Category Archives: Miscellaneous

Why don’t people return shopping carts & other random ruminations

Summer’s here, so I’d like to think of this week’s post as the blog version of gazpacho—a cool and refreshing concoction of bits and pieces from my files. Well, at the very least, I hope you find it interesting, perhaps with a little bite: Why don’t people return their shopping carts? I’ve always thought it […]

If advertising were honest

If you’re like me, there’s a whole lotta head-shaking and eye-rolling going on when you see TV and magazine ads nowadays. So many of them are so ridiculous, pandering, ageist, sexist, patronizing and/or [insert your adjective of derision here]—especially some ads targeting us baby boomers—that it makes you wonder where Madison Avenue’s head is (besides […]

More life lessons from inanimate objects

Last year, I wrote a post about how even inanimate objects have something to teach us about life, if we allow ourselves to be open to the lessons. Since then, more everyday items have spoken to me (figuratively, that is—I’m not hallucinating), imparting their wisdom. And since we baby boomers are never too old to […]

A new slew of irritants that trigger age-related a**hat allergy syndrome

Spring is finally in the air here in Maine, which means flowers and grasses are blooming–and there’s a ton of tiny pollen grains floating around and triggering allergy symptoms like sneezing, itchy eyes and runny noses. For those of us with age-related asshat allergy syndrome (AAAS), however, it doesn’t matter what season it is. We’re […]

Blog soup: On public urination & other random musings

It’s funny how things happen. I’d been filing away random tidbits for my next batch of blog soup and, when I hauled them out to write this week’s post, it turns out they all relate to the same thing: The parts of our anatomy found inside our pants. I’m not sure what this says about […]

How to cope with “morning peevishness”

It’s been called getting up on the wrong side of the bed. My grandmother called it feeling ugly (as in waking up in an ugly mood). My default word is pissy. But one of the best descriptors of starting the day cranky and reluctant to emerge from under the covers comes from Norwegian explorer Roald […]

Another batch of blog soup: More random musings

I’ve cooked up another batch of blog soup—creating a concoction out of tidbits from my notes and files to produce what I hope you’ll find to be a tasty read: Excuses for when a simple no won’t do While “no” is a complete sentence and uttering it tends to get easier as we get older, […]

A cat leash law and other stray thoughts

This week’s Boomer Haiku post is the blog equivalent of cleaning out the fridge to make soup. I’m pulling together leftover tidbits from my files—items that weren’t meaty enough to make a complete blog post on their own but, when mixed together, produce something that’s reasonably filling. Please have a taste: Cat leash law Citizen […]

The velocity of penguin poop and other odd scientific studies

Okay, all you climate change doubters and intelligent design believers: I get it. I understand why sometimes it’s hard to take science seriously. Well, not really…I just wanted to reel you in with a little empathy. But the truth is, when you read about some of the crazy stuff that supposedly legitimate scientists spend time […]