Retirement for baby boomers

One of the things most of us over fifty think about, even more than sex, is retirement. Retirement is the future for most of us (the alternative is an early death) and it will be different for us than it was for the greatest generation. No, sadly, just like most baby boomers had a harder time of it (once you discount fighting in World War 2 and the depression) than our parents, retirement will be different for us than for Mama and Papa. Once back in civvies, the greatest generation bought homes in the suburbs and big sedans while gas and home prices were still cheap. They had cute if challenging children. When they retired, comfortably in their early sixties, they could travel, move to Florida, go to nice restaurants, stay in nice hotels, and visit the family cross - country.

For the the baby boomers, retirement will be a different story. Homes will not have gone up in value as was true in a pleasanter time. Energy costs will be more. There will be more demand for government services for the new seniors. And most baby boomers will have a rather small retirement allocation. This will cause some problems, especially for the grasshoppers amongst us, but may present some advantages to the ants.

If you need a job, things will be tough. Just like baby boomers had to compete with all the other baby boomers for jobs when they graduated college, so competition will be fierce for part time retirement jobs. Our children will not be in a position to help us. This is America, not Asia. Health costs will go up. At age 65, most of us will discover that we are diabetics.

The good news is that for the ants who may have a few dollars, life won't be so bad. At a 20% unemployment rate, there will be lots of maids and helpers as they get older. Restaurants and hotels will be cheap, since most people will be too poor to afford them.

One thing you can be assured off, all the baby boomers will hang out with Face book friends and talk about the good olde days. Or have omelets on senior days at the diner.

Top: Retirement housing for baby boomers

The big earthquake of 2011

In 1983 I was on vacation in Aguascalientes, Mexico. I was sitting in my hotel room listening to the radio (there was no tv or aerocondicionado). Suddenly I heard this rumbling sound and the ceiling fan started swinging and the bed started shaking. Then everything stopped. It was my first earthquake.

For years I've told my earthquake story and impressed people since most people who live east of the Mississippi have never experienced such a thing.

On earthquake day of 2011 it was my lunch hour and I was walking, possibly crossing the "Trenton makes bridge", and felt nothing. Later I heard everyone tell their earthquake stories. Sounds like it was exciting. But I missed the whole thing. And no-one will be interested in my Mexican earthquake story anymore. Such is life.

Editor's note: The old college try blog implied that Qaddafi would remain entrenched in Libya. Well I was wrong. Score one for perseverance.

We can always be guests on talk shows

In high school, on the last day of English class, the teacher decided to kill time by asking the class what the future would be like. I raised my hand and said that all jobs would be eliminated and all workers would be replaced by machines. I (quite the high school wit) added that the only job that would still exist would be that of being a contestant on a game show.

In the future as the class saw it, life would not be so bad, though. There would still be a few things for people to do. Work hours could be drastically reduced, though, and we would all make plenty of money, thanks to the advances of automation and government spending.

So far only the elimination of jobs has happened. The rest has turned out to be as likely as the cigarette trees sung about in the big rock candy mountain.

Philadelphia Folk Festival

Going to musical festivals and sleeping in a tent was one of the rites of passage (along with the trip to California and the youth hostels) of being young in the 70's. Heeding this life requirement I went to the Philadelphia Folk Festival in the summer of 1971. Muddy from the recent rain, there were a number of great performances by Janis Ian, Doug Kershaw, and Doc Watson. Oscar Brand sang bawdy songs, and lots of other amateur and professional musicians played. The Hare Krishna people chanted and sold spiritual food. Our group made hot dogs, then used the water to make corn. What a swell weekend.

Today I went to a sneak preview of the festival/cum street fair in Philadelphia. No spiritual food but some nice tamales with corn husks and Vietnamese food, etc. was eaten by yours truly. If it wasn't so hot it would have been a fine day. The full 50th anniversary of the Philadelphia Folk Festival is coming up too. Today, unfortunately, nobody thinks they can save the world with a guitar.

Aunt Agnes on Murdoch

Aunt Agnes called me this morning. She was very upset. "Everybody knows the only place where you hear the real story on this country is on Fox. Why all this foldorol about that British business has nothing to do with what's going on over here. Just that liberal media gloating over the troubles of an honest man and and honest folks at Fox."

Two new blogs

Two new blogs, one on Balcony Tomatoes and one on the librarian blog. Idle hands are the devil's workshop

Testing the tubes

Recently read an article that made me nostalgic for the good olde days. Remember when a radio stopped working and you would pull the back off and take the tubes out? Then you would bring the tubes to an electronics store or even Modell's and test the tubes in a device like that seen in the picture. More often than not, you'd find out you had a bad tube. You'd buy a replacement and you'd be on your way. You had to be careful putting the tubes back in the right slots, though, or the radio might explode.