The Boomer Chronicles

Just minutes ago, the state of California joined my state of Massachusetts in support of same-sex marriage.  I have a number of friends in their 40s and 50s who have been couples for many, many years who may now receive the rights that legally married people have. Here is one of the first stories on the California same-sex ruling.

I was in the post office today buying wildly inflated postage stamps when I spied an important message on a poster. Next week is National Dog Bite Prevention Week. About 4.7 million dog bites and 800,000 visits to doctors and emergency rooms occur each year. I guess postal workers get more dog bites than the rest of us. It’s worth protecting postal workers. Why? Well, for instance, last month, postal worker Lisa Harrell caught a baby who fell out of a second-story window on her mail route. The incident occurred when Harrell was delivering a package. Even if you’re not a postal worker, you may want to know how to prevent dog bites.

The week is sponsored by the American Veterinary Medical Association, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Kennel Club and the U.S. Postal Service.

I heard a story many years ago about a very unusual man who resided in the Beacon Hill neighborhood of Boston. Among the stately brick mansions and townhouses, he lived in his little apartment just like someone from the 19th century. He dressed like Edgar Allan Poe, and he had no electricity, no gas, no telephone. I always thought it sounded so romantic. I was never able to ascertain whether this man really existed, but my guess is that even if he did, he is now long gone.

Today, I heard an intriguing fact: about 2 percent of U.S. households report having no phone. That’s about 6 million people with no landline, no cell phone, no phone whatsoever. I was astounded, because I thought you’d have to be truly eccentric (like my friend above) to be Phoneless. Now, if this statistic is true — and not simply people claiming to have no phone in order to avoid credit card solicitations — I guess that The Phoneless are either:

1. really introverted
2. homeless
3. misanthropic
4. too poor to own a phone
5. mentally challenged
6. migrant workers, or
7. have nothing to say

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) has increased its reserves for anticipated bank failures by 370%. What does this mean? It means we are entering another era in which some U.S. banks are expected to fail. Remember this simple rule:

The FDIC insures deposits up to $100,000 at most banks. Anyone who has $100,000 or less in the account is completely insured. (Some types of retirement accounts, including traditional and Roth IRAs, SEP IRAs and SIMPLE IRAs, are insured up to $250,000.)

So, there you have it. Be sure your bank is registered and insured with the FDIC. Here’s the FDIC’s online list of bank failures.

I hadn’t figured out how to make calls to Information on my cell phone without spending a ton of money, until today. Here it is, in case you didn’t know: use (800) FREE 411, or (800) 373-3411. I have now saved you a lot of money.

If you’re concerned about how you’re going to make your retirement savings last, and you have nothing better to do tomorrow, you can watch a live webcast of a Retirement Security Conference on “Completing the Retirement Equation: Making Savings Last a Lifetime.” It will run from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Go to the AARP site today to register for it.

I was surfing the web aimlessly — as I am wont to do — and I just learned a terrible fact: The synagogue that I grew up in has closed due to “changing demographics.” It’s gone, kaput. I had my bas mitzvah there. I went to Sunday School (ugh) and Hebrew School (ugh, ugh) there. But what it mostly means is that the population of my hometown of South River, New Jersey, has changed dramatically. The Jewish people that were there have now mostly either moved away or are deceased. It feels kind of uncomfortable to see an institution from my past go away forever. Has this happened to you?

Just a few public figures who are turning 50 in May 2008:

Mitch Albom, author of Tuesdays with Morrie

Ron Reagan, son of former president

Annette Bening, actor

Drew Carey, actor

And turning 60:

Brian Eno, musician

Stevie Nicks, singer

Kathleen Sebelius, governor of Kansas

I am on the warpath again. I went over to the Eddie Bauer Outlet in Boston today to see if I could buy a pair of pants. I took a few pairs in my ’size’ (note that ’size’ is in quotation marks) into the dressing room. I tried them on, one after the other. Not one of them fit. I am not surprised, because women’s clothing sizes make zero sense. Men buy clothes that have actual measurements on them. Women’s clothing have absolutely no standards. And the reason for this is to benefit the clothing manufacturers. How? Here’s how, according to a New York Times story:

1. …Retailers and clothing makers thrive off sizing confusion. Consumers who find a brand that fits are likely to stick with it, and a standard sizing system would encourage them to visit other stores.
2. The creation of vanity sizes — intentionally smaller than an objective size, to flatter the buyer — has introduced pure guesswork into shopping. A size 10 from one clothing manufacturer is a size 8 from another and a 12 from still another.
3. Proprietary sizing, however frustrating, is a vital part of a brand’s identity. “A Seven Jeans fit is different from a Gap jeans fit,” said Andrew Jassin, managing director of the Jassin-O’Rourke Group, a fashion consulting firm in New York.

This situation is unacceptable and I’m sick of women being used by clothing manufacturers. Why do we put up with this? A woman named Cricket Lee, 55, is also frustrated by this. She has started a system called FitLogic. Read a recent profile of her in the Wall Street Journal. Join her movement. Go here and sign up. You should also know about an organization called TC2, which is working on the issue by conducting a national sizing survey, among other projects.

You have no choice. You must go to the Bloggingboomers Carnival this morning. Proceed to Contemporary Retirement now.