Traveling is fun for all of us, especially the planning part. What’s fun for me is visualizing my upcoming trip, doing the research on the destination(s) and researching what to do while away.

But for some people, planning a trip can be a scary endeavor. But now that a lot of us go online when we get the travel bug, there are good, resourceful websites that help. Travelers can find prices, read reviews, and get suggestions before ever committing to spending any money.

If you are open to packing the most adventure into a trip, that will work best for you. Start with fare searches this allows price comparisons of the major airlines with flight departures and arrivals.

If the traveler is looking for the less expensive trip available - you might want to look at Hotwire or Sidestep.

Read more on Associated Content - Five Sites that make it easy

Image: grouptravelmarketing.com.au

A great article by Dr. Steven Nock

And a better way to state the question “What Makes Boomers Think They (We) Are Special?”

One feature of baby boomers and why Dr. Nock thinks we are special is because we grew up in a large population and that’s distinctive enough about my generation, the size. And because there were so many of us, the size impacted how we grew up. It meant we attended schools in huge numbers. I can remember our classes were attended in shifts. Our lunch hours were broken down into three periods because the lunch room could not accommodate all of us at one time.

Whatever we did it was done with lots of us participating. Dr. Nock says “This is one reason baby boomers grew up to be so competitive. If you’re going to play a game of catch, and instead of there being 10 other people your age, there are 200, there are a lot more people you compete against”. This reminds me of the time I graduated from college, I entered the job market, with thousands of college grads. We all had a difficult time locating a job.

Remember Woodstock? Boomers questioned everything.. mostly our disillusionment with the government! Boomers were great about protesting and turmoil. And remember the formative years included a lot of disillusionment with the government.

In the article, Dr. Nock thinks he is the stereotypical boomer. He grew up in a suburb, a neighborhood where, every house but one had kids. All of the experiences that baby boomers had, included a rigid insistence upon conformity. He goes on to say that In the ’50s and even into the ’60s, breaking the rules was really quite unacceptable. So much so that neighbors would discipline children. I can remember vividly having neighbors call my parents and say, “I saw Steve smoking a cigarette.”

Dr. Nock says most baby boomers are egocentric! We fight to get ahead. And if you don’t struggle, you don’t beat out all these other people who are going to struggle. That’s never left his core. He says he is an obsessive worker.

Good job, Dr. Nock… sounds just like me! If you are interested in reading more of Baby boomers click there.

Happy Birthday, Ivy Bean! Twitter thinks Ivy is the oldest person using social media applications. Ivy loves Twitter because its easy and fast to use.

So, what’s your excuse for not Tweeting? I’ve heard them all; “I’m too busy”, “does it really work?”, “why would I do something like that?”, to “what the heck is that?”, and “I have better things to do.” For all of you questioning the validity of Twitter, Ivy Bean thinks thinks it’s a good way of keeping in touch with people.

I agree. I’ve met a lot of really great people; we’ve connected for business purposes, and when my sweet cat died, I got a lot of sympathy and well wishes to soothe my pain. I loved it and that made me feel a bit better.

And for those who find it hard to jump on the Twitter bandwagon, Bean offers this advice: “Keep on at it.”

Last month, she tweeted her sadness that her friend Norma had passed away overnight. Read the full story here on CNN. And here’s a CNN video on Ivy Bean.

But for  those of you who are struggling with the question, to tweet or not to tweet… here’s some reasons why you might want to:

17 Ways You Can Use Twitter: A Guide for Beginners, Marketers and Business Owners

5 Ways to Use Twitter for Good

13 Odd Ways to Use Twitter

50 Ways to Use Twitter

Should You Tweet?

And my all time favorite… Twitter - Emergency Updates in Elder Care!

Image Source: CNN.com

Welcome to the September 8, 2009 edition of boomers and seniors - News you can use.

Gina LaGuardia presents A Caring Workplace: Employee Benefits Related to Caregiving posted at Seniors For Living, saying, “Caring for an elderly relative can impact work productivity and Caring Workplace is a unique benefit that provides employees a referral service and counseling.”

Elisha Knackwood presents Top 50 Healthcare Policy Blogs posted at Nursing Assistant Guides.

Boomer Trends

Debra Joy presents True meaning of happiness, as taught by our grandchildren posted at B celebrated, saying, “M.J. Essenmacher, successful career woman, learns what true happiness is from her grandchildren”

Carebuzz presents Healthy Aging posted at WorkingCaregiver.com Researchers recently identified four healthy lifestyle factors that could go a long way toward reducing your father’s risk of contracting common and deadly diseases.

Senior Housing

Kaye Swain presents Caregiver’s Checklist When Time to Relocate posted at SandwichINK Real Estate Info, saying, “What if one of your loved ones has to head for the hospital unexpectedly and you need to be closer? Or an aging parent not-so-unexpectedly needs to move in but your house is too small? For many, moving will be a necessity. Here’s a helpful checklist for Senior Home Care Givers to help winnow out the inappropriate properties as we go out apartment or house hunting in the area we are preparing to relocate to.”

Patricia Grace presents Adult day care…the best kept secret in eldercare posted at Aging with Grace CareConnection.

Health and Wellness

Gina LaGuardia presents Exercise Improves Spatial Memory in Seniors posted at Seniors For Living, saying, “Can the right exercise program help seniors improve their spatial memory, allowing them thier independence for longer? The answer is encouraging!”

Viki Kind presents A Timeline Tool For When You Are In The Emergency Room posted at KindEthics.com, saying, “Make sure you are listened to in the Emergency Room. By Viki Kind at KindEthics.com.”

Kaye Swain presents Seniors Staying Busy Having Fun posted at SandwichINK.com, saying, “Staying busy is vital for all ages, including senior citizens. Here’s some fun ideas to share with our aging parents, along with a great resource with even more ideas. Bridge anyone?”

Carolyn Friedman presents Top 50 Oncology Blogs posted at Nurse Practitioner Schools.

Heartstrong presents Carotid Artery Stenting Can Prevent Strokes posted at Healthy Hearts with Heartstrong.

Brooklyn White presents 50 Social Sites to Connect With Other Patients Online posted at Nurse Practitioner Schools.

Jimmy Atkinson presents 25 Free Open Courseware Classes About Your Health posted at Medicine. Technology. Web..

Taylor Coburn presents The 7 Areas of Life posted at Motivia, saying, “All areas of our life are interconnected. Shifts in one area can have a profound impact on other areas, like your health.”

Kate Hopkins presents 50 Great Tools to Double Check Your Doctor posted at Online Nursing Classes.

Charles Chua C K presents All About Living with Life: Baby Boomers – The 7 Ingredients of Happiness posted at All About Living with Life.

Yield to Pedestrian presents Grandparents, Grandchildren Tip #4: Spend Your Time posted at Extra (Hour)dinary Parenting.

Senior Care/Caregiving

Dale Carter presents Five Reasons You Should Contact an Ombudsman for Your Aging Parent posted at Transition Aging Parents, saying, “Did you know every state has a long-term care ombudsman? One of their roles is to respond to problems and complaints. But, their main role is to educate the public and assist families when they are contemplating a new living option for their aging parents. Read more about the value they offer.”

Debra Joy presents Celebrating Grandparents posted at B celebrated, saying, “This article is a sweet memory I have of my own grandmother and an announcement of a contest we are having to celebrate grandparents”

Carebuzz presents 6 Ways Caregivers Can Make Mealtime Easier for Seniors posted at Minnesota Care, saying, “In order to help ensure that seniors eat properly at every mealtime, and that it becomes a more pleasant experience, then here are a few tips that caregivers can follow.”

Carebuzz presents Adaptive Clothing: Reducing the Physical Demands of Caregivers posted at Minnesota Care, saying, “As caregivers, one of our most physically challenging jobs is to help a Minnesota senior who is relatively immobile with dressing.”

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of boomers and seniors - news you can use using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Technorati tags: boomers and seniors - news you can use, blog carnival.

Image Source:
transforminglifeafter50.org
villagrandeonsaxon.com
seniorbrigade.com

If we don’t buy LTC insurance, maybe we should consider asking friends and strangers to chip in for us when we run out of finances. Here is a guy who is now 107 and is dependent on other’s generousity! “Donors Keep 107 Year Old Man in home“, featured on GNN.com, initial coverage on The Washington Post.

That’s fabulous.. both! Living to 107 and having other’s pitch in to support him! This guy looks pretty good for 107 too! But living to 107 opens another set of issues like “Curly” here is facing. But I wonder if you can find a LTC policy that would help cover your financial needs to the age of 107? Most policies are written to cover only a number of years… what then? I guess ask for donations!

A campaign to help out Haubner drew more than $56,000 in donations ranging from $2 to $1,200, Carol Ewing, who handles his legal and financial affairs, told The Washington Post. The new funds, added to the $7,300 already raised by Haubner’s supporters, should allow him to stay in the Greenfield assisted living center for at least another two years.
Source: Check out full story on The Washington Post.

Image Source: The Washington Post