Boomer Woman Blog

04 September 2009

When Coach is Roomier Than First Class

My DFW-BWI-DFW round-trip flight had the expected "full-up" first class sections. Yep. Every seat taken. So, it was the ride in Coach (both directions) that was superior. I had my own row of seats (both directions) as did the majority of passengers (both directions).

You couldn't miss the message on those planes. But just in case I might be unobservant, I could rely on the article in USA Today that I read during take-off: American's lay-off of 921 flight attendants and Southwest's reduction in routes are "examples of airlines trying to cope with a steep drop in air travel." The article went on to provide startling statistics but I had my own in view.

I had one more surprise on that flight: the announcement that "We no longer accept cash on board. We do accept these cards...."

© 2009 Mary Bold, PhD, CFLE. The content of this blog or related web sites created by Mary Bold (www.marybold.com, 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.

31 August 2009

Tour of the Nation's Dog Parks

Like many retiring boomers, we have looked forward to making a tour of the National Parks (spread over several years, not a single tour). But we actually spend more time locating and visiting dog parks. They are sometimes called bark parks, which I find far too cute to actually say, of course.

The agility course (photo above) for canines is actually not the show-off feature of the Congressman Bill Archer Dog Park in Houston. The outstanding and much more popular feature is the set of swimming pools for the dogs. The pools are well maintained and deep enough for even large dogs to get some real swimming experience. Smart dog owners come to the park armed with towels.

How did Sherman do? He visited twice across two days. The second visit was for 3.5 hours. He played non-stop among about 60 animals. And then he slept all the way home to Dallas. And then he slept all the way through the night. (That's a lot more rest than his daily 1.3-hour walk generates.) So, all we have to do to tire out this dog is drive him to Houston for a proper play day.

28 August 2009

Boxes. Just lots of boxes.

My trip to the Container Store included many temptations. These mahogany boxes were among them. Wood. Boxes. Think of the fun.

But I have found in the past few years a new perspective. Those boxes now represent dusting. Collecting. More dusting. And eventually throwing out the contents.

The boxes themselves would make their way to the garage after a number of years of service (dusting, collecting, dusting, throwing out) in the house. They would be presumed as being "put to use" organizing things in the garage.

In actuality, that's where they would really become dusty, the sort of dust that doesn't wipe off so easily. Eventually, they would become coated with enough sticky residue that they would qualify to hold oil cans. You know the kind.

And so I didn't buy them.

24 August 2009

Window dressing

Maybe the Container Store in Southlake (and other locales) would say this painted closet is nothing new. But it was to me. I'm still pretty much charmed at the idea of window dressing that's just an IMAGE of what's inside. It reminds of Katy Bold's explanation to me of an informal dress code communicated at a business she consulted for: if you can find the article clothing on the Banana Republic web site, you can wear it to work. That doesn't have a lot to do with the Container Store's window dressing but it's what it reminded me of.

21 August 2009

Hanging around motels

Quite pleased with myself. It's taken only 5 decades to figure out how to close the view of the drapes in the motel room on the ground floor. Have you noticed that there's always a gap between the panels? And that the stick pulls just don't work?

There's one more circumstance I want to use hotel closet hangers with: the billowing drape. That's when the air conditioner is directly below the drapes.

17 August 2009

Pre-Medicare Lessons

The nice thing about visiting hospitals is all you can learn from the social worker. Baby boomers are still pre-Medicare but close enough to have teachable moments.

That was our experience last week when we asked how Medicare would cover a hospital expense, which of course is a commentary on just how close we are to Medicare. The social worker's answer surprised us. Medicare patients have a pretty good deductible of just a little more than a thousand dollars. But that's good for only 60 days.

Get sick right away and land back in the hospital? Your deductible is already paid.

Get healthy for several months and then land back in the hospital? You have to pay another deductible.

That's why people carry secondary insurance and, according to the social worker, it's cheap. (We haven't checked. But I'm sure we will.)

14 August 2009

Hospital Heuristic

Tip for communicating around hospital life: When cell phones won't operate, log into whatever ultra-slow Internet connection you pick up, and email messages using only the subject line. Think about it—messages in and out of hospitals can be pretty darn short and don't deserve the long wait for the message to open.

To wit:

OK?
Waiting dr.
OK?
more blood draw
OK?
Waiting lunch
OK?
bring robe.

10 August 2009

Social Savings

The tabs at the top of the Smarty Pig web site tell the full story of the piggy-bank savings site. This is a place to socially network your way to savings. As in, invite others to contribute to your savings goal. It's a place for alternative wedding registry and just the old-fashioned Help Maggie Get to Space Camp campaign. For those of us who remember, it's also the old Christmas Club at the bank. I never actually had a Christmas Club but I grew up hearing women say they were going to open one next year.... That was in the 1960s.

07 August 2009

Not tweets, but the same behavior

Celebrations shared via iPhone

We're not the only boomers who photograph our food... We go out for Tom Bold's birthday and take a cell phone photo of the meal and immediately email it to far-away family members. Other instant sends: while shopping, while traveling, while admiring Sherman at the dog park. It's not at the level of sending tweets but I imagine we're tapping into the same human urge.

03 August 2009

What's important to boomer women

How can I not spend one more blog entry on Sonic Headquarters? I mean, a reader actually located a pic and sent it to me. I must honor that. And also take note of what is important to boomer women in the South. It is ice.

31 July 2009

You think you know someone.

I have always trusted The Sociologist's priorities. I had no reason to doubt her earlier this week, certainly, when she called to say that she had just seen a 3-story Sonic in Oklahoma City. Well, yes, that is news in the South, where we populate our towns with the low-slung drive-ins that offer the best ice in the land.

She assured that she would be getting back to the location for a photograph before leaving the city. And much later, after she left the city, she called to say, "would you believe that 3-story Sonic is world headquarters?" Well, all right! Sonic has a home office! It's not just tips and receipts and a cash register managed by a teenager.

So, I said, you got the photograph. Well, no, she admitted.

You think you know someone.

27 July 2009

American workplaces undergoing change

2009 has already seen remarkable changes in the American workplace. The Great Recession has prompted more lay-offs than we're accustomed to, more cost-saving measures than any office likes to see, and furloughs that will soon stop feeling like vacations and start feeling like pay cuts.

What could change it more? A voluntary exodus by employees who will happily take their chances on becoming independent contractors (instead of full-time employees) if they have access to guaranteed health care insurance. I would need several hands to count the number of boomer women I know who "work for the bennies" for themselves and (for some) their spouses.

I asked Tom Bold yesterday if he thought that described boomer men, too. He agreed: former colleagues are already making the comparison between full-time work and three-quarter-time (contract) work, but with that matter of health insurance keeping them on a job. That job is becoming more and more demanding as lay-offs continue so the prospect of working from home, whether for one client or several, is becoming more and more attractive.

Such an exodus could be a brain drain from the employer's perspective but could also be a solution for balance sheets that are currently hurting. Some employers might find out for the first time what really attracts talent to their companies. And some might find out what percentage of workers were responsible for what percentage of productivity.

And a whole lot of boomers might find their adjustment to the recession a whole lot happier.

24 July 2009

Movies: It was the same but different

Yesterday, when I took myself off to a movie, it was the same but different from 2001 when I sat in a different theatre, different town, but experienced the same period of adjustment as I realized I was seeing something I had not planned to see.

In 2001, I don't recall what movie I intended. But as I sat in the opening few seconds, with the screen turning orange, I was certain the mood being set was not the one for a typical Lida movie. Indeed. The movie was Training Day. R, brutal, and an award-winner (or maybe it was the actors who won awards). I had walked into the wrong show. I stayed, wary but fascinated.

Yesterday was the same but different. Within a single minute of the movie's start, I realized this was not my movie. Now, I cannot claim that I walked into the wrong theatre. I held the right ticket for I Love You, Beth Cooper. It's just that I thought it would be something more along the lines of Forgetting Sarah Marshall, which I actually saw and considered mildly amusing. I didn't say good. I said mildly amusing. And for Beth Cooper, I have to report that lots of other people actually liked it. The theatre was more than half-full (unusual for the times that I go to the movies) and people laughed sympathetically as the grown men and women on screen worked hard to resemble high school seniors. I will say this: I didn't have to close my eyes for violent scenes. Of course, by the time I left I was feeling pretty violent....

20 July 2009

A commute to live by

It's a map season (if you spotted the blog on remote maps last week).

Actually, I'm writing about commuting today. I'm not a commuter anymore but sometimes there is regular driving to a client's site. When that involves Dallas traffic, the strategy is to start early, tune the radio to Weather & Traffic on the 8s, and prepare to abandon the freeway.

I have a particular route across the DFW Metroplex that is actually 3 routes. Depending on clogs on the freeway, I have pathways "mapped" in my mind and on the car's GPS uint, too, so that I can adjust between the extreme 35 minute trip (granted that happened only once, on a Saturday morning) and the horrendous 2-hour trip (which has happened several times). On a good day, the drive takes 55 minutes. On an average day it takes 65 to 70 minutes.

And then there's the industrial route. It's very relaxing. I start with only 12 minutes on my neighborhood highway and then I exit for the little-known airport cut-across, to the north industrial neighborhood, which leads to a southward stretch of about 4 miles with stoplights, and then turns into a relaxing boulevard drive across a couple of towns' industrial warehouses with few cars on the road. Speed is 45 mph (the hybrid loves it) but with areas of stoplights that slow the trip. But the longest stoplight line I have ever been in is 10 cars and trucks. That's no exaggeration. The typical line is 2. Or 3. Did I mention there is no stress whatsoever?

What price do I pay for my industrial commute? Drive time is always at least 75 minutes. It can stretch to 80 minutes. Did I mention there is no stress whatsoever....

17 July 2009

Personal Technology: InstaMapper-ing

Katy Bold gets the credit for discovering this tool (free from the web) although I think she was taken aback by the intensity of my reaction and my insistence that "I want it all—web and mobile—and I want it on Tom's phone, too!"

InstaMapper permits tracking a cooperative trackee with a GPS-enabled cell phone, producing an informational screen for the tracker viewing on the web (with option for mobile version for viewing on an Internet-equipped cell phone). The information includes map, coordinates, altitude, and speed of movement.

The system requires cooperation. The trackee must make an update click, and the tracker must refresh the web page display. Does it work? Exceedingly well. (The tracking can also be embedded on a web page or blog with nearly-constant updating.)

Did we use it? We did. As Katy drove halfway across the country she occasionally updated (her click) and I obsessively refreshed (my click). On that day, I was on site working for a client and I showed the display to colleagues. They happened to be women with offspring ranging from teenage to adulthood. Most of them wrote down the name of the application. I breezily commented that I like the system because it operates on cooperation: my grown daughter was voluntarily sharing information with me and I could read a lot into speed of 70 versus speed of 0.

A colleague stopped me, "You can tell how fast she's driving?" Well, yes, that's one of the results. And I repeated that I don't feel as though I'm invading my daughter's privacy. And this colleague said, "My daughter is 16. I don't care about privacy." Another colleague formed a plan: "My husband. You have no idea how often he gets lost and calls me to read a map to him."

13 July 2009

Virtual Birthday

Virtual events come by many names. A young friend recently reminded me of when the virtual becomes F2F, however. That's when you have a LAN party at your house and your friends bring their computers for F2F interaction in addition to simultaneous online gaming.

I once planned a political non-dinner because some events prevented the real thing. I printed up a whole menu (featuring baked chicken, of course) with the usual payment stub. The campaign raised some thousands of dollars, remarkably as this was back in the early '70s.

In the years since I've seen similar technique but the Internet and cell phone photography really bring the whole exercise to everyone. So, the photo here is fried ice cream at the local Cristina's. Virtual for the birthday celebrant in California. Very real for the family members in Texas.

Should have saved this for Personal Technology on Friday, of course.

10 July 2009

Cozumel Ruins

The pre-Columbian Mayan ruins at the center of Cozumel island (Mexico) are not large. Pretty, but not large. The grander sort are gone. They were bulldozed in WW2 to create an airstrip.

The ruins we visited are protected in a park. We spent about an hour walking around the 18 monuments. That was our excursion on the one day in port for our practice cruise.

We traveled from Galveston to Cozumel (and back) on the Carnival Ecstasy. We were not much suited to the party atmosphere but we learned what we needed to learn before planning longer trips. (I napped and slept very well. Tom Bold was bored. I need cheaper Internet access.)

A reader asked if Sherman had practiced something, too, because of this trip. It was his first time without either me or Tom at the house. He became attached to his dog-sitter over the 5 days. Had we given him a full practice experience it would have been at a kennel. We are actually scouting out the local options for that experiment.

06 July 2009

Practice ruins, too

We continue on our practice cruise, and this weekend added practice ruins to the list. Photo to follow next weekend. It seems that when one relies only on a cell phone for photographs, one is scared to death to log onto the Cellular at Sea network for fear of racking up big charges. So, the photos will sit for a few days.

FYI, Internet access is 40 cents/minute. That reminds me of per-minute charges for long-distance calls in my long-distant memory. I could be wrong.

I can blog. I can email. I can check web sites. I can do a certain amount of work but not log into all work sites that I am accustomed to.

Could I manage longer than a 4-night cruise? To be determined.

© 2009 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.

03 July 2009

Practice Cruise: Late Blooming Boomers

Tom Bold and I are on a practice cruise. We are late blooming at cruising, as just about everyone we know has already tried it. As most readers will attest, the single most positive comment made about cruises is that Alaska as destination is best.

That's not where we're going. Remember, I titled this Practice Cruise. That means that before we invest thought and money into a cruise among the islands of the South Pacific, we need to make sure we're good fits for this mode of transportation.

Imagine us on the way to Cozumel. Also imagine us as having booked this trip without caring what the destination might be. More on all this later.

29 June 2009

Airplane Gray & Comfortable Seats

You recognize Airplane Gray, right? The diagram and lit buttons guide you in adjusting your seat. Bed. Mainly seat.

Now, there's a nifty flip-down foot rest that makes all the difference in one's comfort in the 767 fancy seats. That foot rest is the only non-electric feature of the chair and only after much consternation can you make out its part of the diagram. It also helps to have a businessman seat mate to point out these things. Else you see a lot of women with dangling legs.

I know the airline's purpose is to provide long-flight comfort but I'm ready to name the major benefit of these seats: distraction. You can expend a good portion of the trip adjusting your seat.

26 June 2009

Cab Driver #2

Last weekend's stop in Las Vegas involved a second cab ride (back to the airport). A 60-something woman drove me and poured out her story when I asked, "How's business?"

It's awful. You're my 9th customer since 5 a.m. That's in 10 hours. I'm not making the average yet today and we have to or we get suspended for two weeks. I can't afford that but I can't do anything about getting more business. See how the cabs are weaving in and out? They're all hurrying to get this passenger out and find the next one. But there's not enough to go around.

If I didn't have Social Security, I'd go under. I'm living under God's arm. I am. My big bills are practically covered with my Social Security. Then I have to make the rest. I've been cutting back but you can't cut back forever. It's pretty bad here. But I'm not going to drive people extra to charge them more. I wouldn't want that to happen to me if I went to another city.

I left the same tip you would have.

22 June 2009

The Vegas View and the One Not So Visible, Too

Granted, it doesn't look like a great view, but at night the parking garage recedes, the strip is quite lively, and the volcano at the Mirage is visible (every hour, 8pm to midnight). The vantage point is 15th floor of Treasure Island, a hotel with a right price last weekend as I passed through the city on return from San Francisco.

The view that's not so visible to us visitors is the Las Vegas economy so dependent on tourists that if we thought about it more, we would tip more.

My cab driver invited me to sit up front with him. That's just not a typical invitation for female cab customers. So, I accepted. In that passenger seat, I listened as he spoke at length about the economy and how he is faring.

At 70, he would like to retire but cannot because he needs extra medical coverage, which he concisely described along with a recent experience in a Canadian clinic (his total bill was $75 and that covered all lab tests and X-rays) and a friend's inability to purchase any policy at a price he can afford.

At 70, he would like to retire but cannot because his monthly retirement income covers rent and that's all.

At 70, he would like to retire but cannot because he needs the cash that comes from driving the cab, even though the income is shrinking. He pulled out his log to show me his fares for the past 7 hours. They totaled about $100. He quickly calculated his costs, the cab company's share, and the taxes based on the IRS assumption that tips would equal 23% of the fares. The end result was not encouraging: his take-home for the day would be $45.

I gave him a big tip.

19 June 2009

Chasing Internet Access in San Francisco

The Kimpton advertising is the biggest text outside my hotel window. As you might guess, the closest Kimpton isn't across the street. But there are two of them in the thick of San Francisco: the Triton at the start of Chinatown and the Argonaut at Fisherman's Wharf. And I am immediately homesick for a good Kimpton.

I've been in two hotels in the past three days, chasing stable Internet so that I may work at a reasonable pace. Keeping pace is what allows me to continue to travel to conferences and meetings. What's interesting about having back-up is you don't know if you really have it until you need it. My back-up is an air card, which is actually a USB stick that serves as a laptop's cell phone on the road. (Thus, Internet access is provided through that phone connection.)

But in the past three days, I've hit more dead spots than live spots. The air card has not performed and I don't know whether to blame AT&T or the city of San Francisco. In any case, when the Hyatt Regency couldn't solve my intermittent access, I called an old favorite: the Hilton on O'Farrell.

So, I have a room and I have good Internet. But the sign outside my window reminds me that with a little planning I could have had Kimptom benefits. Free Internet, free cookies in afternoon, free wine in the evening, odd little games like pick a duck for a prize (everyone wins, near as I can tell), and the stylish lobby that comes with a boutique hotel.

As I am wont to say lately... next time.

[The image above, by the way, is a glass of wine on the left and a goldfish on the right.]

15 June 2009

Disappearing Dollar Menu

At my regular Sonic locations, I missed the dollar menu. Alas, a promotion that ran its course. But The Sociologist is a dedicated field researcher. Drove to all three Sonics in her North Texas town. One of the drive-in's has kept its dollar menu. So, this must be a franchisee decision. (Happily, Happy Hour does not seem to be affected.)

And isn't it cool to have a friend who does field work? The really important field work.

12 June 2009

Personal Technology for 2-Year-Olds

Today, a good host has wireless Internet access for guests, right? Or, in the case of Child Visitors, perhaps just a toy laptop will suffice. Well, and stickers, of course. So, I placed a toy laptop down low for a C.V., satisfied that I was a good host. Alas, the C.V. assumed the unit included touch screen technology and jabbed a finger on bad graphics, trying to access new games. All I could do was shrug. How do you explain to a 2-year-old that the preschool version of computers doesn't include the best technology?

08 June 2009

Ike's remains: Port Arthur, Texas

Damage from Ike is still very apparent on Port Arthur's Pleasure Island in Texas. These boats were moved from marina to land and there they have stayed. The State Parks in the area remain closed. And many people are still working on their house repairs.

05 June 2009

Personal Technology: Skype might have saved the day

Having multiple technologies at one's fingertips is the key to productivity. No, remembering the technologies is the key....

So, when the iPhone froze yesterday and my feeble attempts at recovery were too feeble, I stared at my many computers for a while. Then decided to send a couple of emails to the folks who I knew were trying to call me at 11 o'clock. The people gathered for the conference in another state were sitting around a speaker phone; no one was checking email. (In some groups, there would have been an undercurrent of email, of course. Just happened not to be the case with this group.) So, in email I offered my skype username but no one saw it.

After 15 minutes, I remembered that my skype account could dial phone numbers. Unfortunately, my contact person had never included a phone number in her emails. I located a web directory displaying her office phone and used skype to call it. Of course, she wasn't there because she had gone to the speaker phone gathering point in someone else's office.

I gave up on making that connection and drove 8 miles to the Apple store where a pleasant young man pushed two buttons and re-set the phone. I don't mind admitting that I had to be shown how to press the only two buttons on the unit. It's not as if I could have pressed the wrong buttons.

And then, two hours later, it occurred to me that I could have used skype to call Tom Bold to ask him if he had any ideas about what I could try to turn on my phone. What amazes me is that it took me two hours to realize I could have called Tom Bold to get him into tech mode. Or I could have used skype to call either of my adult offspring to ask what to do with the non-functioning iPhone. Or I could have used skype to call the Apple store. Or I could have simply googled for iPhone tips and likely found out what I needed to do.

Next time.

01 June 2009

Not exactly the lake view

To change scenery and refresh the brain, I visited a lake yesterday: Ray Roberts in north Texas. You've already spotted the not-lake photograph. That's Lost Pines Nature Trail near the entrance to Isle du Bois unit of Ray Roberts Lake State Park. The trail is only a half-mile loop but makes for a nice shady introduction to the park. The longer trails are open to both humans and horses.

Of course, the lake is the famous feature of the park and it certainly drew a weekend crowd. Swimming beach was over-full (both people and cars). Campside fishing was my view of choice. I parked in an overlook area and enjoyed the scenery. And felt sorry for the nearby fishing family. Actually, the family consisted of a fishing father and a mother standing in knee-deep water juggling three children between roughly 3 and 10. The children looked very happy. Guess who I felt sorry for.

I can report great 3G network, allowing me to spend an hour in email using air card on a laptop.

29 May 2009

Kitchen Privileges

So, do other dogs sit on couches and car seats with their front legs on the floor for balance? Is this normal? If I asked a dog trainer would I simply be told to stop letting the dog sit on couches and car seats?

I fear I am entirely too amused by Sherman, the Labradoodle. As Tom Bold confesses, "When he stands up next to me at the kitchen counter and we're eye to eye, I can't help but laugh."

Tom. I thought we agreed that Sherman wouldn't have kitchen privileges.
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.
.
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25 May 2009

DOT Provides Wifi on All Roads

Clearly, I've been in a lot of highway rest areas in Texas this month. Here's my observation about my observation skills: I jumped to a conclusion about where Texas was installing wifi.

When I first spotted a Texas rest area with wireless access to the Internet, it was on I-35. So, I concluded that the interstate highways were the lucky spots.

Well, the Texas Department of Transportation (DOT) tends to all roads. And that's why wifi is turning up in rest areas on all sizes of road. Above sign is from the Safety Rest Area at Donley County on 287.

And as a boomer reader commented to me in email last week, it's amazing that as some states are cutting back on rest areas, Texas is building them bigger and better than ever.

22 May 2009

Personal Technology: Impulse Buys at Target

Ten years ago—or even five years ago—I would not have believed that a 1 gigabyte flash drive for the computer would sell for $8.99. And I certainly wouldn't have believed that I would find it among the hanging items at the check-out counter, in place for impulse purchase.

You don't have to be a baby boomer to be impressed by this placement. But I imagine boomers are the first to notice because we have sharp memory of the prices we used to pay for such flash drives. In fact, they were often behind lock and key!

© 2008 Mary Bold, PhD, CFLE. The content of this blog or related web sites created by Mary Bold (www.marybold.com, 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.

18 May 2009

When you're the slowest dog at the dog park...

No one likes to be the slowest of the pack. Sherman is. At every dog park, he plays with as many dogs as possible. But when they start running, he is the last in line.

Perhaps because he is still growing? Or perhaps he is just not a runner. At home, he chases squirrels to no avail.

But last week he found an animal slower than himself. And brought the turtle into the house. Tom Bold waited for distraction and returned the turtle to the outdoors.

15 May 2009

Texas Welcome

Pretty spot: the Texas welcome center on Highway 69, entering from Oklahoma.

The park-like setting (or we could just call it a park) makes this welcome center a show-off stop. The building closes by early evening although bathrooms are unlocked 24/7. The walks are wonderful, with lush landscaping.

At night, the best walk is straight to the restroom entry. Reach that by driving to the mid-way point along the driveway, and walking the shortest distance from drive to west side of building.

There is no closed area for pets. Dogs need to be on a leash to be safe.

11 May 2009

Roughing It, More or Less

All that hinting about camping and vans... the result was a short trip to Natural Falls State Park in Oklahoma.

Few children were among the campers and those that were emerged from tents. Most of the campers last weekend were baby boomers in big, blooming RVs. The ranger told me the park would be about half-full and that looked right. I made a reservation anyway. Yep. Wanted that slot near the bathroom and shower.

I have never traveled in an RV and my experience is limited to the sea of white that fills the area around the Texas Motor Speedway near our home. That's on I-35 in North Texas, if you're not familiar with the NASCAR circuit.

Sea of white refers to the predominant color of RVs and campers. So, at Natural Falls I was not surprised by the rows of white RVs around us. We were in the red minivan....

Natural Falls features falls, of course. The trail to the bottom of the falls is short but steep. Paved trail and concrete steps make it easy although I was pleased not be walking it in rain. The "long" trail is less than 2 miles so this is not the park for dedicated walkers.

Wildlife we spotted: a deer leaping across the road, turtles not leaping at all, woodpeckers in their traditional activity.

Roughing it we accomplished: van camping for a night in stormy weather, working online into the night thanks to the electrical outlet in our space and an air card for Internet access, sleeping with Sherman the labradoodle at our feet and sometimes alongside, too.

OK. So, maybe that's not roughing it. But if you had a 75-pound dog bringing you a red ball for fetch at 2am, you might call it a rough night, at least.

08 May 2009

A Sherman Tank

Sherman at 7 months (72 pounds) is not often still for photographs. And never still for height measurement. So, we don't really know how tall he is. We know he is shorter than a Mastiff. But we also know he is taller than the back seats of our cars. When he rides in a car he fills the rearview mirror. Turning one's head to look for cars in the blind spot is fruitless. All one can see is yellow and white fluff.

So, for all the years that I have been amused by people who purchased special vehicles for their dogs, I am now understanding of their choice. And I am now amused by our choice of last week: a minivan for Sherman. (Or, as The Sociologist pointed out for me: a Sherman Tank.)

What else is in this glimpse into two boomers' lives? (I'm referring to Tom Bold and me, not to Sherman and anyone.) The incredible experience of going car shopping during the Great Recession. The only busy car lot we visited was CarMax. All the others were deserted. (We purchased at one of the deserted lots.) Negotiating a price was streamlined by what I interpreted as the lot manager's interest in cash flow. (The manufacturer declared bankruptcy the very next day.)

We traded in the little white truck, which was in both of our names. We hadn't discussed how we would title the minivan but we both knew—instantly—when the salesman said, "Do you want this in both names or just yours, Tom?" Any boomer woman reading this knows what happened next. It's the 3rd or 4th car that's gone under just my name.

04 May 2009

On Not Hunting

A fair number of friends will despair that I've been to Cabela's, where one can buy hunting, fishing, and camping supplies beyond one's imagining. And also see displays of animals, museum style. That's the polite way of saying stuffed.

But for every friend dismayed by my trip to Cabela's, there are two friends or relatives not impressed at all. Because they were at a similar establishment a week ago or, even more grandiosely, may state, "Why, I've got one bigger than that out in the garage."

Regardless of one's orientation toward hunting (my brothers converted a bedroom into a shell room, machinery and all), you can't be less than impressed by the wildlife displays at Cabela's. They even include animatronics, Disney style: an old-timer storytelling.

What in the world took me to Cabela's? A strong urge to go camping, which has more to do with the difficulty of hotel life with Sherman the dog than with a love for the outdoors. I know you are all relieved that I'm not taking up hunting.

01 May 2009

Working during the Pandemic: Can You Telecommute?

As a telecommuter, I am grateful that I can continue to work during pandemics, snowstorms, and holidays. In the current environment of closures due to swine flu, I am humble in acknowledging that personal impact is slight.

Workplaces are directly affected if there is need to close and they are also affected if employees' children's schools must close. (In Texas, whole school districts are suspending classes. Communities are canceling large public events.)

Should everyone be a telecommuter? Should school children have distance learning alternatives? The realities: no one becomes a telecommuter in one day or one week, and schools must coordinate many systems to accomplish distance learning. (College campuses have similar challenge although Hurricane Katrina provided a wake-up call on the need for contingency planning, also called academic continuity planning.)

Here's my major theme: no one becomes a telecommuter in one day or one week. Or even one month. (Try six months.) The key components of telecommuting can be listed but then must be mastered by the individual. No amount of training can replace personal experience.

1 - Buy-in. That means the boss, the co-workers, and the customers all must believe that you can produce good work at a distance.

2 - Productivity. So, you actually have to produce good work at a distance! It can take months to adjust to a schedule that works.

3 - Communication. And you must commit time and practice to multiple means of communicating with the boss, the co-workers, the customers.

4 - Technology Investment. My personal tools include 3 laptops (2 of which have built-in webcams), 1 desktop computer, 1 high-quality data projector, 1 tiny portable projector of lower quality, Internet access 3 ways (fiber optic, smartphone, air card), industrial-strength laser printer that prints on 11x17 paper, well, you get the idea. If these are the tools for one person, imagine what's needed for an office, a company, an educational institution.

What's my thinking on telecommuting during the pandemic? By all means, businesses and schools should begin the messy process. And when the pandemic is "downgraded" and normal operations resume, they should continue the messy process. Telecommuting part-time is the best protection for the future.

What the graphic refers to: I have a favorite free tool for "face-to-face" communication: ooVoo. I've been using it off and on for two years. But a recent commitment to a wholly online staff project is providing the real work-out. Once a week, I work with two colleagues for a couple of hours, strictly online. Phone is a back-up measure. A goal of the project is to create a comfort zone in desktop videoconferencing so that we can then use the technology with other people involved in the project. So far, we've concentrated on ooVoo and vRoom. We plan to use other platforms, too. How are we doing? After a month of consistent use, we are becoming more skilled. (We are not ready to include other people, yet.)

27 April 2009

Free piece of chicken. But which piece?

UNTHINK
FREE
That's the full-page ad inviting us to eat KFC today—one free piece of grilled chicken. No purchase necessary.

Looks like 2009 will be the year of food-giveaways. Interestingly, this is the 3rd time I have thought long and hard about KFC in this calendar year. That's unusual because in at least 40 previous years of my ilfe I never thought about KFC. It was just there with original, then crispy, chicken. And the cole slaw that admittedly I didn't eat until I was in my 30s. And the mashed potatoes, which always satisfied.

Suddenly, this year, my boomer friends and I are discussing KFC.

A month ago a boomer woman friend actually phoned me to warn that KFC's value menu was slight and not worth driving out of the way for. This was probably in response to my blog about the increased number of value and dollar menus at our drive-through fast food chains.

A week ago I visited a KFC for lunch with another boomer woman friend. I noticed the grilled chicken on the menu and commented that I hadn't tried that. She dismissed it with, "We're not going to eat that today." (And she was right. Neither of us did.)

So, will any of us locate a KFC today (Monday, April 27 only) and ask for a free piece of chicken?

If we were to do that, what piece would we receive?

Well, to paraphrase my friend, it doesn't matter because we're not going to do that today.

24 April 2009

Play room at the Colorado Welcome Center

Boomers travel. Or if they cannot travel, they wish they could. I'm in the category of having a flexible schedule and the ability to travel (as long as I maintain access to the Internet for work).

Of late, I've been noticing new things in interstate highway rest areas. In 2008, I saw tornado shelters and wireless Internet in Texas roadside stops. In 2009, so far my new find is this children's play area stocked with toys. It's at the Colorado welcome center on I-70 (east side of the state next to Kansas).

The play room is about 20 x 20, which you cannot tell from this corner shot. What you also may not be able to see is the decorative image at the top. It's a cattle drive.