Keeping up with emerging technologies

Staying up with emerging technologies is a full-time job. I knew this in the 80s and 90s when I was studying every night just to stay ahead of our students and be able to present to them some technology lessons that were new and pertinent to them. Since retiring, it seems that the rushing tide of progress has overtaken me and I'm feeling left-out most of the time. Now, the newest website to intrigue me is SKYPE. I'm finding frequent references to Skype on different TV programs, and have enjoyed communicating with family and friends via this Internet 'phone' service. On Sunday we had a wonderful chat with Tony in California, the sound and video was fine for the whole hour. It's great to be able to see whomever we are talking to. Just today Tony & I had a long conversation with his cousin in Rome. For some reason, this connection isn't as good as that with California, the call kept dropping and we had to re-connect several times. We couldn't see Ivo today, although last week we could see him just fine, but the audio was poor. The audio wasn't great today, either, but we did manage to get our messages across to each other, despite the frequent lapses in audio. We'll call again on Friday. Tony and Ivo are setting up the itinerary for the 'men's trip' in April. Ivo wants to make sure that they see as much as possible of the sights that they want to take in. He'll be their host for the week that they are there.
A has been here since Sunday, just went home today with her parents. She and I attempted to take a Skyfari ride yesterday, but the ride wasn't operating. We'll try again another day. Grandpa isn't 'into' this venture (he dislikes heights immensely).
Fall weather is creeping up on us. The nights are in the 40s, days in high 50s, low 60s. Tony has taken in the plants and put on the flannel sheets for the bed. He's threatening to don the long-johns, but I told him that he'd better hold off till later or he'll feel much colder during the winter. At least we haven't had to turn on the furnace, yet.
Having water heater thermostat replaced...it's at least 44 years old, maybe older since we don't know when it was put in before we bought the house in 1964. The plumber was skeptical of the age of the heater until he called his supplier with the model number. The supplier laughed at him, but fortunately was able to secure a replacement. I know applicances aren't made as well today so we'll 'baby' this one as long as possible.