Jogging Your Memory

In my mind's eye, I pictured the honey bee diligently cramming each cell to the brim. However, with each successive expedition, the worker packed the cubicle with imperceptibly less nectar than the time before.  Only after years of this repetition did it become obvious that the cubicle was reflecting what was happening day after day before my eyes.

Similarly, I see lapses in my own memory.  Once I was able to remember volumes of information which filled enough test booklets to earn me high grades.  

Now I have trouble remembering names, data, and things to do.  

Dad always said, " Don't try to remember something that you can write down." He might have been content with some senior sites jam-packed with handy checklists.

I play games to jump start my memory.  I may sift through the alphabet to see which letter generates a familiar connection with the forgotten name or face.  

  

Fay has another way of remembering.  She has 2 Roll-a-dexes, one by last name and one for profession or trade.  All her doctors are bunched together.  So are her handymen and service people. 

What games or tools do you use to replenish those partially-filled brain cells? 

I Don't Want to Slight Chocolate

The one thing I have in common with former President Ronald Reagan is that I, too, love jelly beans.

Every time I go to my local supermarket I am faced with a serious decision--do I or don't I attempt to walk down the jelly bean aisle because if I do, then my next dilemma is how much of each flavor do I scoop into my little plastic bag. Should I give in to my fetish, I can't wait to pop those tasty little artificial berries into my mouth. I vigilantly observe the grocery checker to determine where he put my stash.

Let's go back a few steps. There I am facing 25 different containers of jelly beans from bubble gum to pina colada to root beer. I'm overwhelmed with the variety. I'm grateful there aren't any See's Candies close by to distract me further.

Like my predicament with jelly beans I sometimes think I am faced with too many options. Wouldn't life be easier with only a half-dozen choices? Maybe cherry, orange, cinnamon, lemon, grape, and lime?

Now more than ever, complications go hand-in-hand with our choices, especially when you add the computer and internet into the equation.

Enormous amounts of information are out there in Cyberland. Maybe it's just too much for any one of us to handle. When I enter a term into the Google search box, I am bombarded with pages and pages of sites. My simple question retrieves anything and everything remotely related. Wouldn't it be nice if there were someone who could read my mind and unearth my answer without any detours?

Don't despair, 50+ers. Help is just around the corner.

Baby Boomer VS. Telemarketer

The phone rings. Another telemarketer pushing some candidate or issue in this upcoming election.

What has this world come to? Not only are we bombarded with what we “must have,” how we can “switch to,” how we can “help ourselves” or even “earn more,” the telephone has become the instrument of well, shall we say, the whole world?

I personally hesitate to pick up the receiver when I don’t recognize the phone number. Not that I’m a big talker anyway but I have neither the time nor desire to listen to a promotion.

I particularly dislike the taped messages which pause after saying hello so that you think you are speaking to a real person but find out only moments later—after you’ve carried on a two-minute one-way conversation-- that you’ve been duped into one more programmed phone call.

“If you want this, ‘press one,’” they say. “If you want sjdfsjkssfjw?!, ‘press 37.”” By golly, how’s a regular person supposed to pick a chocolate from an assorted See’s candy box, concentrate either on a crossword puzzle or the daily talk show or both, AND listen attentively enough to decide on the correct extension? My days of multi-tasking are gone.

So . . . for those of you who are as impatient as I am, try using the “Get Human” database. Follow the instructions on how to get a human voice at participating companies. And if you are alerted that your phone call may be recorded (by a recorded voice, of course), don’t hesitate to mention how grateful you are to have the unique opportunity to chat with a living, breathing 2-legged member of our species.

For those of you who crave some See’s candies, get your fill at Sees.com!

For those of you who pine for mental stimulation with the ultimate goal of being able to walk and chew gum at the same time, try a puzzle at about.com where you can find crossword puzzles and other games.

For those of you who want to bypass rap, new age, pop, rock, and classic country, try the “Find a Prime Time Station" at AARP Radio Home which is devoted to age-related issues.

And for those of you who simply want a walk on the funny side, visit Funny2.com.

When the Dog Eats Your Slippers...or worse!

1ST SCENARIO - You’re sitting in your recliner on a cold, winter day, watching Gone With the Wind, warmed by the old afghan and the burning embers in the fireplace. You have a craving for a cup of hot chocolate and lower your feet to the floor expecting to slip into your warm, fuzzy slippers. The right foot slips in easily but the left foot finds only the cold floor. You scan the room and notice Sadie with her back to you occupied on her new comfy Costco doggie bed. You stand to view the object of Sadie’s attention.

2ND SCENARIO - You wake up before dawn one morning. You’re dressed in your flannel pjs and sneak out of the house to retrieve your newspaper on the dewy lawn. Little did you know that the neighbor’s German Shepherd had already been there.

3RD SCENARIO - You’re hunting for your slippers, which were last seen under the kitchen table. You find them next to the twin grandkids’ toy box. You notice that Emily and Jacob had securely tucked their dripping sippy cups into each slipper.

THE SOLUTION: You flick on the computer and search for your next pair of slippers: Only Slippers has “Old Friend Step-ins”, 100% Australian sheepskin handcrafted slippers with an adjustable opening, ideal for indoor or outdoor use. Only slippers carries even hard-to-fit sizes.

Another great user-friendly website is Foot Smart, you find slippers, even for sensitive feet, by brand or by style. Check out the socks/hosiery, foot aids, and gifts.

Zappos sorts their footwear by popularity, brand, and price. In addition to being a member of the Better Business Bureau, they offer free shipping both ways, with a 110% price protection, and a 365-day return policy.

Now, get back to your movie. And if you’re anything like me, you wonder how Scarlett O’Hara could ever prefer Ashley Wilkes over Rhett Butler!

Who are "They" Anyway ?

Did you ever wonder about the “They’s” of this world, how they sit in judgment of everything we do, how it’s impossible to please a “they”?

“Well, dear, they’re all getting the new iPhone.”

“That’s what they’re saying.”

“They say you have to do it this way.”

“They say it’s a good movie.”

I, for one, have had it with the “They’s. What are we anyway--a bunch of lemmings following the “they’s” down the trail of ordinaryhood?

Whatever happened to logic, trusting in your own judgment, and chocolate chip cookies?(Everything sounds better with chocolate!)

Use your good old-fashioned common sense as a 50something, and know I'm working on compiling a resource to give boomers and seniors resources in one easy-to-use place (at http://www.50something.info/) —except chocolate chip cookies, of course. :)

Soon "they" will be "we" - WE will all be a part of the 50something.info community!

I welcome any boomer resources and tips - please post your ideas!

50something Book suggestions

After reading The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, I can’t imagine a better story than that. But Mom, the insatiable reader of West LA, the queen of dollar hardbacks, assures me that A Thousand Splendid Suns is EVEN BETTER.

I have little time to read these days. I squeeze in bits and pieces of chapters just before bedtime.

But it wasn’t that long ago when everything fell by the wayside when I got absorbed in a book. I’d stay up all night reading. I’d carry my book everywhere in the event that I’d have to kill time. Honestly, I’d be tempted to read even while I was having a phone conversation (but I won’t say with whom). And meals? Well, they could wait, couldn’t they?

I really like blood and guts mysteries—the Tess Gerritsen type. But I learned not to buy the 2 books-in-one volume because neither story is as good as her usual fine writing.

The Lovely Bones was one of those I-can’t-put-it-down books. How often do you get to see a story through the eyes of a dead person?

The Red Tent: A Novel made the biblical story of Leah, Rachael, and Jacob come alive. Growing up I never put a personality to each of these characters. Now I think of them as real people with real problems.

Hirsi Ali’s Infidel tells without restraint about her traditional Muslim childhood including female mutilation. This is a must-read nowadays.

Waking Up: Climbing Through the Darkness, memoirs by my cousin Terry Wise (names have been changed), should be required reading. You couldn’t begin to fathom what a brilliant wit Terry has (it makes me wish she and I shared the same DNA) by reading the book because the topic, suicide, is so tragic. She effortlessly writes from both sides of the psychologist’s desk, giving the reader both perspectives. And the best part of it is that we get to watch her transform into a brave and compassionate woman as she faces each of her demons.

Danielle Steele books? I stay away from them. Too predictable—woman is deeply, passionately in love with her soulmate. Something awful happens to soulmate, then a painfully lot of agony, and finally woman finds another soulmate. (Come on--can you really have more than one soulmate in a lifetime? I thought there was a moratorium against this. Maybe Danielle knows something I don’t.)

It is obvious that Philippa Gregory researches her subjects well before writing about them. The reader is instantly transported into another century. I’ve enjoyed every book but The Other Boleyn Girl has remained my favorite so far. That King Henry VIII had quite a harem. These days you could be facing the death penalty or worse (divorce) for all that he did under the guise of royalty. History would be so much more appreciated if it were taught in the form of historical fiction.

And finally, you’d have to be comatose if you couldn’t comprehend the hardships pioneer homesteaders endured or the despair rampant in Depression-era households by reading deceased author Barry Broadstreet’s collection of eye-witness stories. Rarely have I found tales so riveting.

Ms. 50-something enters the blogosphere

Hello Boomers and Seniors! This is my first step into the web world and blogosphere and here's my story:

I remember redeeming my Blue Chip stamps for a ping-pong table.

I wish I had the exact recipe for my family's Blum’s coffee crunch cake.

I curled my hair to make it straight.

We took Sunday drives.

I loved strawberry flavor straws.

I went to Ohrbach’s and Woolworth’s.

Then I graduated high school, attended UCLA for a bachelors and graduate degree (and got married somewhere in-between), had a baby, worked as a librarian, operations manager, and office administrator, had another baby, greeted my baby’s baby, and eventually started to develop my own website, http://www.50something.info/.

I am building 50something.info because I couldn't find all the information online that relates to me, my generation (and our wants/needs) in one great place.

When I got frustrated searching the web for resources and information with little luck in finding ONE great resource, my librarian skills kicked in and I started compiling data, LOTS of data for boomers and seniors. I started my 50-something blog to voice my stories, experiences and great boomer/senior tips during and after my website gets built (stay tuned as I blog about all the geek-speak I am learning while I build my website!)

Here's to being a fabulous 50something...and if anyone has a personal recipe for Blum’s coffee crunch cake, I'm all ears (correction - I'm online now...all eyes)