Archive for the 'Baby Boomer' Category

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Ten Reasons Angie Should be A Mommy Blogger

Published on May 7, 2012 in Baby Boomer. 0 Comments

I used to read a lot of Mommy Bloggers because they can just be so damned entertaining.  But eventually I tired of reading about menstrual cycles and their impact on mankind, how vodka added to any thing makes it better, and why squeezing out kids is the best work of life.

According to a 2009 study by BlogHer, iVillage and Compass Partners, 23 million women read, write or comment on blogs weekly.

Old data, but it was the easiest to find… I would guess the number has dropped because blogging isn’t easy.

But the Mommy Bloggers should welcome one more to the fold.

Here are ten reasons why my neice, Angie, should start a blog.

10. AngiesList.com has already paved the way for another Angie. If she would start a blog and called it AngiesSchlitz or AngiesLiszt, I bet should could easily grab some SEO juice.

9. Angie is as cute as a button even though she is old (way past 30). No doubt she hates that description, but it fits. Lookit this face. Cute, right?

 

8. Angie has worked in Hollywood. She has not only met stars, she has partied with them. Here’s Ben Vereen, who also thinks Angie is as cute as a button.

7. Angie has a hubby, to which she will attach a very clever moniker to keep him semi-anonymous all the while telling the internet why he makes her laugh so hard.

6. Angie has an awesome dog Kirby AKA Dogini, who is world famous having appeared on Animal Planet.

5. This is Miles, Angie’s son. Angie knows her pop culture. This is titled “May the Fourth be with you.”

6. Angie apparently likes her Happy Hour. She called this picture “happy hour on Clermont.”

5. Angie has some fun friends and lives in a fun city in a fun state.

4. She cares about her friends and their bad habits but she will bust them just to make a good joke.

Texting While Driving

3.  She will put Miles into situations that are suitably cringe-worthy for any guy. (Just wait until he’s 13, Angie, he will pay you back!)

2. She can be a hot mama when she puts her mind to it. Here she is completing her first triathalon.

Cute girl in grass skirt

And the number one reason Angie should start a mommy blog…

Because her Uncle Mark said so.

 

Wearing A CPAP Mask Blows. Except When It Doesn’t.

Published on April 26, 2012 in Baby Boomer and Health. 3 Comments Tags: .

Aside from being able to buy clothes at El Cheapo Men’s Wearhouse… brands like:

  • Guest?
  • LaCostly
  • Wankler
  • Levo’s
  • Eddie Bow-wower

…I loved the 4/$10 tee shirts, but HATED the upcharge of $3 a shirt for XXXL. And trying to find 42-44-almost 46 pants in anything but pleated front blah was almost impossible. … I lost a bunch of weight so I could stop paying extra for extra large sizes.

I also lost weight because I thought I could ditch the CPAP.

My friend John was successful. Hate him. He dropped about a hundred and immediately stopped snoring. He refers to the CPAP mask as “the pig nose.”

And he’s right…

I’ve worn a CPAP for a couple decades now. If I don’t, I don’t sleep. Living in the land of frequent power outages, using a CPAP blows, except when it doesn’t – because the power is out!

We have a running joke around here: when the sky is exploding because of a major storm and lightning is bouncing all around us at eye level (love living in the mountains) our power only flickers. And sometimes doesn’t do that.

But give us a nice clear evening with a nice breeze and blammo. No power.  Last night was the longest we have been without power: about two hours. Blinked off at 8 p.m. Nancy fired up her iPhone and played Words With Friends and I powered up her Nook and did a couple crossword puzzles.

Nancy eventually fell asleep, but I knew it was futile for me to try.  I grabbed my pillow and slipped outside and curled up on the porch swing.  I think I snoozed, but it wasn’t long before the power blinked to life and I slipped into my pig nose and drifted off to dreamland.

Hate having the CPAP, but hate the alternative worse.

Ford Pulls a New Coke Move With New Mustang

Published on April 17, 2012 in Baby Boomer and Cars. 0 Comments Tags: .

You remember New Coke, the soft drink that was gonna snag market share away from Pepsi. Instead New Coke hacked off a lot of loyal Coke drinkers and market share plummeted so badly that Coke brought back the old formula.

Ford is gonna pull the same stunt with the iconic Mustang brand.

Nancy’s first car was a 1966 Mustang. Like the one above, six cylinder automatic. She bought it with her own moola.

Girl Car!

Her dad had a fit when the first weekend she went through $30 worth of gas (at 17 cents a gallon.)

Mustangs were wildly popular when it was launched in 1965.

Not good enough says Ford.

Probably at the 50th anniversary of Mustang, 2015, Ford will piss off many loyal Mustang owners in an attempt to be relevant to a younger demographic – who don’t buy cars!

Targeting Baby Boomers with cars has lost it’s luster at Ford, while the rest of the marketing world is hitting the Baby Boomer demographic hard with new products and solutions.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Ford is working on a significant design overhaul for its signature Mustang that will see the next iteration keep the classic shark-nosed grille and round headlights but adopt an overall look closer to that of the new Ford Fusion.

Generation Y – those born between 1980 and 1999 – is the target Ford is aiming for.

“You cannot sustain sales without looking for new buyers. True, you are going to lose sales, but you need to refresh the population of buyers,”

Strategic Vision analyst Alexander Edwards told the Wall Street Journal.

“True you are going to lose sales”

A classic strategic vision if I’ve ever read one. Imagine how THAT meeting went down…

OK guys, you need to redesign a car that has been selling at an acceptable clip for fifty years. Never mind that there are thousands of Mustang Clubs around the world that are so in love with the brand they will buy two or three or more Mustangs. Forget those guys. Let’s focus on the people WHO DON”T BUY CARS.

Edwards says the current average Mustang buyer is 51 years old.

Exactly! The kind of car buyer that may will buy more than one Mustang – or keep updating his Pony every year or so.

Are you ready for a Mustang EV or hybrid, chocked full of accessories that do not improve performance?  iPhones and iPads and social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter?

Driving itself has become a lower priority for younger people with a 2011 study by the University of Michigan finding that just 65 per cent of 18-year-olds had their driver’s license  in 2008, down from 80 per cent in 1983.

Smooth move Ford.

The last rear-wheel drive Ford made in the US is the Mustang. (no more Crown Vics or Lincoln Town Cars.)

Soon the last rear-wheel CAR made in the US will be the Corvette.

Unless GM hires Strategic Vision to kill that brand too.

Why Baby Boomers Rock

Published on April 14, 2012 in Baby Boomer. 0 Comments

What’s the greatest American generation? That’s something that will always be contested, of course. There is our parents’ generation, the ones who fought in World War I and World War II and pinched pennies through the depression, while raising a herd of kids. Not too shabby. On the other hand, you’ve got the Mark Zuckerbergs of Generation Y, kids creating the tech that shapes the way we live today – for better or worse.

Between it all, there’s the baby boomers, children of one generation, parents of the other. And still one of the best American generations, in my opinion.

Boomers Have Seen the Evolution of Modern America

As wonderfully cheesy as it is, I always think of the movie “Forrest Gump” when I think of the boomers. For me, the movie is a fun, if not realistic, journey through post-war America to the America of (almost) today. Forrest was a boomer himself and, like the others of his generation, he saw and participated in many of the movements and events that have spawned modern America.

There were the cultural movements: The sexual revolution, civil rights, women’s rights, and the revamping of the American workplace that came with it. There was the Cold War and the constant threat of nuclear attack. Boomers have also witnessed and experienced the change from a manufacturing-heavy industry back then to the information-based industry of today.   I feel this switch has been especially momentous and far-reaching. You can learn more about mechanical engineering and degree programs here.

They’re Still Changing with the Times

While boomers have “been there, done that” more than most American generations, the amazing thing about them is that they’re still going strong. While our parents dreamed of retiring to someplace sunny and living out their days on a pension, the reality for many boomers is different. I have friends who started new businesses in their 40s and 50s, who have grown knowledgeable about overseas manufacturing and production after earning an online international business degree. Others are turning to world travel or settling down in Costa Rica, Belize, Argentina, and other international locales. The boomers are still on their toes and as unafraid to change as ever, and that’s why this generation rocks.

Sources

Northwestern University “Medill Reports Chicago”  (2012)

Harvard University: Harvard School of Public Health (2004)

It was a Good Day, Then a Bad Day, and Then a Pretty Good Day Today

Published on April 13, 2012 in Baby Boomer, Costa Rica, Holy Shit! Lookit This! and Shopping. 2 Comments

I had a good day that turned into a bad day that ended up a pretty good day.

Got up at the usual 7:50 , ate my corn flakes, wandered around the perimeter until 9:15 when we left for town for some errands.

Nancy needed some lab work done because she is just so HOT.  Her thyroid is on the fritz and the docs are tinkering with her meds. The doctoras have been reducing her dosage the past 30 days.

Stop Uno: Lab for thyroid tests. In and out in five minutes, return in 60 minutes to get results.

Stop Dos: the farmer’s market where we bought Mangoes and baked goods.

Stop Tres: Breakfast at Cafe Cultura. Nancy had the special: Pancakes, scrambled eggs and bacon with iced coffee. I had black coffee and a rest in the hammock because it was mid-morning break time. Nancy surfed the wifi and did some shopping while I did…

Stop Cuatro: Dropped Sofi off at Doctora Sharon’s office so Stephanie could make her beautiful.

Stop Cinco: Back to the lab to get results of the tests.

Stop Seis: Linea Vital to give the results of the tests to the doctora. We chatted about the results which where good: two out of the three tests were in the acceptable range and the third was moving upward quickly into the normal range. The doctora said Nancy should now skip a day of thyroid meds – effectively reducing her dosage even further.

This is where the day turned bad. Nancy was really hot. REALLY hot. The good part is we were in what is our equivalent of the emergency room Linea Vital. The doctora told the paramedic to take Nancy to the exam room and get BP and heart rate. Both were high enough that Doctora MaryAnne wanted to get an EKG.

She did. The EKG was acceptable and after Nancy rested in the air conditioning for a while her BP and pulse rate fell markedly. Doctora MaryAnne reviewed her meds and made some suggestions on what could be done to help Nancy’s body handle the heat better.

Nancy really felt poorly. I felt bad for her. She is good and then whammo, she feels over heated and light headed. Hopefully the meds will do the trick. Sad thing is: it will take 30 days before she knows for sure.

Stop Siete: Picked up beautiful Sofi.

Stop Ocho: Stopped at Antano’s to order some rice with chicken to go for dinner tonight.

Stop Nueve: Lunch at the Mafia Don’s walk up sandwich joint. Marcial, the sausage maker, was there selling sausage and he helped convey to the Don that I wanted a sandwich for Nancy that was mild: “No, picante, No.” He cut off a hunk of the pork roast he had to make sandwiches for Nancy to sample. Perfecto. He then made me a sandwich that was picante out of some of Marcial’s sausage.

Stop Diez: While The Don was making my sandwich and Nancy munched on hers, I ambled up to the pharmacy to get Nancy’s new meds.

Stop Once: We ran out to Frank and Delores’ house to grab some of Marcial’s chicken sausage they picked up and were holding for us for about ten days. Delores showed us her beautiful new hand crafted kitchen cabinets, picked some fresh oranges for us. Nancy said she was feeling 100% better than earlier – a relief.

Stop Dose: Antano’s to pick up our rice and chicken to go.

Stop Trece: Linea Vital to drop off the carbon from the prescription because Doctora MaryAnne forgot to keep it.

OK guys, try that getting all that done in the “old country” before 2:15 p.m. the same day.

After a dip in the pool at Sedolsoder followed by me eating a couple fresh mangoes while surveying my domain with the juice dripping off my elbows, Tom called to see if we wanted to come over for drinks and then out to dinner.

Sure.

Not a bad day. Not a great day either, but… that was my day today.

The End.

 

update: oops, forgot a stop: Sebastian’s nursery to see if they would replace the plants they sold us that died. They said they would, but first they would make a visit to make sure the plants are in the proper place and compatible with the environment – sun/shade, etc.