Saturday, August 30, 2008

Game On!

Well the teams are set and the race to Washington it on. Excitement abounds as folks begin to line up behind the young and energetic black candidate or the older Republican maverick (apologize to James Garner). VP candidates...??? Go figure.

Biden the sometimes fiery multi-term train riding Senator from where, Delaware (what did del ware) against the former Mayor of Wasilla. It is one crazy time.

I did note the the card carrying NRA member, beauty pageant contestant and former Mayor once tried marijuana, but didn't like it, please! Can risque pictures of her be far behind.

So, lets try and engage in a little back and forth in this blog on the election.

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Bad, Bad Blogger

No particular excuses. Well, I started an entry and apparently erased it instead of saving it, but it wasn't particularly memorable anyway.
However, since I've blogged, I've driven to Amherst, Massachusetts and back, been to Boston for the first time, been to Kansas City, seen the Saw Doctors, and seen Bruce Springsteen and the E St. Band.
So, I could claim to have been busy, but the truth of the matter is that I've had plenty of time if I really had something memorable to say, but I cannot seem to find an overriding theme to my summer. I mean this would be bragging if I weren't such a tightwad and such a homebody(do those go together?). I managed to see both of the big oceans, went to San Francisco, Boston, Napa, Amherst, Northampton, and New Haven. I went through or briefly was in Phoenix, Oakland, Cleveland, Springfield, Mass., and Las Vegas and came witin a few miles of Niagara Falls, nixing a stop, for time reasons.
I encouraged a novice gambler, giving her $20 while in the Las Vegas Airport. She got bored of the slot and cashed out over $15, cutting her losses a lot better than her father. We ate breakfast on the patio of the Napa River Inn, watching the river flow.
We managed to meet up with every friend of ours who still is in the San Francisco area, including one we hadn't seen since 1981 when we left.
We rented vehicles for a total of 17 days, has to be a record. Actually, I'm pretty sure we had not rented cars for a total of 17 days before this summer. We spent about a dozen nights in hotels/motels, ranging from the one in Napa, clearly the nicest place I have ever stayed in as an adult, to a Super 8 in Angola, Indiana which had the thinnest towels I have ever seen. Otherwise it was a nice, clean place to sleep in while you're doing nearly 800 miles a day on the road.
The most expensive gas we bought was at a travel plaza on the section of the New York State Thruway, at $4.25, while the cheapest was $3.48 in Lincoln. Actually, we paid something like $4.72 in San Francisco. The $4.25 was the high for the driving trip to Massachusetts.
I have several disjointed comments:
How did people take road trips before GPS?
The two concerts couldn't have been more different, except they were both profoundly enjoyable, as Jackson Browne says, "11 on a scale to 10".
I am sorely afraid that this version of the E St. Band may never tour again. One of them died during this tour, ending his touring career, and another can barely make it up the steps to the stage. They say new hips are on the horizon for him.

Monday, August 4, 2008

Traveling down that old hippy highway...

Another birthday has made it's way through my life and I am not sure how I feel about it. Every where I look, I am a senior, not a major senior, but more like a freshman senior. Apparently my nearly life long moustache gave me away.

You can't read a newspaper, check out the Internet or go to the store with out some clear reminder of your age. At work its the cashier who gives me the senior discount with asking if I am over 60. At the theatre Sally is always asking for a senior discount, even though those only exist between noon and 2 on the third Wednesday of even numbered months.

The papers, public radio and every other form of public or private communication scream out about the number of seniors who will go bankrupt this year (25%) or the amount of money you need to survive until you die. If you watch that close enough you will realize that no one really knows and they continue to recycle the same discussion with little in the way of new information.

70% of your pre retirement income will do, which works well for some, but the poor guy who is making 20K now is down to 14K and has the same bills. 750,000 was the general consensus around the table at Sean O'Caseys last Friday, but 1M would be better, I have neither.

As a boomer I hope that the trifecta of SS, Define Pension and the 401/403 plans will carrier us safely to our graves. I realize that for some period I will need to have some, hopefully small employment to help keep us in golf money.

We are betting that we will or won't outlive the money, health issues creep in and we read the Irish sports page and see people dying at 50 all the time. I have no bigger fear than some lingering disease like the big "A" or big "C",or that I might not ever get a hole in one.

So, where now to St Peter,ignore the possibilities and live in the moment? Hide in the future and expect the worse? Beats me, I think I will continue to listen to the pundits as they discuss what I will need to live until I die.