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TRAVEL PLANNING IN ADVANCE

Travel planning began a year ago, unbeknownst to me.
A couple we know had taken a cruise and were ready for their next adventure.
Turns out these people are more adventurous than most, with a passion for learning new things.
We had connected through yard-bragging one evening at Andina in NW Portland before a Portland Center Stage show at the Gerding Theater in the Armory.
How else do you meet new friends?

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HISTORY HELP FOR CONTINUING EDUCATION

History help comes in handy when you’re about to tap out on life.
Things have been slowing down, enthusiasm gone, you start wondering, ‘is this is all there is.’
What could possible inspire someone feeling a little down?
Drive the country roads outside Oxford, England for an education on how to stoke those fires with history help.

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MAGIC ROUNDABOUT IN SWINDON

Magic roundabout in Swindon?
How about the miracle escape from Bath?
For starters, Bath was flooded with fans coming in for the music festival weekend, which some tourists see as a positive, some a negative.
To balance the scale, more fans came in for the rivalry rugby game.
What could go wrong?

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DEAR MiPERMIT, LOVE LETTER #2 FOR BATH ENGLAND

Dear MiPermit,
Thank you for explaining how to park my car in your car park, and how to pay for it online.
It was a good plan given the time of day.
I wanted to park the car like a normal person, plug a meter, and walk away.
Except it’s not that easy.
Why would I expect it to be that easy?

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DEAREST ENGLAND LOVE LETTER # 1

Dearest England Highway Department,
Congratulations on providing drivers with the most puzzling highways in the world as I know it, which isn’t saying much but maybe just enough.
My neighbor said he was traveling to Scotland; I asked him if he’s renting a car.
“No. I wouldn’t try driving there,” or something.
He’s not renting a car.

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toughen up

HEALTHCARE COSTS, INSURANCE MISTAKES

    Did anyone notice a senate vote on healthcare costs from insurance mistakes? It happens everyday across America. Has it happened to you? On a regular basis throughout my healthcare adventure with HPV16 throat cancer I’ve been billed by mistake. Take yesterday for example.

CDC SAYS OPIOIDS SHOULDN’T BE FIRST CHOICE? THAT HURTS.

Pain relief moves from legal heroin to physical therapy, exercise, and over the counter pills? Who knew? I wrote a post about an author’s reading called BLACK TAR HEROIN, SAM QUINONES, AND DREAMLAND. Sam Quinones showed up in Powell’s City of Books and talked about pill mills supplying zombie customers with their opioid prescriptions; about […]

CANCER SURVIVORS CHECK-IN PRACTICE

  One thing bloggers do is read other blogs. It’s not a competitive thing. For some. I read for information, writing style, writers voice. The usuals. As the writer on a blog with over fifteen hundred posts, I’ve got a handle on the word part. Still working on word organization. Who isn’t. It’s a humbling […]

THE VIEW THROUGH PORTLAND EYES

Life Changes Year By Year With Portland Eyes. They arrive in pairs, young and old, men and women, all showing the gift. Everyone knew the drill inside the macular degeneration clinic in the middle of the Portland. Of each pair of people, one was getting eye treatment. How does it work? “I’ll move from room […]

YOKE BUILDING PULLS A BETTER LIFE, BUT HOW

If you’re called yoked it’s not a joke, and it’s not about woodworking. It’s a compliment. Someone noticed your gains. They think you’re strong. You look strong, feel strong, and it’s because you lift weights. Whether a fitness lifestyle or just trying it out, lifting changes your body. Strong as an ox? Not a bad […]

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boomer years

A BOOMER FAMILY TREE GROWS CLOSE TO TOWN

 BUT NOT TOO CLOSE. When people say it’s best to live close to the land, what do they mean? Call it the rural side of life. The closer the better. It’s a perspective fewer and fewer are blessed with. Country living shows you the cycles of life, the cycle of many lives, like a live […]

PORTLAND MILLENNIAL PATIENCE IMPROVES

They want it all, and they want it now, but Portland millennial patience stays strong. The best of the best? Remember what that looked like, or sounded like? Experience, knowledge, and training used to guide American through it’s darkest nights. Once we had nothing to fear but fear itself. Shine that light. Baby boomers’ moms […]

NPR AMERICAN HISTORY FAILS

Is There A Future For American History? NPR Says Maybe. A history joke: “This is George Washington’s Ax, the one he used to chop down the cherry tree. The head’s been replaced five time, the handle eight, but it represents the same space.” After you stop laughing you’ll see the history problem: the ax isn’t […]

PORTLAND HOLIDAY HURLING SEASON

Somewhere between Thanksgiving and Christmas you’ll find Portland Holiday Hurling Season. (Overheard at Portland Saturday Market.) I love this time of year. That’s right, as corny as it sounds, I love it. Family and friends and toasts and food. What’s not to love. Even the one time I took an early out on an evening’s […]

WHY BATMAN MATTERS MORE TO BOOMERS

Why Ben Affleck Matters More To Batman. Baby boomers met Batman up close and personal. He wasn’t the first super hero, but he seemed the most like us. His powers didn’t come from space, or a science accident, but from his own devices. Bruce Wayne had more than a little Iron Man, though Batman’s birthday […]

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buckle up

The Perfect Baby Boomer Ride

or The Perfect Garage Meditation Take a 1972 Scrambler 350. Find a seat in front of the picture. Turn on a fan. You’re in baby boomer blogger heaven. Of course you could crank it up and take it out, but that mountain road is too good to pass up. “I don’t want a pickle. just […]

MOUNT RAINIER CALLS JOHN MUIR, ME, AND YOU TOO

  “The mountains are calling and I must go,” said John Muir. If go you must, then go prepared. Most important is going with the right people. Or person. It’s not a marriage, but there are some similarities with a good travel partner. Can you take it if they make fun of your driving? Make […]

SILVERTON SEVEN BRIDES BREWERY FESTIVAL

It wasn’t billed as a festival for a Thursday night, but it was this time. A festival of survivability after a heart-thumping force march on the hottest day of the year. Add one of the smokiest days from Canadian fires and it felt like a heavenly Seven Brides Brewery cloud. How wonderful was this? Everyone […]

DEPORTED IN PORTLAND: MEDICAL TOURISM VIA TIGARD AND BEAVERTON

If you need to be tough, but are a secret wussy man, bring the right back up. I brought Jason Witten to get deported in Portland. Not too many tougher than that. Together we deported in Portland; both of us on just this side of crazy celebration, yet calm.

LA FREEWAY OR NYC SUBWAY: WHERE WILD THINGS ROAM

The BoomerPdx Transportation Award Goes To… Ask a New York City native how they get around without a car and they’ll say they know at least three ways to get where they need to go without hailing a cab. 1. Walk. 2. Bus. 3. Subway. When a New Yorker talks about the subway they make […]

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