying of all the new technology toys like the Amazon Echo Shows.  They have artificial intelligence and I own six.  They all use female voices so it is like having 5 AI wives in addition to my human wife.


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## katlupe (Jul 28, 2021)

I am not familiar with the Amazon Echo Shows that you have. I will have to go to Amazon today and see what they are and what they do. Since you have 6, do they do different things or do you just collect them?


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## Chet (Jul 28, 2021)

I keep busy after retirement but it's the same stuff that keeps me busy over and over. I have to branch out and spend down savings on new things or I'll be leaving a bundle behind in $ and opportunities, but it's so hard to get out of the rut.


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## hollydolly (Jul 28, 2021)

katlupe said:


> I am not familiar with the Amazon Echo Shows that you have. I will have to go to Amazon today and see what they are and what they do. Since you have 6, do they do different things or do you just collect them?


the Amazon Echo you might be more familiar with if you hear that it's usually known as 'Alexa'...

We have 2,  one upstairs in my Hubs office...and one in the kitchen...we also have google home hub which is far superior to Amazon echo  and I'm a Mac fan).. but gotta give it to google for being far more informed that Amazon Echo.... and I have the Google home hub in my office, and in the livingroom...


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## hollydolly (Jul 28, 2021)

Mitch86 said:


> I keep mega busy since I retired especially in the buying of all the new technology toys like the Amazon Echo Shows.  They have artificial intelligence and I own six.  They all use female voices so it is like having 5 AI wives in addition to my human wife.


you know you can change it to a male voice


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## katlupe (Jul 28, 2021)

hollydolly said:


> the Amazon Echo you might be more familiar with if you hear that it's usually known as 'Alexa'...
> 
> We have 2,  one upstairs in my Hubs office...and one in the kitchen...we also have google home hub which is far superior to Amazon echo  and I'm a Mac fan).. but gotta give it to google for being far more informed that Amazon Echo.... and I have the Google home hub in my office, and in the livingroom...


I have Alexa on my television where I use the firestick. But I have never really learned to use it. Sonny uses it when he is here but mostly just playing with it. He uses it at his house. 

What do actually do with it?


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## hollydolly (Jul 28, 2021)

I do very little , personally.. with Alexa, because she's not as informed as Google Home Hub... and I only have them here because hubs wants them..

In the kitchen I use Alexa as a timer, or plays music or will give me a recipe if I want one..

In his office Hubs uses it basically as an alarm.. 

This is what Alexa can do...

https://www.tomsguide.com/uk/round-up/best-alexa-skills


Google Home hub OTOH I have in the office and you can basically ask it most questions about any subject and it'll have an answer for it.. altho' not always the best or most truthful... I use it to help me with research , for weather forecasting, as an alarm, to play music... to turn the lights on and off...to turn the heating on and off...
Loads of stuff...


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## katlupe (Jul 28, 2021)

Thank you for the information. I don't think it would be useful for me though. Maybe back when I had a business.


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## Mitch86 (Jul 28, 2021)

hollydolly said:


> you know you can change it to a male voice


How do you do that?


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## hollydolly (Jul 28, 2021)

Mitch86 said:


> How do you do that?


https://www.the-ambient.com/how-to/change-alexa-name-voice-wake-word-647


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## feywon (Jul 28, 2021)

Mitch86 said:


> I keep mega busy since I retired especially in the buying of all the new technology toys like the Amazon Echo Shows.  They have artificial intelligence and I own six.  They all use female voices so it is like having 5 AI wives in addition to my human wife.


i don't keep 'mega' busy, even tho for 3 yrs (2016-2019) i worked part-time locally after we moved here. There's firewood chores and 'projects' (very slowly converting an old shed to a green house).  i repurpose things a lot. Found a dismantled metal windmill out in the sage brush and converted to hold a bird feeding station on one side and the other supports one end of my clothes line.  
i try not to use any of those voice command things (disabled it on my Kindle) for two reasons:
1) due to my allergies there are months (and days when i go into city like am today) when my voice gets 'gravelly', i sound like i was a heavy boozer and smoker for 50 yrs when i was a moderation in most things person. Haven't smoked more than 1 little cigar a year in since in my early 30s and none at all for 3-4 yrs. But when my voice is like that the AI things have trouble understanding me. Our ROKU streaming service remote has a voice command feature which i only use when battery getting low and the buttons aren't working consistently. i've started charging it once a week to avoid that.
2) The way i was raised...i would feel bad about myself if i wanted to search for info or listen to music and couldn't be bothered to GET UP and put music on, or turn on a device and search. Plus i prefer to have the various results of searches in front of me so i can assess which ones to trust, or refine my search if need be. It would frustrate the hell out of me to have to say 'NO, Alexa that is not what i want to know--try____' repeatedly when i'm trying to get info on a complex process or issue. Maybe if my physical body became extremely limited i would .
My daughter laughs, my resistance to those voice command AIs is the one way i'm kind of a fuddy-duddy, tho i' don't use my phone much else besides calls and texts and i don't have it on 24/7.


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## Packerjohn (Jul 28, 2021)

I play my guitar everyday, go for walks 5 times/week, do floor exercises 5 times/week, record LP records onto USB sticks, do a lot of reading on "real" books from the library and also on my KOBO e-reader.  I watch DVD shows from the old days like Gunsmoke, Streets of San Francisco, Muppets.  Spend some time on the computer but limit this time.  I do not do social media.  Don't buy a lot of stuff because it will soon go into the dumpster when I "kick the bucket."  Oh yes, I heading up to The Yukon and maybe Alaska one week today.  Too many grumpy people where I live walking around with diapers on their faces.  I need to "hit the road and go."


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## terry123 (Jul 28, 2021)

I don't need any of those things.  I am at my desktop a few times a day so I can do what I need to.  I enjoy my books and the shows I watch and tape.  I really like you tube music and playing solitaire and other games while I listen.  So I don't need to ask any device anything.


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## Cameron (Jul 28, 2021)

Lots of walking and a bit of jogging. online bridge now and again.   research on the computer.  Chatting with the neighbours while walking the puppy.   Stacking firewood this week, so hoping for cooler temps .   Can only move a few wheelbarrow loads every few hours right now


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## Jeff_RN/Paramedic (Jul 28, 2021)

My wife has been compiled a list of things for me to do when I retired ever since I told her I was too busy with my career to do much.
After 40 years, its developed into a heck of a list and I wonder now if I'll live long enough to get through it.


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## horseless carriage (Jul 28, 2021)

hollydolly said:


> the Amazon Echo you might be more familiar with if you hear that it's usually known as 'Alexa'...



ALEXA can (and does) record your private conversations at home. Amazon argue that it's not a nefarious plot to spy on you, so why record it in the first place?


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## hollydolly (Jul 28, 2021)

So ?...you know if you were really worried about conspiracy theories with regard to Alexa .. then just have a conersation you don't want anyone else to hear in a different room 

I couldn't care less what it records of me, I'm no Spy or criminal...


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## feywon (Jul 28, 2021)

hollydolly said:


> So ?...you know if you were really worried about conspiracy theories with regard to Alexa .. then just have a conersation you don't want anyone else to hear in a different room
> 
> I couldn't care less what it records of me, I'm no Spy or criminal...


I think for some it's a matter of why should i have to go to another room of MY house to be assured of privacy?   With cameras practically everywhere these days (and many times that's good, helps solve crimes) some of us want our homes to be a place where we don't have to censor ourselves for any reason other than our respect and concern for those who live with us. 
And keep in mind, statements can be taken out of context and 'spun' to make people sound more nefarious than are.  For most of us that's not a concern, but these days in America for some people it could be. i'll stop there at the border of politics.


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## Macfan (Jul 28, 2021)

My wife always ensures I have plenty to do, if I don't do it fast enough, she'll remind me every 6 months ! We also have an Amazon Echo, received as a Christmas gift, she tells us when we have a delivery and the driver fails to ring the doorbell, which they often do as they've started taking pictures of the package on the porch instead. The wife is paranoid that Amazon is listening and passing our top secret conversations to big brother (government). I told her that must be true because Amazon and the government have nothing better to do . Don ...


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## hollydolly (Jul 28, 2021)

feywon said:


> I think for some it's a matter of why should i have to go to another room of MY house to be assured of privacy?   With cameras practically everywhere these days (and many times that's good, helps solve crimes) some of us want our homes to be a place where we don't have to censor ourselves for any reason other than our respect and concern for those who live with us.
> And keep in mind, statements can be taken out of context and 'spun' to make people sound more nefarious than are.  For most of us that's not a concern, but these days in America for some people it could be. i'll stop there at the border of politics.


I understand Feywon... but I don't go into a different area of my house to speak ,  because I have nothing to fear if Alexa or Google are recording me.. they must be recording literally billions of people... good luck to them if they can do something with it, because they can barely even find a burglar much less someone talking about something that would harm the government..lol


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## Chris P Bacon (Jul 28, 2021)

@Mitch86 I like tech toys too. I have two Echo Dots and one Google Home Mini that I’ve never opened. Tha Echo Show though has features that I just don’t feel I need. I use mine mostly to listen to the radio or podcasts. If you have a harem of five, you would seem to have either a large home or a lot of disposable income. I’ve not been so blessed with either of those things so far. I paid for the Echo Dots but the Google mini was a gift. I do though have several computers, an Nvidia Shield box that hooks into my TV and a few old ROKU devices that I don’t use. The exchanging of ideas though, like here and “researching” new ones keeps me busy a big part of each day.


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## Capt Lightning (Jul 29, 2021)

I have one of those 'Echo' things.  It came with my broadband package and it's still in its box - don't even know where it is.
I seem to get by without any of these gadgets.  A remote control for the TV is as far as I've gone.
Since retiring, I've been kept busy (until Covid) travelling, visiting the theatre, gardening, visiting historic buildings etc..  It's the old story of, "I don't know how I ever found time for work".


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## horseless carriage (Jul 29, 2021)

hollydolly said:


> I understand Feywon... but I don't go into a different area of my house to speak ,  because I have nothing to fear if Alexa or Google are recording me.. they must be recording literally billions of people... good luck to them if they can do something with it, because they can barely even find a burglar much less someone talking about something that would harm the government..lol


They can do something with it Holly, and that's to build a profile on you, which they then sell on to those with an agenda to bombard you with advertisements. That we live in a so called, free society, beggars belief.


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## hollydolly (Jul 29, 2021)

horseless carriage said:


> They can do something with it Holly, and that's to build a profile on you, which they then sell on to those with an agenda to bombard you with advertisements. That we live in a so called, free society, beggars belief.


well so far after all these years of having the Echoes (2) and Google Home  Hubs (2)  I've not been bombarded with any adverts... so that's a non starter for me anyway


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## horseless carriage (Jul 29, 2021)

hollydolly said:


> well so far after all these years of having the Echoes (2) and Google Home  Hubs (2)  I've not been bombarded with any adverts... so that's a non starter for me anyway


Well that puts me well and truly in my place. Can't argue with that sort of evidence, but despite standing humbled I'm still very reluctant to sign up to an in house smart-arse gizmo that can, but denies it does, gather intelligence, wrong word, intelligent I'm not, but the artificial intelligence device might deduct that I am, given that I talk aloud. Can you just visualise me shouting at the AI gizmo? "Shut the **** up, why don't you?


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## hollydolly (Jul 29, 2021)

horseless carriage said:


> Well that puts me well and truly in my place. Can't argue with that sort of evidence, but despite standing humbled I'm still very reluctant to sign up to an in house smart-arse gizmo that can, but denies it does, gather intelligence, wrong word, intelligent I'm not, but the artificial intelligence device might deduct that I am, given that I talk aloud. Can you just visualise me shouting at the AI gizmo? "Shut the **** up, why don't you?


ssssshhhh don't tell anyone, but I say that sometimes... especially when I ask it a question and it goes on and on repeating an answer i know is actually wrong..lol


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## Manatee (Sep 10, 2021)

I keep as busy as I feel like on any particular day.  I can always find something that needs fixing, putting away or discarding.
Electronics commonly leads to a lot of cussing.  I always have to see what turns up on the computer.  I still have most of my tools, but no workbench or place to put one.


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## bowmore (Sep 10, 2021)

We have 2 Echoes, one in the living room and one next to the massage chair. We mainly use them to play our music. I recently bought some smart plugs, and it is kind of fun and convenient to turn the light on and off by voice command,.


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## Mitch86 (Sep 13, 2021)

katlupe said:


> I am not familiar with the Amazon Echo Shows that you have. I will have to go to Amazon today and see what they are and what they do. Since you have 6, do they do different things or do you just collect them?


They can be sexy women or even men.  You can choose their voices. Then they answer questions, play music you like, give you news and weather and many other things.  They have real artificial intelligence.


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## Mitch86 (Sep 13, 2021)

These Echo Shows are really great.  I have six of them and use them all the time for music, audiobooks, news, etc.  I even joke with them about being in love with them and they then answer me.


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