Cheap Hotel in Las Vegas

Robotic animals like this one populate the show in the courtyard at Sam's Town casino hotel (Las Vegas). It's kind of a confusing show. Hard to follow. And hard to end. Lots of shooting fountains in front of the Mystic Falls with lights they call laser. Lots and lots of choral music. And a wolf-kind-of that howls from the top of the fake mountain. You could watch in fascination of the mix of technologies here except that you'd get very tired. As I mentioned... hard to end. The music signals an end but those fountains shoot up again. And again. I was in the hotel for 5 nights, or 20 performances. I couldn't handle more than one show.

So, why go to this casino hotel? Room rent of $26 on weeknights. There's always another charge, of course. In this case, a daily resort fee of $4.50.

© 2010 Mary Bold, PhD, CFLE. The content of this blog or related web sites created by Mary Bold (http://www.marybold.com/, http://www.boldproductions.com/, College Intern Blog) is not under any circumstances to be regarded as professional, legal, financial, or medical advice. Or education advice. Or marital advice. Or even a tip.

Aging in the Casino

The aging of our society isn't only about health and wellness but those indicators are the most obvious.

The Sociologist and I used to compare airports and shopping malls, looking for the changes that retail and service industries were making (or sometimes not making) for older patrons. Our examination included the finer points, like size of arrows on signs and clarity of information. (Clarity almost always relates to how short you can write an instruction. Short words and sentences benefit the older person trying to read without putting on glasses.)

As baby boomers, we also claimed self-interest in our examination, of course.

But we forgot to consider casinos. They're actually moving faster than other public places. Scooters are available in the lobby. (Enough are in use to produce one or two on every floor of the hotel.) And the loud noise of a slot machine finally has an appreciative audience. Yes, I need the flashing button and the enthusiastic voice telling me it's time to spin the wheel of fortune.

© 2010 Mary Bold, PhD, CFLE. The content of this blog or related web sites created by Mary Bold (http://www.marybold.com/, http://www.boldproductions.com/, College Intern Blog) is not under any circumstances to be regarded as professional, legal, financial, or medical advice. Or education advice. Or marital advice. Or even a tip.

Spring Snow in Texas

First day of spring in 2010 at the dome. That's in Texas.

© 2010 Mary Bold, PhD, CFLE. The content of this blog or related web sites created by Mary Bold (http://www.marybold.com/, http://www.boldproductions.com/, College Intern Blog) is not under any circumstances to be regarded as professional, legal, financial, or medical advice. Or education advice. Or marital advice. Or even a tip.

The real value of the road atlas

I bought a new map book today. The road atlas style—with color. I bought it even though the 2009 version is still usable. Usable, but not pretty.

My 2010 options: the big atlas or the compact spiral bound book. That compact style is tempting. Fits anywhere. Folds to any page easily. Has just as much color and clear type as the big atlas.

What doesn't it have? Detail. It's not the little roadways I want the detail for. It's the little blue icons marking rest areas.

Rest areas are not as plentiful as they once were. State governments are quietly slicing budgets and putting "CLOSED" signs on an alarming number of sites. Will my 2010 atlas have updated information?

I did attempt to go digital. Put the Rest Area app on my iPhone. Alas, it is not easily navigated and just plain hard to read in a moving car. Nothing beats scanning a paper page for those little blue houses. Whoever would have thought that boomers would have a tradition for locating rest areas?

© 2010 Mary Bold, PhD, CFLE. The content of this blog or related web sites created by Mary Bold (http://www.marybold.com/, http://www.boldproductions.com/, College Intern Blog) is not under any circumstances to be regarded as professional, legal, financial, or medical advice. Or education advice. Or marital advice. Or even a tip.

Indiscriminate at the Movies

A colleague asked me over vegan fare what movies I have seen. Of course, I knew full well her intent: expose my indiscriminate taste to humor herself. She would protest this motivation, I know, and so perhaps I will ascribe this to my own defensiveness about my movie-going habit. For most years of my life (starting at about age 10), I have made weekly movies dates—with myself. There were a few years in young adulthood when I could not afford the outing, followed by several years during which children demanded my time, daily.

But I would guess that for about 35 years I have enjoyed a movie a week. Between 1995 and 2005 (roughly), I frequently sat in the theatre alone. (All alone.) In recent years, I have rarely sat alone. Regardless of day and hour, there seem to be enough people available to come to the theatre. A man alone is the rarest patron. But next to that is a woman alone, and that's me.

So, what did I tell my colleague over vegan fare? The two weakest films of late have European capitals in their titles (Rome, Paris). Valentine's Day is amusing. Crazy Heart is more than satisfying.

If I were talking to her today I would add that Green Zone has a plus and a minus. Cop Out is not for children but Percy Jackson is. And I'll probably avoid Shutter Island, even on cable. For 3-D, I enjoyed Avatar but mainly enjoyed Tim Allen's comment on a late-night talk show about his own movie... "Well, it's funnier than that Avatar." But I don't have Alice in Wonderland on my short list. Ah, well, as this post would indicate, I don't actually have a short list, do I?

© 2010 Mary Bold, PhD, CFLE. The content of this blog or related web sites created by Mary Bold (http://www.marybold.com/, http://www.boldproductions.com/, College Intern Blog) is not under any circumstances to be regarded as professional, legal, financial, or medical advice. Or education advice. Or marital advice. Or even a tip.

My New Color Commitment

Paint has been on my mind. As we readied the dome for sale, we naturally found a number of walls that needed touch-up paint. Not purple, as the paint buckets above might imply, but still an assortment of beautiful neutrals that I remember having great fun selecting. All in the off-white and gray palettes, but do you have any idea how many colors that can imply? The result was that matches could not be made. We had to re-paint several whole walls in order to freshen the look.

My commitment for the future: 3 colors. Period. For the entire house. One should be a white (thousands of shades to choose from). One should be an off-white. One should be a white appropriate to baseboard. My other lesson came from Frank, the painter. "Spend $12 on a lambswool roller. Don't use anything else. Well, it would be good to have 30 years' experience as a professional painter, too."

So, who actually uses purple? TCU, which stands for Texas Christian University. The campus located in Fort Worth takes its school color seriously. So do the employees.

© 2010 Mary Bold, PhD, CFLE. The content of this blog or related web sites created by Mary Bold (http://www.marybold.com/, http://www.boldproductions.com/, College Intern Blog) is not under any circumstances to be regarded as professional, legal, financial, or medical advice. Or education advice. Or marital advice. Or even a tip.

Marketing that lasts longer than a flyer

This is my favorite element of house marketing. Well, besides the fact that Realtor.com now allows 25 photos.... Still, the idea of putting some of those photos on a complimentary water bottle is pretty darn clever. As older boomers, Tom Bold and I started buying houses back when even a paper flyer was rare. Eventually, the flyers became more plentiful and desktop printing made even color a common feature. (The fact that many flyer boxes outside of listed properties become empty and are never replenished continues to amaze me.)

Disclosure statement: Blogs are required to disclose whether the author has received compensation for any product. 99% of the time, my disclosure statements say something like "I have no relationship with…." But today I am amused and eager to report that the product here (the house for sale, not the water bottle) is mine and I certainly do hope to realize compensation from it. The web site mentioned, Realtor.com, is strictly reporting: I have no relationship with that site and receive no direct compensation from it. (This blog's only monetary reward comes through google.adsense links, which are selected by Google, not by me.)

© 2010 Mary Bold, PhD, CFLE. The content of this blog or related web sites created by Mary Bold (http://www.marybold.com/, http://www.boldproductions.com/, College Intern Blog) is not under any circumstances to be regarded as professional, legal, financial, or medical advice. Or education advice. Or marital advice. Or even a tip.

Teaching boomers new things

Babies can teach baby boomers new things.

An infant visitor to the dome yesterday brought her own equipment. Aside from the stunning Graco car seat (something I'm not likely to be able to afford) I found these two products inventive:

The pull toy produces short songs. The almost-5-month-old pulled the ring expertly (from the arching piece of that Graco car seat) and I was charmed. Sure enough, the Bright Starts web site produced this image for me, along with a large number of products that I am certain were not available when I had small children. This model is a Tug Tune. But the description of the chime version is compelling.

The other inventive product is not a glue stick. But when it emerged from the diaper bag, that's what came to mind. Rather, it's a Magic Stick All Natural Diaper Ointment. Clear. And it's applied to the baby's skin without any mess because the delivery is all about that glue stick design. When did this get invented?

Disclosure statement: I have no relationship with any product or company mentioned here and I have not received any compensation or free product for mentioning them. (This blog's only monetary reward comes through google.adsense links, which are selected by Google, not by me.) FYI: disclosure statements like these are now required of bloggers.

© 2010 Mary Bold, PhD, CFLE. The content of this blog or related web sites created by Mary Bold (http://www.marybold.com/, http://www.boldproductions.com/, College Intern Blog) is not under any circumstances to be regarded as professional, legal, financial, or medical advice. Or education advice. Or marital advice. Or even a tip.

Health insurance brokers: Consumers' friend

Health insurance brokers, while essentially insurance sales reps, are nevertheless a consumer's friend in the sorting through of policies and choices. I've talked to a broker for the first time this year. In fact, I didn't even know they existed until this year.

As a boomer woman, my knowledge of individual-purchased insurance was zip. I recall my brothers purchasing "major medical" in their youth. And self-employed relatives lamenting the hard choices they had to make about coverage. So, when the topic came up for us recently, I had no experience in purchasing insurance. We have always had the guidance of employers' HR departments.

An Internet reference to insurance brokers caught my eye as I scoured news articles and blogs about potential sources. (This, realizing that heath care reform via Congress would not be timely for us.) The concept is simple: an insurance broker represents multiple companies (say, a dozen) and works with consumers to find the right match. That may include a recommendation to apply to more than one company in order to compare policies and costs and eligibility, too.

I selected an insurance broker in Houston based solely on the web site. The best surprise so far: help in finding dental insurance independent of health insurance. A little more than $40/month for the two of us. All preventive care covered; 50% of big stuff covered. A good buy or only moderate? Doesn't really matter to me. What matters is maintaining an insurance that I know influences our behavior in having twice-a-year check-ups.

© 2010 Mary Bold, PhD, CFLE. The content of this blog or related web sites created by Mary Bold (http://www.marybold.com/, http://www.boldproductions.com/, College Intern Blog) is not under any circumstances to be regarded as professional, legal, financial, or medical advice. Or education advice. Or marital advice. Or even a tip.