Baby Boomer blogger Archives • Page 14 of 28 • BOOMERPDX

page contents Google

BE DIFFERENT, BUT HOW DIFFERENT

December 24, 2025 by David Gillaspie

Be different, be better, be something. Just not the old coot where every day is the ol’ same ol’. It’s not the same, day after day, and neither are you no matter how you try. Why not be stable and dependable? That’s different enough.

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: agreeable, baby boomer, Baby Boomer blogger, be dependable, be different, be stable, behavior, blog, blogger, boomer blogger, boomerpdx, different, Divorce, drifter, family, fitness, gut, gut feeling, history, leeway, loyalty, normal, normal behavior, silver anniversary, unconcerned, wife, writer, writers, writing

COLLEGE DIPLOMA, JUST ANOTHER PIECE OF PAPER?

December 19, 2025 by David Gillaspie

Every time I open the sleeve and look at my college diploma it takes me back to another time. What time is that? The mid-70’s? Nooooo. Early 80’s? Noooo. But I started freshman year in 1973.

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: academics, advanced degree, AI, America, American, american nobility, appointed officials, baby boomer, Baby Boomer blogger, Baby Boomers, bachelor's, blog, blogger, boomer blogger, boomerpdx, college, college diploma, education, equality, facebook, fraternity, history, landed gentry, learning, liberty, magna carta, master's, nobility, pfc gillaspie, PhD, public policy, U.S. Constitution, writer, writers, writing, youtube

UNCHECKED SPEECH, GUARDED WORDS

December 18, 2025 by David Gillaspie

If you’ve heard unchecked speech, then you know guarded words when someone says them. One might be a raving crack-head angling for another piece of the rock. The other might be a priest in a confessional. Each has their place, sometimes more than one place. There’s only one problem: If they switch back and forth […]

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: America, art museum, Baby Boomer blogger, Baby Boomers, blog, blog post, blogger, boomerpdx, booze, despair, drinking, drunk, education, family, family tree, guarded words, history, history museum, homeless, I love you, learning, Love, married, MOVING ON, old guy, old man, Oregon, speech, story, street people, unchecked speech, weight of loss, writer, writers, writing

NORMAL HUMAN NEEDS. NORMAL?

December 16, 2025 by David Gillaspie

Normal human needs seem pretty obvious? They aren’t much different than the other animals in the jungle. Air to breath. Clean water, shelter, clothing. The basics.

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: actors, America, baby boomer, Baby Boomer blogger, better country, blog, blogger, boomer blogger, boomerpdx, celebrities, Death, education, finding purpose, guilt trip, historical community, historical garb, historical gathering, human needs, JFK, kids, lbj, life direction, millennials, murder, murderer, normal, normal human needs, Oregon, pioneer women, roles, story, wife, writer, writers, writing

EMPATHY HAPPENS, EVENTUALLY

December 15, 2025 by David Gillaspie

The man in the tap house said, “Empathy happens,” and he reminded me of how important it is to stop in for a beer when the occasion calls. I’ve known him for years, just not the way my wife knows people. She’s knows people like no one I know, so she asks questions that she […]

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: America, Baby Boomer blogger, blog, blogger, boomer blogger, boomerpdx, citizenship, education, empathy, empathy happens, family, good person, history, leadership, learning, Maslow's hierarchy, needs, Oregon Ducks, safety needs, writer, writers, writing

PUBLIC GOOD IS GOOD ENOUGH?

December 11, 2025 by David Gillaspie

The idea of doing something for the ‘public good’ is a high standard in America. Why? Because the public, of which we’re all a part, is so broad. What’s good in one place is not so good in another, but no one talks about the ‘public bad’ as a goal. Or do they?

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: America, baby boomer, Baby Boomer blogger, Baby Boomers, blog, blogger, boomer blogger, boomerpdx, china, Oregon, Portland, PORTLAND BABY BOOMERS, Portland Oregon, pubic good, public, public transportation, writer, writers, writing

FAVORITE WRITERS TO LOVE AND HATE

December 9, 2025 by David Gillaspie

Favorite writers have an audience of you, and you are demanding. You know what you want and don’t want. Most of all, you don’t want to be disappointed, forced to find someone new. You don’t want someone new, and the writer doesn’t want to lose you. How does this workout? With new material.

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: Baby Boomer blogger, Baby Boomers, bigger picture, blog, blogger, book, books, boomer blogger, boomerpdx, death by lightning, destiny of the republic, direct experience, embarrassment, favorite, favorite writers, Fitzgerald, Gilgamesh, guilt, loose ends, make a scene, Mark Twain, new book, new writer, next book, reading list, shame, writer, writers, writing

WHEN ALCOHOL HITS DIFFERENT(LY)

December 8, 2025 by David Gillaspie

Alcohol hits everyone differently. Like any disruptive element, you need to find the boundaries. Saying “Let’s get a beer” to a pal who keeps going until you get a phone call from a thousand miles away should only happen once. They need to set their boundaries. But what about you?

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: alcohol, alcohol hits, baby boomer, Baby Boomer blogger, Baby Boomers, blog, blogger, boomer blogger, boomer boozer, booze, drinking booze, education, expensive gifts, fitness, gin and tonic, learning, life, lime, Love, MARRIAGE, older people, sad, urgent issue, vulnerable, wife, writer, writing, youth

FAMILY TREE BRANCH OF RICHARDSONS

December 7, 2025 by David Gillaspie

As people age up and out they look for meaning in different places. Where some look to DNA, others shake the family tree. That’s what my Grandma did years ago. This is what dropped out:

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: admiral, admiral richardson, Army, baby boomer, Baby Boomer blogger, blogger, boomer blogger, boomerpdx, club life, December 7, education, family tree, following orders, future, general, general richardson, history, illegal orders, learning, Navy, orders, Pearl Harbor, PORTLAND BABY BOOMERS, Texas state historical association, WWII

GREAT WRITING: WHEN WORDS MATTER MORE

December 6, 2025 by David Gillaspie

From Google AI on current sentence construction: Basic Structure: Subject-Verb-Object (SVO) Subject: Who/what the sentence is about (e.g., Matt). Verb: The action or state of being (e.g., eats). Object: Receives the action (e.g., pizza). Example: “Matt eats pizza.”

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: Baby Boomer blogger, books, boomer blogger, boomerpdx, Death, education, family, fitness, GenX, genZ, great writing, history, inspiration, learning, married, matter, millennials, music, North Bend, Oregon, Portland, PORTLAND BABY BOOMERS, Portland Oregon, reading, sentence, sentence structure, story, structure, travel, words, words matter, writer, writers, writing, writing books