Boomer Randomness

Something people in their fifties and sixties are not always psychologically prepared for is the death of friends. Maybe nobody is prepared for that. My Wednesday started with news that an old girlfriend died last week. Even though I had not seen her in thirty years and had not been in contact for more than ten years, I was still in shock. Part of the shock is that someone who was barely into her 60s can die, part of it is that someone who made a huge impact on my life is gone. No future contact, no new chapters in her unique life, no more catching-up stories to share. It's another reminder of how fragile and short life is. That scares the shit out of me.   And I learned while writing this that her cause of death was a brain tumor, discovered less than six months ago. Melanie was a phone company sales rep when I met her. That job, with its conservative expectations, dress code and behavioral requirements, was a complete mismatch for her personality.  The off-hours Me...

Time.   Where is it?   Where did it go?   How do I buy more of it? Technology.   It’s an awesome thing but sometimes it gets in the way.   On the advice of an IT guy at work, I succumbed to the incessant reminders that I can upgrade my personal laptop from Windows 8.1, which I don’t really like, to Windows 10.   The reminders said all of my stuff would be in the same place.   True, except for Internet Explorer, my preferred browser.   They’ve got some new thing that I just don’t want to use yet.   But finding the old one (old meaning 6 months old) was/is a pain in the ass. Seasons.   Tomorrow is the first day of spring.   It is starting to snow as I write this.   It won’t be much but I don’t want any.   That blizzard in January was enough.   Cherry blossoms are starting to bloom here in the DC area and I don’t want them to crawl back into their buds.   First day of spring, last day of snow? MS. ...

The title of this post is borrowed from a quote in an article written by AARP CEO Jo Ann Jenkins. In that interview she objects to the often cited phrases '50 is the new 30' and '60 is the new 40'. She says 50 is the new 50, meaning we are redefining what it means to age. I like that idea, somewhat reluctantly. Honestly, I'm aging well. People are shocked when they learn my real age because I look and act ten to fifteen years younger that the actual number. More accurately, I look and act younger than the popular perception of people who are my age. And as you can tell by the lack of numerals in this paragraph, I am still reluctant to say the number in public. The phrase 'over the hill' appears in many 50th birthday cards. We all laugh at that but do boomers feel that the best years are behind us after turning 50? I had two opposing feelings on my 50th birthday. My then wife surprised me by putting fifty candles on the cake. She lit them all and se...

I try to watch this every year.  It is one of the most important speeches in American history:

Six days into 2016 and I’m struggling with choosing my keyword for the year, but the leading contender is still discipline.  I have a lot on my plate, personally and professionally, and it will take discipline to accomplish what I want this year.  I don’t have specific goals just yet, but a few are competing for attention in my head. My MS doc says I’m doing well and he’s happy that I’m following his instructions and suggestions.  It takes discipline to exercise every day, to remember to take my meds and vitamins and to limit red meat and processed foods.  I’ll pat myself on the back for doing well in those areas. I had a nice chat with my guitar teacher two weeks ago.  I asked him what he does to stay motivated and he answered by asking me about my goals with the lessons.  The short answer: I don’t seek a career in music but I want to play blues for my own enjoyment.  That conversation helped us both focus and I have begun to work my way thro...

On one hand, the title of this post tells the whole story.   On the other hand, I’ll expand on it a bit. New Year’s Day is my favorite day of the year.   For me, January 1 st is the beginning of a new chapter of life, a day to visualize the coming 365 days (or 366 in the case of 2016).   It is a day to take stock of where one has been during the past year, how much of the year worked out as planned twelve months earlier, how much didn’t.   New Year’s Day can open the door to new possibilities, new dreams, new accomplishments and more. Every year I write about my ‘process’, which basically involves thinking through what I want for the coming year.   I do this through the whole month of January, from New Year’s Day at the beginning to my birthday at the end.   I look into the coming year and map out what I want to do and accomplish.   It’s like goal setting and New Year’s resolutions but a bit more involved.   I also pick a keyword that symboli...

I recently took one of those silly quizzes on Facebook.   The challenge they posed was that they could tell my highest level of education by my answers to 25 questions.   I do not believe those quizzes amount to much, other than to funnel targeted advertising to the participants.   That was certainly true for this one: every question was surrounded by ads for educational entities. Of course I can’t resist the urge to take a quiz like that.   I seem to know a lot about a little.   How did I do? I scored a 71%.   Actually it should have been slightly higher because I accidentally clicked the wrong answer on one of them.   Most of the questions were easy for me, such as ‘in what year did WW1 end’?   There were 4 choices and only two of them were even close, although I did happen to know the answer is 1918.   Some of my other answers were totally good guesses.   And there were a few in which I had no clue.   In fact, I miss...