{"id":8008,"date":"2026-02-03T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-03T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/azadkinsiii.com\/blog\/?p=8008"},"modified":"2026-02-24T16:24:17","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T21:24:17","slug":"209-this-getting-old-st-is-getting-old","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/azadkinsiii.com\/blog\/209-this-getting-old-st-is-getting-old\/","title":{"rendered":"#209\u2014This \u201cGetting Old S**t\u201d is Getting Old"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Trivia Questions (Answers @ end)<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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  1. Who said, \u201cSome people seem to fade away but then when they are truly gone, it’s like they didn’t fade away at all.\u201d<\/em>?<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. What movie star said, \u201cFirst you are young; then you are middle-aged; then you are old; then you are wonderful.\u201d<\/em>?<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. In what song (and who sang it) did we hear the following?
    When I get older, losing my hair, many years from now<\/em>
    Will you still be sending me a valentine, birthday greetings, bottle of wine?<\/em>
    If I’d been out ’til quarter to three, would you lock the door?<\/em>
    Will you still need me, will you still feed me when I’m sixty-four?<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
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    <\/div>
    Blog #209 (audio)<\/div><\/div>
    <\/div>
    <\/div>
    Published: <\/span>February 24, 2026<\/span><\/div>
    <\/div>Audio by Andy Adkins<\/a><\/div><\/form><\/span>0<\/span> Downloads<\/span><\/span><\/div><\/div>
    <\/div>\n\n\n
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    The Medicare Journey<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

    I thought about naming this post \u201cThe Medicare Journey,\u201d but I decided to go a different route. Yes, I\u2019m retired, I\u2019m drawing social security, I\u2019ve got some savings, and my wife & I decided to wait until we turned 70 to apply for Medicare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    What a journey that was\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    But fortunately, we had a friend who is a \u201cSHINE\u201d volunteer (Serving Health Insurance Needs of Elders) who helped guide us through the mountainous pile of \u201cstuff\u201d to get signed up. Thanks, David!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    But this blog is not about the Medicare journey. This is about those other \u201cgotchas\u201d that come with older age. I like to use the term \u201cseasoned.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The \u201cOld Age\u201d Gotchas<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

    I spent Three Years, Eleven Months, & 29 Days<\/strong> in the U.S. Navy (But who\u2019s counting?). Most of that was on the flight deck of USS Kitty Hawk<\/a><\/em><\/strong> (CV-63). I worked in Crash & Salvage<\/a><\/strong> (V-1 Division<\/strong>) during Westpac \u201975<\/a><\/strong>, then transferred to a Yellow Shirt<\/strong> <\/a>director after a year in the Bremerton Shipyards<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n

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    A-6E Intruder (VA-34) ready for launch during flight operations aboard USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CV-69). Photo credit: PH2 Tracy Lee Didas.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

    When you work on the flight deck during flight operations, the noise is loud, to say the least. Standing twenty feet away from an A-6 Intruder on the catapult during launch will rattle your bones. Standing behind the Jet Blast Deflector while an F-14 is in full-afterburner will not only rattle the bones, but the heat coming over the JBD is almost unbearable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"
    Black Aces bird goes to zone 5 burner for a night launch. A VF-14 F-14A is behind the JBD. USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71), during Operation Allied Force, May 1999. U.S. Navy Photo.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    When you enlist in the Navy, you are given a hearing test. You remember those \u2026 you\u2019re in a glass cage with a set of old-timey earphones. When you hear something (a high-frequency pitch), you raise your hand to let the audiologist know you heard it. Then s\/he changes the frequency and slowly increases the volume. And so on and so forth. Yeah \u2026 that<\/em> test.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Back then, I could hear a rabbit fart from fifty paces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Now \u2026 years after my time in the Navy, when my wife asks me a question from another room, I say, \u201cWhat!?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    How Many of You Have \u2026<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n