Barnes & Noble, Racine

I had invited Marge Engelman for book signing - she arrived at Barnes and Noble in Racine by 6:30 pm. I got there at 7 pm and presented Brain Jogging. It was attended by about 20 people. John and Kirsten B., John A., and Nancy P. were there. Other present were Georgia, Diane, and the lady whom I hit on the eye with my phoozeball! I am drawing a blank on her name now.

VA

At the VA on Sept. 21st, Bob Bogan's support group for Prostate met on the 7th floor. I had already met most of the group a few months ago. I wish that I had remembered more names but I had not planned to return there. Anyway, the kind nurse's name is Carol. The other names I want to remember are Clarence, Norm, Gloria, Bruce and his wife, Carol. Bob, Bruce, and Gloria are all 80 +.

I did the day-dreaming exercise for them, I think that it was well appreciated. There were about 15 people there that day.

Grob Schmidt Senior Center

On Wednesday Sept. 14th, I had fun presenting to the group of 25 at Grob Schmidt. Several people there with a sense of humor. Some of them had attended my presentation at Kelly Senior Center and chose to attend again. Dodo (Dorothy) Grob Schmidt (the former mayor's sister-in-law) was in attendance too. She came and hugged me the end of the presentation!
Jack asked me who my eye doctor was ...alluding of course to the clown glasses I use to demonstrate "Rule 6".

Waukesha Memorial Hospital

In Mukwonago, last week on Sept. 7, 2005, I presented to a group of about 35 people. The evaluations were very encouraging.

Some sample perceived strengths of my presentation are given below:

Wow! This was fun and engaging.

Encouragement!!! Small but plain helpful cures and info helping one to remember.

Was able to relate on a personal level to the content.

Dr. Vedula’s cheerful, positive, knowledgeable, respectful and exciting.

Realizing that the mind can still be important and can be improved as we age.

Telling us that it’s natural to not remember everything and giving us ways to improve our memory.

Knowing that I can improve my memory.

I liked the props and the pleasant personality.

Dr. Vedula made it interesting and added humor to this presentation.Making a person feel comfortable with aging and not worrying about being perfect.

Just Do It!

Motivation doesn't come and hit you on the head! You've got to get off your butt and Just Do It! Healthy habits require doing to start the ball rolling.

During the presentation last week, I talked about motivation and how it grows after we start doing. One of the attendees, Thelma, who is 85 years old resonated with that aspect of the presentation. She said that she finds that she has to push herself to do something. She and a friend go for swimming regularly. The thought of her friend knocking at her door at 5pm pushes her to get up and do.

She did say that she tends to think of lack of motivation as depression. I told her that it is okay not to want to do stuff all the time. Sometimes we don't have the energy to do. That's okay! Forget it and let yourself take it easy! You probably do stuff 80-90% of the time anyway! Give yourself a break willya!