Poor Little Rich Boy

I'm embarrassed. One of my fellow Baby Boomers has explained why he still works so hard.

Hal Steger is quoted in the NY Times: "a few million doesn’t go as far as it used to. Maybe in the ’70s, a few million bucks meant ‘Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous,’ or Richie Rich living in a big house with a butler. But not anymore.”

I don't mean to pick on Mr. Steger specifically, but this is very nearly obscene. It's no wonder the image of the ugly American is growing. By the time someone has turned fifty they should have learned the difference between price and value.

In fairness to Mr. Steger, he's not the only one listed in the article, just the first and most visible.

"I don't care too much for money, money can't buy me love"-The Beatles

Take care and say "excuse me all the way."
-The Rapidly Aging Baby Boomer

Sex Reminder

I was pleased this morning when I read of some recent research. As a Baby Boomer, sometimes it's good to be reminded of the incredibly obvious.

According to Seth Borenstein, an AP Science writer, research has revealed that the reason people have sex is because it feels good.

• I for one am glad to be reminded me why people have sex because I'm pretty sure it had slipped my mind.
  
  
• Now if someone would just remind me how to have sex I'd be set to go.

Take care and say "excuse me all the way."
-The Rapidly Aging Baby Boomer

Movie Double Features

The double feature at a movie house has disappeared along with a reasonably sized box of popcorn and a travelogue featuring Lowell Thomas, however I still miss them and am always pleased to attend with the local film organization stages one of its special double feature nights.

Instead of the one first-run film with a second-run or "B" movie like I grew up on they will show two different versions of the same film. For example once I saw the 1954 classic (everything in 1954 is a classic since I was born that year) "Sabrina" followed by the 1995 version. Another evening featured the 1935 Clark Gable and Charles Lawton version of "Mutiny on the Bounty" followed by the revisionist 1984 "The Bounty" starring Mel Gibson and Anthony Hopkins. My favorite was a long evening that featured Kurosawa's 1954 classic (See what I mean?) "Seven Sumarai" with John Sturges 1960's highly westernized "The Magnificent Seven."

It's been my experience that these evenings generate a lot of discussion about the films. Normally this hasn't resulted in simple declarations of which movie was better, but instead seeing the movies this way provokes thought and comparisons that bring out aspects of the film one might have missed if you had watched the movies separately.

You may wonder what brought this to my mind. I recently saw and reviewed "The Messenger," the 1999 film version of the story of Joan of Arc and found myself wanting to see the Victor Fleming's 1949 version of "Joan of Arc" that starred Ingrid Bergman. Unfortunately I don't have a copy available, but I've add it to my movie list and would love to do a double screening. I suggest you put together a list of your own makes and remakes and spend a nice evening with your favorite movie partner and watch them both. If you think of any pairs of movies you'd like to share, post a comment. I'd love to hear your ideas.

Who knows maybe you can even scare up a Road Runner Cartoon. Enjoy!

Take care and say "excuse me all the way."
-The Rapidly Aging Baby Boomer

Password Writer's Block

Do you have trouble thinking up varied and meaningless passwords to use when you signup for a new online account on the Internet? I have the same problems at time and don't want to keep using the same ones.

There are lots of password programs out there that will manage your passwords. Generally they are inexpensive or free. Just Google "Free password manager" and you should find loads of them.

A lot of these proudly announce that they are compliant with security standards of the department of defense, etc. This is overkill for most of us. I remember most of my passwords. If I have some I can't remember I keep a copy of my passwords in a spreadsheet for a reference. This isn't the most secure system, but it's good enough. I've been using personal computers since the TRS-80 days in the late 1970s and have never had a problem.

There is however that problem of thinking up a password. When I find myself suffering from password writer's block I turn to a program such as the one at PC Tools

A click of the button and I get a password I can use for a website the next time I need one. For example I just generated a password Q3spa4eg that is pretty random. By adding more digits I can get an even more secure password should I feel the need.

I generate several when I visit the website and store them in my password spreadsheet read to be used when needed. Until then they are just random bits of information occupying a very small part of my hard disk.

I think that's it for today.

Take care and say "excuse me all the way."
-The Rapidly Aging Baby Boomer

Baby Boomer Go Boom!

Baby Boomer Accident. I am currently suffering from a Baby Boomer accident. I fell and broke my wrist on the twenty-fifth. Since then I've done a little work on my blogs, but it's been sitting at home. Reading is difficult both because of holding the book and the oxycodone pills I'm taking for pain. I'll have lots of time to get used to it: eight weeks with the pictured external scaffold, followed by physical therapy etc. I'm classifying this as a Baby Boomer accident because I fell down and went "boom." Is that an old Bugs Bunny bit? I was walking my dog and step out smartly into an intersection. Unfortunately Sam decided to stop and I tumbled over him. It's the kind of fall I wouldn't have noticed twenty years ago, but I'm out of commission for a while. Sam, however, is fine, fortunately. For the non-squeamish, here is a picture of my left lower arm.

Baby Boomer Good Samaritan. I want to offer my thanks to an unknown baby boomer named Mary who helped me home after I fell. What a treat that a stranger would take time to help someone she didn't know. I'm proud to add that although I was feeling shocky and nearly fainted I noticed she was attractive, both as a person and physically as a woman. I'm happy to learn my male testosterone-driven beast isn't dead, though it rarely does more than whimper.

A New Page to Gonzo Journalism? I hope me posts will be more frequent now. Either the pain is lessening or I'm getting used to writing under the influence of drugs. I wonder if this is how Hunter S. Thompson felt when he wrote. Could this be the start of a new journalistic trend: Gray Gonzo journalism?

Take care and say "excuse me all the way."
-The Rapidly Aging Baby Boomer

The Generation Gap (TGG)

I've decided to dispense with the popular labels for generations after the Boomers. Frankly, I can't remember what letter represents what generation. I know there's a Generation X and Y, and I think there's a C generation, but that's all I remember. I think a better tag for this generation is, well, TAG. The Acronym Generation.

These generations have the common trait of using acronyms and abbreviations for communications to the point where they are able to make incomprehensible statements faster than we Boomers ever dreamed of doing. The current fruition of this phenomenon is text messaging. Messaging allows TAG-ers to send cryptic messages to friends with both great speed. Judging by the cost, these messages must be pure gold since text messaging can result in spending hundreds of dollars per TAG-er every month.

I started on this rant during my recent vacation when I was trying to order a beer and was asked by a waiter if I'd like an IPA and then looked at me expectantly.

Since I was on vacation my wits weren't as sharp as they are on occasion and at first I thought he asked me to take part in an Initial Public Offering (IPO) of some stock. Since I was on vacation I wasn't interested in financial matters. I felt confused and wondered why an investment adviser was still working as a waiter. I mean, the Dot Com Crisis (DCC) was several years back. Surely all the Dot Com Millionaires (DCM) have recovered by now.

One I figured out that IPA could not be a three-letter acronym (TLA) for Initial Public Offering it was smooth sailing. I responded to the waiter's question with a clever, yet sincere, "What?"

"Would you like an IPA?" he responded quickly, hardly leaving room for me to type spaces betweens the words in his sentence. "WldulknIPA?"

This time I was ready for him and challenged him. "What's an IPA?"

"Indian Pale Ale."

Since I was looking for a darker beer or ale I nodded and all was copasetic. That's when I started noticing the lack of communication that occurs when TAG-ers talk.

The immediate cause of this article came about when I was trying to figure out what PNC in PNC Park, the home of Major League Baseball's Pittsburgh Pirates, stood for. It took me two Google searches to find an answer that made sense. It doesn't stand for anything. The company that used to be Pittsburgh National Bank paid for the naming the park, but the company now is Pittsburgh National Corporation and has combined with Provident National Corporation. At least that's what Tom Zemencik wrote in 2001. Even if he's wrong it makes sense to me so I'll pretend he's right.

HAND (Have a nice day).

Take care and say "excuse me all the way."
-The Rapidly Aging Baby Boomer

Baby Boomer Pets

We just got home from our trip to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, Oregon. The first thing we did was pick up our dogs from the Plush Pooch here in Bellingham. The dogs were happy to see us, but they always have a good time there. We've been using them for nearly twenty years and have never regretted it.

Talk about Boomers spoiling their pets, as we were leaving, a van pulled in from the local doggy day care center to pick up one of the dogs. It appears the dog spends every Friday at the doggy day care. Just because his owner was out of town, that was no reason for him to miss his play date at the doggy day care. So he was picked up for the day and would come back that evening to eat and to rest from his busy day. Too cute for words!

Happy to announce the launch of a new blog: A Baby Boomer Cooks W/O Gas. During one of my middle life crises, I went to cooking school and cooked professionally until my knees wore out. I'm still interested in food of course. I still love cooking, but now I usually do so for only family and friends.

The title is a pun, of course. Professional kitchens here in the Northwest almost always use gas because it gets hot faster. The exceptions are kitchens in high-rise building that have codes preventing gas at levels above ten stories. Anyway, that combined with the Baby Boomer need to avoid gastric irritation and gas led to the title. You might wonder why my first recipe features Chicago Dogs that include Sport Peppers. It's a fair (or, since I'm dealing with puns, a fare) question. The answer is simple. Because they taste so good.

Take care and say "excuse me all the way."
-The Rapidly Aging Baby Boomer

How to Tell If You Are a Baby Boomer

Saturday, June 16, 2007

You know you're a baby boomer if:

• You rarely see your knees, but feel them all of the time.
• "Fiber" refers to your diet, not to your computer network connection.
• When you look down at your breakfast and see both a bowl of oatmeal and a bran muffin.
• Many of your sentences start with the words "I remember."
• You see a pretty young woman and wonder what her mother or grandmother looks like.
• You forget what you are looking for twice when you are buy Ginkgo Biloba to improve your memory.

Enjoy your weekend. Happy Father's Day!

Take care and say "excuse me all the way."
-The Rapidly Aging Baby Boomer

The Best Peanut Butter Cookie Bars Ever

On our recent annual trip to Ashland, Oregon to see the Shakespeare plays and relax for a week, my wife and I were fortunate to meet Art Watkins and his lovely, but slightly kooky wife, Sherry. Art is the Sales Manager at the Food Mill, a popular health food store in Oakland. Art gave us a bag of the peanut butter cookie bars the Food Mill makes and sells at the Oakland store on MacArthur Blvd.

To tell you how good they are, my wife and her mother ate them throughout the outdore performance of Shakespeare's "The Taming of the Shrew" (look for the review I'll be posting in the next few days). As the play drew to a close I looked over at my wife and saw that they had eaten the entire package except for a tiny scrape of the last cookie in the bottom of the nearly empty package. My wife looked guilty and offered if to me. I tasted it, I realized it was probably the best peanut butter cookie I had ever tasted. It's made with healthy ingredients without preservatives and other pesky chemical additives.

I strongly recommend that you buy some of these. If you're interested click on the link below. While you're at it, check out the Food Mill's other products on Amazon.com.

Don't forget to visit the Food Mill website. There's loads of good information that will help you live a healthier and more satisfying life. While you're there take a look at their free monthly newsletter and sign up to have it delivered automatically to your email box


Take care and say "excuse me all the way."
-The Rapidly Aging Baby Boomer

Passion for Shakespeare Continued

I forgot to mention in my last post about my passion for Shakespeare and Shakespeare plays that you should take a look at the address for this blog. I had hoped to get a vanity plate once just for when I visit the Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, OR. But all the convenient abbreviations were taken. If you have trouble figuring it out, think Hamlet.

A curiosity, Amazon lists more than 27,000 items about Shakespeare just in the book department.

I really would like to watch some Shakespeare if you get a chance. It's not the snooty, toffee nosed experience the Victorians tried to make it. Shakespeare is funny, exciting (how often do you get a battle scene in a theatre complete with sword fights and cannons) and full of bawdy adult jokes. Try some of these books to see what you've been missing.

Take care and say "excuse me all the way."
The rapidly aging baby boomer.

More Shakespeare Resources

I'm always excited when I find a new Shakespeare Resource because theatre is one of the passions of my life and I particularly like Shakespeare.

This site has lots of information and some different sorts of information. Instead of just a synopsis of the plays, there's a fair bit of information about some of the sources WS used.

Visit the Virtual Study Hall and learn about King Lear

Just in case you're as big a Shakespeare Geek as I am here are some Shakespeare Action Figures that you might like.

Voyage to the moon.

If you're like me, you grew up in the 1960s when astronauts were the dream job of every kid. I remember watching the John Glenn launch before I went to second grade and then spending the day showing the other students the route his orbit followed.

In Flagstastaff, where I grew up, Pluto the planet was discovered, the current astronomers opinion be damned.

Anyway the newest astronaut toy I've seen is from Google. Make sure you zoom all the way in.

http://moon.google.com/

Take care and say "excuse me all the way."The rapidly aging baby boomer.