Calculations

Is it just me or is everyone more calculating? And I don’t mean in the manipulative or devious sense. I mean that we are all forced to analyze and gauge things in the time of Covid. A trip to the grocery store is no longer a jump in the car and drive off proposition. No, that would be foolhardy. A trip to the grocery store must be planned carefully, in order to evaluate the risk level. Can you go between 8 AM and 9 AM? Those are the hours set aside for those over age 65. Is Tuesday less busy than Wednesday? Will all the fresh produce be out at 9 AM or just the tired stuff from the previous day? It’s a lot to decide/calculate.

If the grocery run seems complicated, try thinking about a road trip. Where? Will it be overnight? Where will you sleep? Where will you eat? What can you do when you get there? Will there be social distancing or will you run into loads of maskholes? The days of deciding on the spur of the moment that you want to go somewhere for a mini-vacation or long weekend are just a memory. We can only hope that some day soon we can ponder that possibility again.

Then there’s sharing food. Let’s say you want to bake a pie or cook up a casserole for someone who is unable to get out much. The risk is low but you still might want to wear a mask and gloves while you prepare the food. When it’s time to deliver it, the mask goes back on and the 6-foot rule is in effect. Reusable and washable containers are advised. Ha! Nothing could be easier.

What I would really like to calculate is how many more days and months this pandemic is going to last. It’s a little bit like the inmate marking the days on the cell wall. The difference is that a prisoner has a defined sentence while we deal with the open-ended term. For now, we can only calculate how much longer we’ll be forced to calculate.

Jay Harrison is a graphic designer and writer whose work can be seen at DesignConcept. His mystery novel, Head Above Water, is available on Amazon and Kindle. You can also visit his author page here.

 

Meals in the Time of Covid

Foodcentric. Is that really a word? Whether it is or isn’t, we are all thinking more about food, and most likely eating more as well. Avid chefs and bakers have been with us forever. They share recipes, post their food porn on Facebook, and are talking about food all the time.

Along comes a pandemic forcing everyone to shelter in place and the next thing I know, everyone is making hand-made pasta, inventing new muffins or perfecting their naan bread. It’s like the food fairy came down and sprinkled magic cooking dust over the entire world. Now everyone you know is talking about what they are cooking and baking.

When restaurants were forced to shut down, it left millions of people jonesing for the sociability and entertainment that was central to going out to eat. If you could no longer meet friends for dinner out, the next best option was to cook at home for loved ones. Early on in the shutdown, you would go to a grocery store and realize that eggs and flour were sold out…shelves were emptied. The baking and cooking had begun and pity the cooks who did not get their supplies in time.

The supply chain recovered and we’re all taking advantage of carry-out food, as a break from our own cooking, but also to try and support hard-hit restaurants that are doing everything they can to hang on. Stuck at home for much of the time, we’re turning to dead tree cookbooks and recipe websites to come up with new ideas for mealtime, and we’re not looking for fruity pancakes or tuna casseroles. No ma’am. We’re going for the hard stuff. Exotic Indian food, empanadas, lobster ravioli, shaksuka, and lemon merengue pie. Seven days a week, 3 meals a day. It’s a lot of pressure. Try not repeating the same meal for a month or more.

I’m not sure where all this is going to end, but it’s safe to say that meals in your house have either gotten a lot more interesting or there’s a huge pile of used take-out containers to go to recycling.

Jay Harrison is a graphic designer and writer whose work can be seen at DesignConcept and at BoomSpeak. He's written a mystery novel, Head Above Water which can be purchased on Amazon here. You can also visit his author page here.

They Are Coming For You

They’re not trying to kill us. It’s not their intention but it may be the result. Many millennials and Gen Z’ers have the attitude that they are invulnerable to Covid-19, so it’s time to party on. It does not occur to them that they could be bringing the infection to their boomer grandmother the next time they drop in for a family dinner.

Were we really any different when we were that young? Of course not. We took risks without thinking about the consequences. We drove too fast. We drank too much alcohol. We took drugs even when we didn’t know what they were or what effects they might have. We had unsafe sex. You would have to admit we were young and dumb.

Maybe then, it’s a little disingenuous for us to complain that younger generations are acting irresponsibly. What really disturbs us is that their complacency could kill us. We were looking forward (and this is going to sound strange) to growing old and dying in bed at, oh, let’s say 93. Give or take a few years. Now we have to contemplate not making it out of our 70s because some whippersnapper (not sure where that term is coming from) has to hang out with his 200 friends at a bar downtown while not wearing a mask.

You could look at this as karma coming back to bite us in the ass. We got away with taking all those risks in our 20’s and 30’s but our destiny may be that we will be brought down too soon by a kid who just wanted to party with friends. It almost makes you want to give up and join the party. I said ALMOST. We need to keep our distance from these party goers, wear the mask at all times, and keep washing our hands. Our fate should remain in our hands as long as we can hold onto it. If your twenty-something grandkid or nephew wants to come by the house, JUST SAY NO.

Jay Harrison is a graphic designer and writer whose work can be seen at DesignConcept and at BoomSpeak. He's written a mystery novel, Head Above Water which can be purchased on Amazon here. You can also visit his author page here.

Hold 'Em

In a recent survey about how millennials and boomers relate to each other in the workplace, it won’t surprise you to learn that there’s just a little bit of friction there.

Millennials make up more of the workforce than any other generation, so it must be just a tad frustrating to have all of us baby boomers in their way. Thirty percent of the millennials surveyed indicated that older workers were holding them back from advancing. A quarter of them went so far as to quit because of a boomer manager or colleague. That’s going full OK, Boomer!

But here’s the flip side to that statistic. Thirty-six percent of boomers said they quit because of a millennial boss or supervisor and more than half say they experienced age discrimination.

Some of the findings are so predictable yet illuminating. We know that the generations have different work styles, but it’s still amusing that almost half the boomers are annoyed by the way millennials are always using their smart phones. Thirty-five percent think millennials are lazy and 41% think millennials act too entitled.

Meanwhile, 52% of millennials think boomers are know-it-alls, 47% think they act too entitled and 34% are annoyed by their egos.

Apparently, it’s not all petty grievances at work. Forty-two percent of millennials thought their boomer colleagues were dependable, 41% said they were punctual, and 26% said they had a good eye for detail. Boomers acknowledged that millennials could be positive (34%) and good problem solvers (32%).

One of the most divergent findings was how each generation viewed their employers. Sixty percent of boomers felt that their employer was loyal to them, while only 40% of millennials believed that to be true.

How loyal? Not that much really. If offered more money, 84% of millennials and 75% of boomers would split in a heartbeat.

Will millennials miss us when we’re gone? Hard to say. That question was not in the survey. I would like to think they will miss our steady and dependable work ethic, but it might just be a case where what they really want to know is “Where the hell is the key to the third floor mens room?”

Jay Harrison is a graphic designer and writer whose work can be seen at DesignConcept and at BoomSpeak. He's written a mystery novel, Head Above Water which can be purchased on Amazon here. You can also visit his author page here.

Mere Mortals

Boomers have gone from tinkering with their bucket list plans to pondering whether or not they will kick the bucket all together.

What a difference a few months make. The camping trip is off. The summer beach booking is in jeopardy. The trip to deliver a loved one’s ashes cannot be taken. You cannot proudly watch the daughter’s graduation. A lot has changed.

Maybe a vaccine next year will get us back on track, and yet, it’s a year lost while many boomers are wondering how many years they have left.

Are boomers better off than younger citizens who depend upon jobs and income to keep a roof over their heads and food in the pantry? Absolutely yes. It’s the reason so many boomers are donating to food banks and urging their representatives to vote yes on legislation to help those thrown out of work.

Still, we can’t help thinking we’re just one missed handwashing or sanitized countertop away from buying the farm. When you’re on the downside of the teeter board, it’s natural to see the lost time as a true loss. It’s also a reminder that mortality is a lot more than some hypothetical event in our future.

And what if some of the futurists are correct that the pandemic, this one or the next one, makes the risk of illness a constant in our lives. Are we ready to live with reduced mobility and socialization as a constant? Should we take our chances and get the virus so we can move on? Is that really possible when some experts are unwilling to predict that those who get the virus will not get it again?

No wonder everyone is experiencing more anxiety. We cannot predict or plan for what’s ahead at exactly the moment in time that we hoped we would be living the good life. It might be time to lower our expectations for how we define the “good life.” Or we could roll the dice and go for it like there’s no tomorrow, because there may not be one. I don’t appreciate Mr. Hobson, but he’s left us his choice.

Jay Harrison is a graphic designer and writer whose work can be seen at DesignConcept and at BoomSpeak. He's written a mystery novel, Head Above Water which can be purchased on Amazon here. You can also visit his author page here.

OK Millennials

Pew Research Center called it. Millennials (23 to 38 year olds) are now officially the largest generation in America.

I don’t need to tell you how relieved I am/we should be. The pressure is truly off us, along with the monkey that’s been on our back for twenty years.

What people forget when they speak of the 800 pound gorilla, is that the gorilla also has feelings. Boomers have been the target and the scapegoat for just about everything that’s gone wrong in this country. We rarely get credit for what we’ve done right. Twenty years of that can leave a few scars.

Now, it’s up to millennials to get everything right. Get us out of the pandemic in one piece, rebuild our economy, fix climate change, end poverty, replace our aging infrastructure, and restore our role as a global leader.

No pressure.

I forgot one thing. Don’t pay any attention to the critics, and there will be critics. They will say you’re selfish, entitled, whiny and many more not nice things. Don’t pay any attention to them. You have so much on your To Do list that you cannot waste time listening to people who only want to criticize an entire generation with useless stereotyping.

How do you ignore all the sniping and carping? It’s not easy, let me tell you. It will come from all sides. From older generations as well as your own children. From the media and from authors of bestselling books. You will soon discover that everyone has an opinion for why your generation is a complete failure and huge disappointment. If you start listening to any of this criticism, or worse, take it to heart, it will drive you nuts. Take it from members of the punching bag generation, the bigger you are, the more they come after you.

Remember this most important fact. You are not the point person for your entire generation. When you hear the criticism, don’t take it personally. They are not talking about you. You’re doing your best to be a good, caring citizen trying to make the world a better place. If they don’t get that, #&@% them.

Jay Harrison is a graphic designer and writer whose work can be seen at DesignConcept and at BoomSpeak. He's written a mystery novel, Head Above Water which can be purchased on Amazon here. You can also visit his author page here.

Reset

You are not going to live forever. We can all agree on that. Yes? Let’s assume you’ve reached the age of 70. A large number of our cohort have arrived there and even exceeded that milestone.

But here’s the big question. What’s your reset? “Reset?” you ask. What’s that?

Your reset is the number you think of when someone asks what age do you feel you are mentally and physically. Sure, there’s 50 is the new 40, 60 is the new 70, but let’s get real. When you wake up in the morning and don’t want to get out of bed, what age do you feel then? When you play tennis for the first time in 2 years, what age do you feel the next day? When you do an out and back 8-mile hike, what age do you feel when you get back to the car? How about when you go to an outdoor concert for some new group and the audience is almost exclusively twenty-somethings (i.e. yours is the only gray hair in sight), what age do you feel then? When you are driving at night and you can’t see the turn you’ve made hundreds of times, what age do you think you are then?

Some baby boomers are just embracing it. They say that they know they are overweight, hard of hearing and eating poorly. What’s the use of trying when you know you’re dying? Harsh yes, but it works for them. Other boomers are fighting it tooth and nail. They exercise, get cosmetic surgery enhancements and act ten years younger than their real age.

Me? I’m just sticking with what I’ve got. Walking and hiking a lot, doing the free weights, trying to eat well and paying more attention to my vitals. As for my reset, I’ve chosen 58. I’m not sure why, but when I wake up in the morning, I know I don’t feel like 40. On the other hand, I’m certain I don’t feel like 60. At this rate, when I turn 80 I will have to change my reset. But I’ll cross that reset when I get to it.

Now I ask you again. What’s your reset?

Jay Harrison is a graphic designer and writer whose work can be seen at DesignConcept and at BoomSpeak. He's written a mystery novel, Head Above Water which can be purchased on Amazon here. You can also visit his author page here.