I get nervous when I have to pack for vacation. Underwear and socks are my bugaboo. I never know if I'll have enough so naturally I overpack. Makes it tight for everthing else.
Shoes are another distraction. I'll be wearing one pair, of course, and I try to limit myself to one other pair because they're awkward and heavy to pack. But choosing the second pair is sometimes difficult. It's bedtime now and we're leaving very early in the morning and I still haven't decided which pair to take.
Chances are I will before the car service picks us up for the ride to the airport. So I'm muddling.
We check one bag each and I pack both. "Do you really need that?" is enough to start a confrontation. I try not to say it too often.
It's OK for me to ask if I really need something I'm reluctant to pack. The answer usually is: "take it." So I find room somewhere somehow for the questionable item.
The leftovers go into our backpacks. Can't travel without one each for dopp kit, books, snacks, camera and other assorted items you like to have close at hand.
Did I say we're going to Florida for a family event (and some golf on the side)?
See you in a week.
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Monday, February 28, 2011
Don't Box Me In
It seems to me that ever since demographers and marketers identified the “Baby Boomers” as a distinctive grouping to be forever lumped together, other age groups also have became targets of opportunity for sales pitches.
Nowadays if you are not between the ages of 18-34 you are undesirable. You are barely tolerated if you are in the 35-55 group. Heaven help you if you are over 55 because although you might have more disposable income that the younger set, advertisers just don't see it that way, with the exception of the geniuses at AARP.
Marketers think they are building brand loyalty from childhood upward. Does it work? Who knows.
Why am I belaboring this point? I am annoyed at the many attempts to stick a demographic label on me. I am 80. So call me 80. I don't like being called a “senior citizen,” although I always take the discounts available to that cohort.
Some other categories I abhor are: “Junior Senior,” “Vital Elder,” or “old old,” a relatively new designation I saw in the paper recently. I may be an “Active Adult,” as used in pitches for retirement compounds, but I find the appellation self-serving and offensive.
I am an 80-year-old man, glad of it, and if you want to reach me just use the number not a category.
Nowadays if you are not between the ages of 18-34 you are undesirable. You are barely tolerated if you are in the 35-55 group. Heaven help you if you are over 55 because although you might have more disposable income that the younger set, advertisers just don't see it that way, with the exception of the geniuses at AARP.
Marketers think they are building brand loyalty from childhood upward. Does it work? Who knows.
Why am I belaboring this point? I am annoyed at the many attempts to stick a demographic label on me. I am 80. So call me 80. I don't like being called a “senior citizen,” although I always take the discounts available to that cohort.
Some other categories I abhor are: “Junior Senior,” “Vital Elder,” or “old old,” a relatively new designation I saw in the paper recently. I may be an “Active Adult,” as used in pitches for retirement compounds, but I find the appellation self-serving and offensive.
I am an 80-year-old man, glad of it, and if you want to reach me just use the number not a category.
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Just Say "Thank You"
Me and the mute button watched the Oscars tonight. It was great. I got to see all the winners and did not have to listen to laundry lists of thank you's, no matter how heartfelt, sincere and/or deserving.
As an added bonus I was able to read the Sunday papers during the silences and the muted commercials as well. I really appreciated the short, sweet thank you's from the winners of the Best Documentary feature, "Inside Job." Too bad the financial crisis they chronicled wasn't as short as their speech.
I thought I noticed that as the hour grew closer to the broadcast's scheduled off time of 11:30 p.m. that the thank you's seemed to get briefer, the exceptions being Natalie Portman's and Colin Firth's for best actress and actor. Both their pictures are on my Netflix list so I'll see them eventually.
My own special Oscar goes to Anne Hathaway for the most wardrobe changes in a single Oscar telecast. So many I lost count.
No matter, I've discovered a way to watch the Oscars that suits me. After all, the show IS about pictures, so that's what I watched, the pictures and the winners and skipped the filler.
As we say in show biz: we're running a little late folks. Thank you and good night.
As an added bonus I was able to read the Sunday papers during the silences and the muted commercials as well. I really appreciated the short, sweet thank you's from the winners of the Best Documentary feature, "Inside Job." Too bad the financial crisis they chronicled wasn't as short as their speech.
I thought I noticed that as the hour grew closer to the broadcast's scheduled off time of 11:30 p.m. that the thank you's seemed to get briefer, the exceptions being Natalie Portman's and Colin Firth's for best actress and actor. Both their pictures are on my Netflix list so I'll see them eventually.
My own special Oscar goes to Anne Hathaway for the most wardrobe changes in a single Oscar telecast. So many I lost count.
No matter, I've discovered a way to watch the Oscars that suits me. After all, the show IS about pictures, so that's what I watched, the pictures and the winners and skipped the filler.
As we say in show biz: we're running a little late folks. Thank you and good night.
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