Thursday, April 12, 2012

Celebrate

The weekend is almost here so let's celebrate.

First we are going to celebrate some teens:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/07/michigan-teenagers-cody-d_n_1408605.html?icid=maing-grid10%7Chtmlws-main-nb%7Cdl1%7Csec3_lnk1%26pLid%3D150018

Next we are going to celebrate some of the older set:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-alexandre-kalache/how-the-baby-boomers-are-_b_1403431.html?icid=maing-grid10%7Chtmlws-main-nb%7Cdl5%7Csec3_lnk2%26pLid%3D150070

In closing we are going to celebrate squirrels:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/why-we-love-and-hate-squirrels/2012/04/07/gIQAhNAa2S_gallery.html

Comment Away

4 comments:

Pat said...

What brave teenagers! I wish the people they saved were rich and could give them a huge reward.

In general, I have to agree with the doctor. When I retired at 65, I was perfectly capable of continuing to work. At something, but probably not for long in my former profession. At 65, I was really tired of the pressure, the long hours, the constantly changing schedules, and occasionally some big egos. I had been fortunate to not run into age discrimination, but it would surely have become a problem in getting a new show or movie when one was over. Plus my equipment was more or less obsolete, so I'd have had to make a BIG expenditure to stay competitive. In fact, though I thought I'd miss work, I found plenty to do in retirement and so only missed the "fun parts" now and then.

So to implement the doctor's ideas, I think we'd need a whole new paradigm of job re-training and acceptance of older workers. It could be done, and may become necessary as we oldsters continue to out-populate the younger workforce.

Love the squirrel slide show. My daughter and SIL tamed some backyard squirrels a while back and got some good shots of them before they moved on to wherever squirrels move on to. They haven't spent the time to try to tame any of the more recent visitors, but they do leave out nuts for them.

Lady DR said...

Kudos to the two teenage boys and their braver and determination.

I also agree with the doctor's articles. I know so many people still working past 65 or retired and still active in politics, OLLI, volunteering and mentoring at the age of 80. You can't just reach 65 and sit down in your rocking chair - a sure recipe for misery and angst and, perhaps an early death or a life you hate. I think the overall perception of life after 65 needs to change, on both sides of that age, and I also think various groups need to quit trying to pit one against the other.

The squirrel slide show was cute. Goodness knows keeping them out of bird feeders is a challenge, even with a dog or two, but watching them scamper about and watching them tease the Spook from high in the trees can be great, cheap entertainment.

William J. said...

Hi Pat

The teens are braver than I would be and I agree they deserve an award.

While there are some minor points that bother me like you in general I agree with the doctor. I retired before 65 and then the stock market hit me and I went back to work I still think I do as good of work or better than anyone at the firm. I like the idea of trying a new profession. While there still may be pressure the joy of learning and enjoying new things will make that pressure seem nothin compared to the previous job. You were in a profession known for big egos. I always wondered if that bothered you a bit. Now that my non-compete is over I just don't want to, like you, to update things in the profession that I need to update because of both the cost and the time it takes to do it. And do I ever agree with you, there is tons to do even retired! Job retraining would be great!

Wow it would have been fun to watch the tamed squirrels of your kids! I never even thought of leaving nuts out for squirrels.

Bill

William J. said...

Hi DR

The teenage boys are ones that I would be proud to know.

Almost everyone I know is working over 65 and also doing charity work. Just keeping busy I think is the key to staying young. great point about pitting one age group against the other.

I never thought of how hard it would be to keep squirrels out of a bird feeder!

Bill