Boomer Woman Blog

19 October 2009

More Dodge. And Biggner.

Just a few days ago, I said that the Dodge insignia was popping up all around me. And later that day, it popped up again. This time in large fashion on the back window of a Dodge Charger. It seems there are literally thousands of images you can choose from to display your ram dedication. Layouts for your Facebook page, too. I had no idea.

© 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.

16 October 2009

A Dodge Look

It's not the angle of the shot. Certain cars really do have this charging look about them. I react with a nostalgia even though I can't quite place the source. In any case, these cars with the Dodge insignia are turning up all around me. This is because we recently bought one. Not this style. But a Dodge Grand Caravan. (I blogged about that: people who buy minivans for their dogs. And then we became those people. You can fill in the blanks.) I propose that people didn't start buying Dodge cars in huge droves (in fact, we know there have been no droves). I just became aware of the insignia.

12 October 2009

Comparing Health Care Policy Proposals

Yes, there's the NYTimes blog about health care policy and legislation. But there's another tool that I recommend: Kaiser Family Foundation's Side by Side Comparison of Major Health Care Reform Proposals. In a big blue box, you can select 2 to 12 "sources" such as Senate Finance Committee and House Tri-Committee and then advance to the next blue box to select your topics (e.g., individual mandate, expansion of public programs). When your checkboxes are marked, a button appears above the top blue box: Generate Comparisons. Click it for a clear and easy-to-read chart. When the chart is visible, notice new buttons: Print This Comparison and Create a Different Comparison.

KFF hasn't held shares in the various Kaiser health companies since the 1980s. KFF is regarded as a leading research and policy foundation involved in health issues globally.

09 October 2009

Name Your Flu

A colleague referred to Hy-Nee Flu and it took me a while (and required confirmation) that she was referring to H1N1. So, we now have three names for the stuff if we count "swine flu," too. We have also added the term seasonal flu to refer to non-H1N1. Used to be, it was just the flu.

Among my friends and colleagues, I actually have a number of folks who need to care. Two are pregnant. Three have compromised immune systems. And a couple are over 65. I'm friends with a preschooler, too. She's not worried but her parents are aware. And many friends work on college campuses where H1N1 is routinely discussed in terms prevention as well as response.

Baby boomers are luckiest, with presumed immunity or least resistance. That's if you were born before 1957, at least. So, there's also the matter of historic flu. Boomers are also probably the most opinionated about what to do about the flu. To move away from opinion, I recommend flu.gov, which comes in 4 flavors: English, Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese. The web site describes the most vulnerable populations. And provides perspective with maps and facts.

Stay healthy,
Lida

05 October 2009

Sonic Cruiser: Me

I used to have graduate students in my life. And they frequently gave me Sonic gift cards. Holidays, I would receive at least a couple of $5 cards. Now, I occasionally receive a Sonic card from a former student and, egads, her daughter. (How did I get to be this age?) But most of the time I'm using my own cash at Sonic. And since many of the drive-ins accept only a Sonic card for auto pay, I have no opportunity to use a credit card. Ah, well, then, I need to buy my own Sonic card and "load it" online using my credit card. You know where that's going: miles.

So, onto the Sonic web site. I learn that it takes many steps to load a card and become a Cruiser. I see a mention of maintaining a balance. That's not necessarily a good place to park my money. On the other hand, it takes many steps to load a card. I go right back into the site and take those many steps again in order to set up a year's plan for auto-loading the card whenever it drops to $30. (It will zoom to $100 within 24 hours with a charge to my credit card. You know: miles.)

As tiresome as this tale is (for me, too, by the way), I am compelled to relate why $30 is my threshold for re-loading. Just last week, I picked up lunch for colleagues on my way to a client's office. The bill at Sonic was $23. So, of course, I want to always have $23 on my Sonic card. (Ironically, that lunch group included two former grad students, both of whom can recite my preferred Sonic drink because, well, they used to bring it to me in another setting.)

When I ended the loading process online and the graphic above appeared on screen, it came with the designation PREFERRED. I can only assume that the demographic for Sonic card loading is an age that recognizes that term. And is amused.

02 October 2009

Personal Technology: Zap2it for TV listings

I mean, I used to subscribe to TV Guide. Back in the days of the digest size. When I was a child. Or at least 12 or 13. Yes, that's still a child, I'm sure. Finally, in adulthood, I despaired at the timing of the magazine's arrival in the mail. It arrived just in time, not days ahead so that I could preview. (Do all boomers like television this much?)

And then the price started going up. I persisted in buying TV Guide at the grocery store because I relied on it for keeping up with popular culture. It's where I learned about Y necklaces in time to sound alert when my teenaged daughter wanted one. I kept up with a slice of Hollywood gossip without having to ever buy People. That's right. I have never purchased People. Same with the tabloids. These are small stands against promoting paparazzi.

Eventually, the price for TV Guide ended my devotion to the publication. My purchases became fewer and fewer and I began to rely on the online version for TV listings. I smiled broadly when I saw the magazine increase its physical size to a standard format (and I started buying occasionally, no doubt influenced by the cover, proving that to capture boomers' attention you have to make the pictures big). Aha! Enlarged print to satisfy an aging population! Boomers being served! Because I cannot imagine that the demographic includes that younger set of folks who have an entirely different perspective on television, let along television listings.

Where does this get us? Heavy reliance on the online web site, tvguide.com. And so when it reconfigured this Fall to (presumably) create a flashier display, I lost patience. I will not wait for the web site to be perfected. Clicking on a listing used to create a pop-up description. Today, the click expands the grid to (presumably) display a description that can be toggled for display and hide. Well, it doesn't work.

Guess what does? Zap2it. com—with smooth functionality and better customization than tvguide.com's offering.

Now, if you try it out, you might want to go ahead and register before you start customizing. And when you fill in the questionnaire, you might want to leave blank the space for nickname. Rule-follower that I am, I filled in a nickname. "Already taken." So, I filled in another. "Already taken." It took multiple efforts to get to a viable nickname. That's when I realized that the purpose is to have a "handle" for posting comments; it actually wasn't a required field.

So, not that I ever post to any commercial web site, or even to listservs, you'll know it's me if you see sweetpotato on your Zap2it screen.

28 September 2009

Van travel with dog, a close companion

On a cross-country travel, I learned just how close I can be to a dog. The reason was simple: Tom Bold was traveling separately. So, Sherman had to rely on me as his companion. Top shot: he insisted on sharing my computer desk in the van. For him, it served as a head rest. And that's what my lap was, also, when driving. Photo below is hard to make out...but that's the scene when an 80-pound dog wants to sleep on the front seat. He has to stretch out across the space between seats and put his head on the driver's leg. Sherman, like most dogs, would really prefer a bench seat in a pick-up truck.

25 September 2009

Personal Technology: but someone else's personal event

Besides being a striking study in black and white, this photograph documents another shattered iPhone. Oh, it still works. But I've now seen similar sight for older owners of iPhones, younger owners of iPhones, and in-between-agers, too.

I am certain that I dropped previous cell phones. I had one that frequently split into parts when it hit the pavement. But I could always snap it back together. (One challenging day, that phone scattered into enough pieces that I had to scoop them into a plastic bag. I carried it into the lecture hall, held it high, and was rescued by a student who volunteered to reconstruct it for me. I wouldn't be surprised if it were her most productive and happy day of the semester.)

Of course, with the iPhone, the risk is higher. It shatters instead of scatters (good) but it also resists reconstruction....

21 September 2009

Remarkably Memorable Pet Store

Portland no doubt has many fine attributes but the one I saw up close is the welcome to dogs at this Nature's Pet store. Notice the cat scratching post that I was thankful Sherman did not scale. Notice the water bottle that provided him with refreshment on a hot September day. Notice the propped open door that, yes, he entered without hesitation.

18 September 2009

Remarkably Memorable Market

There are a few remarkably memorable markets in the country and the Sanitary Public Market of Seattle is one of them. Seattle in sunshine is equally memorable. Sights/sites include the original Starbucks and more people in sandals than I've seen in a long time.

14 September 2009

Travel in the Sherman Tank

Travel in the Sherman Tank has nothing to do with military history. We bought a minivan for the dog (the rationale for which is clear to me although admittedly for decades I didn't understand why other people did this) when he grew to such a size that he blocked our entire rear view in the Prius. The minivan solved that: Sherman can stand but we still have clearance above his head. Until today. En route to a relative's house, with boxes filling the back of the van, we once more had blocked rear view. That's because Sherman simply jumped atop the boxes and rummaged merrily through the contents. He is big. And curious about his environment. We can hardly wait to get him back to the floor of the van.

© 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.

11 September 2009

Corporate and Kid -- Welcome Home, Troops

Over Labor Day weekend, I saw my first Welcome Home, Troops display at an airport. Just hadn't run across that before, and this one was minus the actual soldiers. Several hallways of a DFW Airport reception area were plastered with a mix of corporate and child-decorated signage. There's a level of energy in such a display that has nothing to do with its size (although I suspect a large airport could make a small display appear even smaller). I have absolutely no idea what happens afterward but I hope a few families take home some of the signs.

07 September 2009

Spartan Lodgings a Plus

We have adopted (a dog) and adapted (to dog life). So, that means that our new favorite motel chain is the Red Roof Inn. It is spartan. It is plain. Those are great characteristics for a room where a dog will sleep on vacation. Sherman cannot find anything to chew on. We stay only at hotels where he is legal. Our recent stay, just a couple of miles from a big dog park, was in a facility that allows dogs up to 80 pounds. We drove to Houston quickly as Sherman weighed in at 79 that week.

So far, we have not had to pay a deposit or extra fee. I imagine we'll make that a goal.

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...."

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.

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.