page contents Google

GOING HOME THE LONG WAY

If going home doesn’t bring the warm and fuzzies, you need to review. Are bad memories of a bad home town a problem? You should check your map for the best way to get there. If current times are any measure, being homeward bound is not getting any easier.

PERMISSION SLIPS YOU DIDN’T KNOW YOU NEEDED

Permission slips help clear the way forward. When you need one, it’s good to have, whether you’re asked to show it or not. In school it was a Hall Pass, the golden ticket out of the classroom. Do adults need a permission slip? And if so, for what?

ELECTED OFFICIALS TAKE OFFICE AFTER ELECTIONS AND VOTE COUNT? HOLD MY BEER

Elected officials come to office by many paths. Some feel strongly about making a difference and run a political campaign as a difference maker. Others fill a seat by appointment. And still others cheat and steal their way in then whine and accuse if they lose. However they get there, the job isn’t done after […]

2021 REVIEW: MOST READ POSTS ON BOOMERPDX

The 2021 review shows 14,941 readers visited here for 19,549 ‘views.’ It’s the second highest number of visitors after a decade of writing on BoomerPDX. While big-time bloggers see these numbers as a good afternoon of traffic instead of a year, I’m still tickled to reach anyone anywhere. The only disappointment in the 2021 review […]

SPORTS LITERACY FOR BOOMERS: KNOW WHEN ENOUGH IS ENOUGH

Sports literacy runs through all sports, not just your favorite team, or my favorite team, though that would make things so much easier. It’s more than the Yankees, the Cowboys, or the Celtics; more than the Mariners, Seahawks, and your Portland Trail Blazers. On Friday nights it’s more than the high school football playoffs, more […]

OVER CONSUMPTION? LET’S BLAME BABY BOOMERS

Over consumption didn’t start January 1, 1946, the dawning of the baby boom generation following WWII. Though not everyone agrees. Let’s call them short sighted for now. Instead, they see a world dominated by big houses and expensive cars. Too big? Too expensive? Not everyone agrees. Where did it start? With my dad, your dad, […]

GOOD MEDICINE FOR HARD TIMES

Good medicine comes in many flavors. When it works the way it’s supposed to, the struggle to deliver is worthwhile. However, the struggle to deliver is never ends. Everyone has feelings about good medicine, starting with, “Is it good enough?”

LIFE SWITCH: IT’S EITHER ON OR OFF, NO ‘OTHER’

A life switch is not a light switch. We know what a light switch is, the thing on a wall connected to a light bulb. One moment it’s dark in the room, then it’s not. That’s the light switch. Light to dark, or dark to light. A Life Switch doesn’t work the same way.

WHY DETAILS MATTER FOR CITY AND SCIENCE

Details matter as much to nature boy as they do city boy, but they’ll still fight you about it. Let’s leave it to plant biologists to break it down, to explain the details of plant life, because isn’t that how we envision nature? Plants? Then listen to an urban planner share the details of city […]

BAY MAN ON COOS BAY, THE WATER AROUND NORTH BEND

Who’s a bay man? I’m a bay man, and here’s why: Born on San Francisco Bay. Raised on Coos Bay. Married a woman named Bayes. Three for three settles it for bay man. I can smell bay from here by just looking at the top pic, and it’s comforting.