Boomer Randomness

This week my vacation is a staycation. It would be great to be going somewhere like the beach, the mountains or New York City, but I chose to stay home and catch up on some overdue projects and a couple of doctor appointments. I've also referred to this week as retirement practice. Several friends I've made in my neighborhood over the past four years are retired. I've been watching how they live in their retirement and I'm visualizing that kind of life for myself some day. Retirement is not something I paid much attention to until a year or two ago but every day that distant, fuzzy idea attains a closer, sharper status in my head. I'll always do some kind of work but I can see a day when I don't have the all-consuming job I now have. Like many boomers, I am unprepared financially for living without a job. At some point in a relatively few years I'll be eligible for Social Security and can draw from a union pension and a 401k. All of that combined mig...

A recent Kenny Chesney song called "Noise" includes lyrics that are relevant to today: "Yeah we scream, yeah we shout till we don't have a voice. In the streets, in the crowds it ain't nothin but noise." I think about that song every time I see or hear a political ad and every time I see or hear a screaming car dealer ad. Noise!  In my area there are even furniture store commercials with screaming announcers. NOISE!! "Twenty four hour television gets so loud nobody listens. Sex and money and politicians talk talk talk, But there ain't no conversation." The final Presidential candidate debate was on last night. All noise, especially from the Orange candidate. "We can't sleep, we can't think, can't escape the noise. We can't take the noise, so we just make noise." It seems to me that if everybody shouts, nobody is heard. It all blends into the noise. Sometimes when I get home and I'm sitting in my...

Topics of conversation during a recent random Wednesday conversation at my local wine and beer hangout: Music Presidential campaigns Vinyl vs downloads Heroin addiction Food Kids, grandkids Retirement Videography Hummus Hurricanes Education Wine I love this place. And just like Cheers, it's a place where everybody knows my name.

That orange con man running for President is guilty of many incidents of fraud. He ripped off 'students' at his fake university, defrauded contributors to his fake foundation and didn't pay many of the contractors who built his empire. He is a proven liar; not just speculation but proven by videos of him saying various things then claiming that he didn't say them. He is a world class hypocrite, especially when it comes to statements about Bill Clinton's infidelities when he has so many of his own. You want this as your President? Using his own logic, Conald Frump should be locked up. Actually just one night in a real jail for him would he like years in jail for the rest of us. Lock him up. Hillary Clinton is no saint and would not be a very effective President but Trump is totally unfit for that office by every measure possible. And he's dangerous like his hero Hitler. A vote for him is a vote to end our democracy and quite possibly our lives. Lock h...

Dad was a hell of a planner. He bought mausoleum space more than thirty years before he died, saved much more money than most people of his modest income level, paid down what little debt he had years before retiring, bought Medicare supplemental insurance and began to write his autobiography before Parkinson's disease robbed him of his memory. I was very proud of my dad when he started making adjustments in his house for his worsening Parkinson's disease. He still had strength and enough dexterity to install grab bars in the tub area years before he needed them. His planning and reaction to aging served as a good model and inspiration. Too bad I'm only now starting to act on the inspiration. I admit that I mostly ignored his obvious advice and good examples. I might be working till the day I die, not because I want to but because I haven't prepared enough financially and will have to work. I often think about the signs of aging, both good and bad, but I am ...

Music radio stations today are usually segmented by genre or even sub-genres. Rock, alternative rock, classic rock, adult contemporary, hot adult contemporary, hits, urban hits, mainstream country, classic country are among the radio industry format names. Boomers at the older end of the age range might remember when top 40 radio stations played all the top hits, regardless of genre. A 1968 radio station playlist could include the Temptations, Beatles, Paul Mauriat Orchestra, Jimi Hendrix, Glen Campbell. Billy Idol and Miley Cyrus The company I work for has successfully staged a genre-less music festival each of the past six Septembers called the iHeart Radio Music Festival and I have been lucky to attend five of them, including the one last weekend.   This year was one of the best. Faves night 1: Sam Hunt, U2, Billy Idol. Faves night 2: FGL, Backstreet Boys, Pitbull, Tears For Fears, Cage the Elephant. Others on the lineup were also good and much of the audie...