Boomer Woman Blog

26 July 2010

Old Movies

Boomers will recognize my late-night movies of the past month: The Long, Long Trailer from 1953 (Desi was Nicky in this one and the perilous drive across mountains is much funnier when you are old and have done it), 9 to 5 from 1980 (the anecdote of choice is that during the filming the female stars were complaining of the heat one day and Dolly remarked that she could remember when no one had air conditioning and that humbled the ladies), Hello, Dolly from 1969 (in which a very different Dolly is decidedly not wooed by, I had forgotten, Walter Matthau), The Great Race from 1965 (Jack Lemmon chewing scenery, but very well), and Captain Newman, M.D. from 1963 (so, did I know how to place Peck and Darin and Curtis when I was 11 years old?).

The only one of these I shouldn't have seen in a theatre is The Long, Long Trailer. Surely I saw that on television as a child. But for the others, I enjoyed thinking of my age at the time of their release. The scenes I remembered were not necessarily the highlights of the movies....

© 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.

23 July 2010

Recessing: Try India

And we learn from the young. Travels and Investigations has several topics but the central piece is the author's reason for living in India. With no job prospects in the U.S., the new college grad returned to the site of his semester abroad and found room and board provided for work as a translator and copyeditor. He lives on about $10 cash per week, less than his family would spend on him if he were still in the states, job-seeking.

Within my circle, I regularly point to The Sociologist's offspring, who made similar travels on next-to-zero dollars when jobs were not plentiful when they graduated college. A relative went to Americorps after a lay-off. And another relative is taking a leap of faith in leaving a frustrating job even if it means taking a so-called "lesser" position in the same field. These are the decisions of young people who look around, wonder if there's a better way to spend their day, and then strike out on a new adventure.

I wouldn't call the process opting-out (exactly) but it does require an understanding that the individual cannot control societal circumstances. We humans have a tendency to take responsibility for tough times. The lay-off is experienced as personal failure. The lack of job offers represents not being good enough. It doesn't take much observation to realize that the job market is more than just difficult, and that the individual job-seeker is not responsible for the mess. But when you're the unemployed one, it can be hard to get to that realization.

As the economic downturn has played out, more of the unemployed are getting the message. Trying harder won't produce a job. Every other job applicant is trying harder, too. That leads to other realizations and lots of depression, of course. But we can appreciate the young (and probably some old, too) taking advantage of their mobile opportunities. Not a bad way to spend the Great Recession.

19 July 2010

Sunday Morning at the Movies

In the nicest possible ways, in the olden days, friends sometimes teased gently about my Sunday morning habits. If you are familiar with Texas Wal-Marts, you'll be able to spot the era: a neighbor referred to my Sunday shopping as attending the Church of Hypermart. That was when there was a Hypermart (just for a few years and just in a couple of DFW locations).

In the more recent past, I took up Sunday morning movies. No crowds, even for blockbusters, and sometimes early bird ticket prices. A few friends would point out that most of the community was going to church at that time.

I keep repeating in the past because no one makes such remarks to me anymore. So, yesterday, I was a little at a loss when I had an intense desire to tell someone that church had come to the movies. Literally. My most usual cinema now houses a church meeting on Sunday mornings. Attendees sail past the ticket booth and ticket taker. The Bibles they carry may be their ticket. I have idly wondered if anyone ever stops for popcorn.

16 July 2010

Personal Technology: Detergent Dispenser

Oh, yes, this is personal technology. At least, I'm adopting it for myself. Smart young women around me know all about this new style of dispensing detergent. One week, two younger friends starting talking about laundry detergent that can be squirted into the washer--and the next week, I visited a West Coast friend who had placed one of these pump bottles in my laundry closet.

Perhaps that is not the most startling coincidence of my life but I took it to mean that young women adopt smart products at the same time and then the ideas diffuse slowly across generational lines.

Anyway, despite cost considerations (all my young friends said the same thing, that they were intentionally not calculating the cost), this style of detergent dispensing is the niftiest invention since liquid laundry detergent itself. The terms for dispensing are various: squirt, spray, pump, even projectile. And dosing is recommended for 2, 4, and 6 pump actions depending on size of load. That's not too much to learn. And the benefits are obvious. No pouring. No spilling. (This is not an ad... I have not received any compensation or even free product. Darn. That would have been nice.)

12 July 2010

New Touring: Rental RVs

This is not an ad. It's more like a puzzle. When did RV rentals become so obvious? I thought people rented RVs when they were contemplating buying. (I'm sure that contemplation matter is part of the current marketing around rentals, too.) But these colorful campers lined up in Yellowstone parking lots made a statement: RVing can be temporary and affordable.

Shortly after I saw these Cruiseamerica rentals on the road, I heard Click and Clack on the subject (NPR's Car Talk on Saturday mornings). They were advising a caller to ignore family debate about which car to drive to a national park, and simply fly everyone to Denver and rent an RV. Well, good grief. When did this become travel advice?

About 20 years ago, a boomer friend in Florida flew her family to Denver where they rented a jeep and a plug-in cooler for park touring. We thought that was exotic.

09 July 2010

Even wider swath

I didn't photograph when I drove down a different neighborhood road today. But I will. There's more swath. In the meantime, see photo in my last entry. And just quadruple it.

05 July 2010

A wide swath: Neighborhood change

Most boomers have seen neighborhoods much changed after an absence of several years. And that's what Tom Bold and I discussed for our North Texas home. Assuming we make a planned move in 2010, we will likely return for a business visit within the next two years. And we commented that we'll need to be prepared for the changes in landscape in the surrounding areas. What we didn't expect is that after this summer's 2-week trip we would come home to a new landscape less than a mile from our house. "A wide swath" is the phrase that comes to mind.

02 July 2010

Seattle's Big Library

The Seattle Public Library has a planter that is roughly 20' by 16' and it is just an accent piece. Nothing could dominate the space of this Library. Not even the books.

This city building is striking for its size and architecture. It holds people in a fashion that never seems loud, crowded, or bustling even though many people are present. The Library lets cardholders use a computer for 90 minutes a day. The Library lets people read on site with no limits. The Library even lets people get married there.

28 June 2010

Grizzly Bears & Humans

A little more than a week ago, an older man was killed by a Grizzly bear near Yellowstone. The man was a local and knew he was going into a trapping area. Small consolation but in the category of we all get to choose the way we go.

What Tom Bold and I saw the same day in the park represents much less thought and conscious choice. We saw 3 Grizzlies that Thursday. One, from a distance across a meadow, was running and romping. We were struck by how large the bear must be, for us to have such a clear view at a distance.

The next sighting was scary. A mother Grizzly and her cub, with humans standing as close as 20 feet. It was a grove-like area with shade, and very near the paved road. (That's why we had a view for about 30 seconds. We dodged cars and people to drive away from the scene.)

What would make about 50 humans (adults and children) gather around a mother and cub? Why would drivers be comfortable pulling half-way off the road and leaving their cars to approach for a better look?

All I can think is that the humans felt safe because there were other humans around. A group of humans? No animal can take on a group of humans.

And technically that's true. Even a Grizzly cannot attack the whole group. But she could surely take out one or two humans.

Tom Bold pointed out the other risk: any movement by the bear would trigger a group exit in which humans would get hurt by humans.

I am very glad I saw the bears. I am very glad we kept moving.

25 June 2010

Personal Technology: Books on iPad

I didn't imagine myself putting children's books on the iPad but I'm pretty delighted with two that have ended up there.

The Cat in the Hat proves that touchpad technology can, indeed, guide children to reading. I really don't want to hear any more about trends in the ways of teaching people how to read. Just put kids on iPads. Reading will follow. (The Dr. Seuss classic costs a few bucks.)

Toy Story is not quite the powerful teaching tool of the Cat but it has two great features. First, it offers a paint bucket for touchpad artistry (erasure is with the etch-a-sketch technique of shaking the iPad). Second, it's free. Yep, a free app.

21 June 2010

Spouse's Best Deal: Worth the Aging

Boomers may not care to disclose their own ages (wide variety of opinions on that), but they almost always enjoy an older spouse's advancement, for the sake of senior discounts. (Other eligibility, such as Social Security and Medicare, may be welcomed, too.)

For me, last week, that was the case as Tom Bold purchased his National Parks Senior Pass. $10. That's for life, now. It's also worth some discounting on other federal lands.

The free/discounted entry to parks/lands extends to anyone riding in the same car. That is, Tom Bold and his Pass must be in the car. Anyone else (me) in the same car is just as free/discounted.

Is this a deal, or what?

18 June 2010

Personal Technology: Driving while in Overdrive

I mean, literally driving while in Overdrive. Let me clarify, I don't do the driving while in Overdrive. Tom Bold does the driving and I utilize Overdrive (the unit) to access the Internet on a computer or iPad or iPhone (and presumably any other web-based unit).

Here's the plus that I knew but didn't process until recently. With the Overdrive from Sprint, and the iPhone from AT&T, I have lots of coverage, meaning I'm bound to be in a territory for one cellular service or another. Coverage is documented on the cell services' web sites. If I could magically improve one of them, it would be Sprint's map of data service coverage. In today's age of google mapping, it's hard to forgive a clunky, chunky map like Sprint's.

(The AT&T Coverage Viewer looks remarkably similar to the Spring Coverage Tool… but the AT&T version has smoother operation.)

These are the tools of a mobile society. And the specific tools of un-tethered boomers. More on un-tethering later.

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.)

14 June 2010

New Favorite Retirement Calculator

I have a new favorite retirement calculator. It's from an independent, Bud Hebeler. That's in contrast to an investment or brokerage house. Hebeler is a former president of Boeing and an all-around smart person on the subject of personal finance.

His web site is Analyze Now! (the exclamation mark is part of the name but the URL is just www.analyzenow.com] It has a lot of explanations, and a fair number of FAQs, but its real strength is in the calculation programs. The programming is presented in Excel spreadsheets. Don't worry that the programs require knowledge of Excel; they don't. When a spreadsheet opens, you just follow the instructions and plug in numbers in the highlighted cells. Results will appear near the top of the screen, with explanation if it's needed.

Hebeler's guided tour of retirement doesn't have the 4-color pizzazz of the commercial web sites. But in its quieter way, with no sales pitches, it inspires confidence in the major source of information, the user. After all, if I can follow the steps to analysis, surely I can follow the steps to action.

11 June 2010

Personal Technology: SkyDrive

I have a new web app: Microsoft's Office online. A web app (application) runs entirely in a browser. So, you do need Internet access. But you do NOT need Microsoft Office on your computer.

These free Office apps (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote) are lite—they don't have every feature that the hard-drive version of Office provides. But they are free (and the hard-drive version definitey isn't).

Web apps put us up in a cloud. Cloud computing has been promised for a while but it has come with some clunky apps (at least the free ones). Microsoft's version is not clunky. It is very smooth.

The Microsoft cloud also offers a free SkyDrive. That's 25GB of space for storage. (That's a lot of documents. It's even a lot of Powerpoint slideshows.) The downside is that what you create online must be saved to the SkyDrive and not directly to your hard drive. (Uploads and downloads are handled as separate steps.) For a lot of people, that's not really a disadvantage. They want to keep everything floating high above their hardware.

Right now, you can co-author (and co-edit) works in the online Excel and OneNote. Presumably, the rest of the suite will be share-able soon. That's when the online Office will offer all that Google's web app offers.

As a Gmail user, I like Google Docs because it resides nearby. I just click a link in my Gmail account. To use Microsoft's web apps, I must go to a new web site (office.live.com) and enter a new username and password (my Windows Live ID).

I grumbled when I started. Another user name. Potentially another password to match yet another set of rules for security. When I proposed my user name (an email address), the system replied that it was already in existence. Oh, my. Could it be me? I typed in one of my standard passwords. Yes, it linked. I already had a Windows Live ID. With absolutely no memory of it.

Disclosure statement: I have not received any compensation or free product for mentioning this service. (This blog's only monetary reward comes through google.adsense links, which are selected by Google, not by me.)

07 June 2010

Foreclosure Insurance... On Holiday

This isn't about insurance for your own foreclosure. Rather, it's about the possibility that your vacation rental could be in foreclosure.

A friend told me that a recently received trip insurance policy had a new clause: protection in case you get to your vacation house and find it boarded up, locked up, or otherwise unaccessible due to a foreclosure action. Notice I said action, not auction, although the prospect of an auction during your stay is pretty darn interesting.

I'm new to travel insurance, myself. In 2010, for the first time, I was booking travel far enough ahead (more than year) to feel uneasy about the possibility of needing to cancel later. (Insurance doesn't cover all cancellations—just the ones you would approve if you were the insurer.)

I attribute this caution to being a boomer. As a boomer, I was compelled to book that trip far in advance; and, as a boomer, I was nervous that I was booking too far in advance.

04 June 2010

Moving Boomers

What do Las Vegas (Nevada), Bend (Oregon), and Fort Myers (Florida) have in common? All three made it onto two of U.S. News & World Reports' Top 10 lists.

For the full lists, click each of these lines:
10 Cities for Retirement Property Steals
10 Cities Facing a Double Whammy of Default Risks

One way to describe the common set is that 30% of the nation's worst mortgage-foreclosure cities are good places for boomers to relocate to for retirement. And will we? Boomers are more likely to move in retirement years when compared to the previous cohort of retirees. But about 80% want to stay where they are, maintaining their home town ties.

31 May 2010

Persia Movies

If you were a school-aged child in the early 1960s (that's a lot baby boomers), you will like the movie Prince of Persia: Sands of Time. Most of the scenes remind of the desert films we watched in theatres and on TV.

If you were an adult in the early 1960s, you were aware that Persia (the name) had already given way to Iran (the name). But Persia persisted then, and now. As the new movie suggests, Persia existed long ago (years unknown), with heroic leaders (not necessarily matching history), and with magical objects, besides. It's easier to make that happen with a long-ago name that no one can quite put a date on.

Why do I want to go out of my way to say pleasant things about this movie? Last week, after I panned Babies, I didn't hear any disagreement. But a family friend contacted me privately to let me know that Benji was, too, a great movie.

28 May 2010

Personal Technology: My Hairbrush

Yes, I know, there's something wrong with using the word technology with every little tool. I mean, I like to have power behind my technology. Still, I have to admit that hairbrushes have changed. Maybe they deserve the descriptor technology.

This one, purchased after a camping trip (proving once more that fresh air can create loss), is infused with a mineral. Tourmaline. New to me, too.

Or maybe I shouldn't say "too" because maybe I am the only boomer woman on the planet who was not using tourmaline-infused hair care products.

Effect on hair? There is an effect. I just can't articulate it.

24 May 2010

Babies: Out on a limb (me, not the babies)

It is not often that I call a movie boring. I am known for my indiscrimate taste in cinema. I once sat through Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo. Similarly, I made it through The Hangover and Hot Tub Time Machine. The recency of that last one is my proof that I don't wait for cable. No, I sit through these movies at the theatre. I can sit through anything.

Having established my credentials, I will now step out on that limb called socially unacceptable (in case I didn't accomplish that in the first paragraph) and tell you that Babies is so boring I contemplated leaving the theatre. No one would have noticed as I was the only person there.

I did have one admiring thought during the film. With virtually no dialogue (less than a Benji movie for those of you who have only imagined that you have sat through the world's most boring movies), the producers can easily and cheaply change the titles for worldwide distribution.

21 May 2010

Personal Technology: iPad

That image—an iPhone atop an iPad—displays what a boomer loves best about Apple's new offering: size. I probably won't bluetooth to the iPad for the sake of telephoning, but for most other functions of the iPhone I will elect to use the larger unit. What is not visible here, but just may emerge as my favorite app, is the iBooks reader. I'll give a report at a later date.

(For purchase, the Apple store's NotifyMe system worked for me. I ordered one day and received my notice of an available unit two days later. No deposit or commitment was required with the original request for a unit. To satisfy your other question: yes, I bought the cheapest iPad.)

Disclosure statement: I have no relationship with Apple and I have not received any compensation or free product for mentioning their products. (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.