Generation Boom

Being a Baby Boomer means, well, 1001 different things. Now there is a book that attempts to document them. It’s called “1001 Things it Means to Be a Boomer Now” by Harry H. Harrison (Thomas Nelson, 2008).

Harrison’s take on our generation is a wide-ranging one. As he says in the introduction, his book is “a picture of what a generation that came to age in the sixties is doing, now that they’re facing their sixties.”

Some of the quips resonated with me. For example, #3: “Being a boomer means you still know the words to the song that opened ‘The Mickey Mouse Club.’”

Or #347: “Being a boomer means you’ll apply for Social Security over the Internet. If you can tear yourself away from YouTube.”

With 1001 to choose from, you’re sure to find something you can relate to. But of course, every single one of us is different, and special….(Read more)

Eat, Sleep, Watch

The Olympics are over and Michael Phelps is not the only one who is relieved. While he is basking in the glory of his unprecedented 8 gold medals, I am celebrating the fact that we no longer have to watch him every night.

Once you’ve seen 27 hours or so of the Olympics, it hits you: these are people who are very good at one thing. They do it day in and day out, to the exclusion of all other pursuits. Michael Phelps describes his life as “eat, sleep, swim.” NBC showed footage of him doing all three. He shared face time with his bulldog, Herman, whose build is as wrong for aquatics as Michael’s is perfect.

My interest in athletic competition runs toward the trivial, if you haven’t noticed. Here are my astute observations about the XXIX Olympiad. Tell Bob Costas I’m available for color commentary.

Best Opening Ceremonies Moment: the undulating,…(Read more)

Fixing Corporate Reputations

We all want to be loved. Even Big Corporations. With the release of the latest Annual Reputation Quotient from Harris Interactive, you can bet there is some hand-wringing in board rooms all over the country.

As a former public relations person who was often called upon to make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear, I am eagerly awaiting the face-saving measures that will follow this ranking of the nation’s top 60 corporations.

Who would you guess is at the bottom? Think war profiteering. That’s right: Haliburton. Whenever I hear the name I have a mental picture of Dick Cheney’s jowls shaking as he tells a big fat lie. I can’t wait to see their new commercials, featuring cute little girls in fields of daisies. With puppies. And butterflies.

The Harris methodology is complicated. The respondents answered questions about their familiarity with the company, their perception of the company’s social responsibility, and…(Read more)

The Hannas Take a Road Trip

Everyone knows the true test of a marriage is how well you get along on vacation. When you leave town, you leave your daily routine as well. For some couples, this spells disaster. Cut loose from their work lives, they find that they have nothing to talk about. Worse yet, they discover they can’t stand each other’s company for more than a couple of hours a day. The ultimate disaster is that they plan too much activity, get tired out, and unpack the same old arguments they should have left at home.

Keeper and I never fight, so I was confident that we would enjoy each other’s company for our long weekend at Lake Tahoe. I wasn’t worried about getting along with Keeper; I was worried about being attacked by bears.

We stayed at a south shore resort/conference center which was just the right balance between rustic and civilized. There were exposed…(Read more)

Do Something Scary

Eleanor Roosevelt once said, “Do something every day that scares you.”

I try to live by that credo. Some days, though, I have to go looking for things that scare me. Last month, I went too far.

I met a friend for lunch in Palo Alto. We went to one of those pretentious places that are overpriced and overloud, but they serve a great crab cake sandwich. I washed it down with three Arnold Palmers (half iced tea, half lemonade-you’ve got to try it).

I was more than sufficiently hydrated, but I failed to heed my mother’s sage advice regarding bladder issues (“Never get into a car with a full one.”) The chic downtown restaurant had an oh-so-trendy unisex bathroom. I’ll use one if I’m desperate, but honestly, boys-did your mothers never teach you to aim? I never go into a bathroom that is for both caballeros and senoritas unless I’m too drunk…(Read more)

Are We Happy Now?

If you’re happy and you know it, clap your hands. Come on, no one’s looking. Break out a smile and clap your hands. Doesn’t that feel good?

Perhaps you’re happy and you DON”T know it. There are a bazillion quizzes online that will tell you how happy you are. Google “happiness quiz” and you will find one on Oprah.com or elsewhere.

I took a few just to verify that I am, indeed, blissful. The quizzes asked me to rate my level of agreement with statements like, “In most ways, my life is close to ideal.” That one was easy – I am the luckiest girl in the world.

One question made me think a little longer. Did I agree with the statement, “If I could live my life over, I would change almost nothing”? Hindsight is a heady thing. I started thinking about how my life would be different if I had…(Read more)

How to Talk to Women

Who talks more, men or women? Silly question, right? With the exception of John Madden, the sports commentator who inspired the invention of the “mute” button, the average man speaks 2,000 words per day, while the average woman verbalizes 7,000 words a day. Some of these are to her cat, but a large number of them are to her husband, who has used up his allotment at the office and answers her with grunts.

Keeper would say that men are just more verbally efficient. I would call them verbally constipated, but that’s just my opinion, based on being in a household of men for the last 33 years. My laconic husband would say that the following conversation between two men is sufficient for greeting purposes:

Fred: “How about them Giants?”

Harry: “Yeah, really.”

According to Keeper, this exchange conveys all the information Fred and Harry need to know about each other’s current state of…(Read more)