Invitations to join

I find it interesting what online marketers know about you. Hardly a day goes by without an invitation for me to apply for a credit card or a home improvement load. Hardly a week goes by without an invitation to a retirement advice seminar complete with a free dinner. It was only after I reached the age of 60 that I began receiving those invitations. Other SPAM email seems eerily to know my economic and age situations. There are, of course, exceptions such as the ubiquitous offer of potency pills or other medications designed to make me better in bed. That's got to be pure speculation on their part and poor speculation at that.

But the invitation that recently came to me and gave me a big chuckle was an invitation to join the scholastic honor society Phi Theta Kappa. It seems that I have slowly but surely been accumulating college credits and have maintained a straight A average. So suddenly I qualify to be in this honor society.


I don't think I'm going to join, though. I think this invitation is really meant for slightly younger folks. It isn't fair for someone like me who takes one course per semester to be compared with sudents who are taking 15 or 16 units per semester.

Almost as humorous was an invitation that Carolyn got recently inviting her to be published in the next issue of "Who's Who in Nursing". The invitation was worded in such a way that it appeared to be an authoritative volume as well as an honor. The only problem is that the closest Carolyn gets to nursing is when she gets her flu shot at Kaiser. I'm sure the invitation came as a result of subscribing to Nursing magazine which we did to "use up" airplane miles that were about to expire.