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COMMUNICATION SKILLS: MEN TRYING TO HEAR WOMEN

communication skills

Communication skills are complicated to say the least.

If I had one wish, I’d wish men listened to women better than they do.

Though you can never know how you’re interpreted, why not try harder?

What do women want? Let’s start there:

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RETIREMENT REDUCTION: TO TRASH OR NOT TO TRASH

Retirement Reduction

Retirement Reduction is the new code for dumping stuff.

You’ve heard it, I’ve heard it:

“Baby boomers need to downsize and stop hoarding.”

Has anyone figured out what to toss and what to keep?

Discover is here to help, or try to help. It’s as funny as it is helpful.

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TUMOR REPORT: MIKE KELLY GETS THE COOKIE

TUMOR REPORT

A tumor report is what you get if you find a tumor.

Mike Kelly found one the hard way:

I was having trouble finding words, getting them out of my mouth and, to top it all off, I had an episode Sunday night — while we were watching “Call the Midwife” — where I could not get past a single syllable that I just kept sort of stuttering.

In other words, not good.

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MAN JUNK FOR THE HE-MAN

man junk

Man junk is a taboo topic to bring up. Especially broken junk.

Vasectomy? Same thing. It cuts a little too close to home.

HPV neck cancer? Hush your mouth. Or not.

Yesterday I wrote about vasectomy, which some men consider less than manly.

Today, let’s take it a little further.

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WEDDING ANNIVERSARY FOR A BLOGGER

Saving all my sweet words for my wife today.

“Honey, let’s take a picture.”

“I’m smiling.”

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toughen up

MEMORIAL DAY AT THE VA

Memoir: How To Make A Difference On Memorial Day. In the early 80’s a man moved to Portland from New York City. An Oregon man. He moved in with the best girl he’d ever known. Up until then. She was THE ONE, if one ever existed. Up until then. Keep in mind those who think […]

COPING WITH CANCER: EVERYDAY, OR JUST WHEN IT COMES UP

    The first thing I read in a cancer waiting room was Coping With Cancer magazine. Articles and essays defined cancer, breaking down a most unimaginable deal to human understanding.   The snippet for Coping on google says, “Coping with Cancer. A wide variety of professionals share their knowledge and experience in easy-to-read, relevant […]

Self Glossing Portland Writer Gives Cancer Warning

  “Warning? We don’t need no cancer warning,” said everyone who’s never followed directions even once.   With cancer warnings around every corner, every speck of asbestos in the ceiling, breath of air, drink of water, it gets wearing to the point of being normal.   More people with cancer? More young people? More millennials, […]

Macular Degeneration in SE Portland

What To Expect When You Visit Oregon Commission For The Blind. I can’t say how I’d respond to the news, but I hope it would be as well as my mother in law Judy’s reaction when she learned she had macular degeneration. But probably not. This woman is the biggest reader I’ve ever known, the […]

CANCER EDUCATION, PAIN MANAGEMENT, LIQUID OXY

I am a sore throat expert. It’s a benefit of neck cancer education after I graduated from treatment. Of all sore throats in the history of sore throats mine was the worst, said everyone with a sore throat rated above an 8.5.

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boomer years

Baby Boomer Music Died In 1973?

Did it die of natural causes? A new book explains how it happened. It wasn’t the plane crash with Buddy Holly and the Big Bopper in Iowa. Lynyrd Skynyrd members also crashed without killing music. It wasn’t Bob Dylan plugging a Fender Strat in at the Newport Jazz Festival. Bruce Springsteen didn’t kill anything when […]

Life Long Learners Get Life Lesson Whether They Learn Or Not

Life Lessons start early for writers, then they spend years figuring it out enough to make a joke, a poem, a short story, novella, novel. Maybe more, like a groundbreaking memoir. If it’s worth learning, it’s worth writing about to drill it in. Like most children of my generation, baby boomers, I had it made […]

WHO GETS FOOLED AGAIN? WHO? WHO?

Meet the new boss, same as the old boss. Baby boomers grew up with The Man. It wasn’t daddy, but daddy knew The Man. Sometimes daddy was on The Man reserve. Who is The Man? It’s the police Man. We saw him at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago. The Man swung a hard […]

WHERE PORTLAND MEMORIAL DAY REACHES

The guys in the top left set up in front of the wall from their years in the Vietnam War. Marching in the bottom right, guys wear the gear from those same years. “Aren’t they too young to wear the uniform?” one lady asked. “They always are.”

SCORING THE COMPLAIN GAME

The Married’s Complain Game. How Good Is It? For the complain game to work right, you need to score early. BOB The movie starts in five minutes. We’re late. CAROL I wouldn’t be late if you remembered to call. We miss the previews? Oh boo. The movie is The Godfather. You want to see the […]

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buckle up

TURNING PORTLAND INTO A STOP ON THE WAY TO SEATTLE

Turning Portland skyline The First Interstate Tower and Big Pink set a future that didn’t happen. Concerned citizens got a break before turning Portland into mini-Seattle One tall building was enough, or so the thought went, but two is better? Because they’re bookends instead of standing side by side, the space between them look as […]

PORTLAND OF THE SOUTH PT. 2: KNOW WHERE YOU ARE

An ongoing series about Asheville, NC, Portland of the South pt. 2. In Portland, Oregon, going under the Morrison Bridge at midnight for southern food seems like a good idea every time. Yes, it’s dark, there are homeless tents scattered around, but Montage is still Portland. Park and go on in. If it was any […]

MANHATTAN STATES OF MIND ACROSS AMERICA

    Does anyone see a Manhattan sunrise and feel the power of the Big Apple, the urge to go out and take a big bite? Or a Manhattan sunset at the end of another satisfying day sorting chicken and chicken sh!t.   Manhattan promised you could make it anywhere if you could make it […]

PORTLAND/GRESHAM SANTACON RUMBLE

If you’ve got friends who give you a Santa suit as a present, then ask you to go to SantaCon with them, there’s only one answer. Stall. When they ask the next year, stall again. If they ask to ‘borrow’ the Santa coat for someone else, then you have to go. This years real SantaCon […]

DESTINATION PORTLAND

Once you move out, the city becomes a backdrop for Destination Portland. Oregonlive posted the story 9 Legit Reasons To Leave Portland For The Suburbs. Like millions of stories to stay in the Rose City, there’s just as many for leaving. The more questions you ask people about leaving Portland, the more you realize no […]

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