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This message forum is an ongoing discussion about anything and just about everything ... within reason.  One thing our class was good at was having opinions.  Almost 70 years of life experience certainly qualifies us as experts on most everything!   Ask a question ... give an opinion ... share some insights ... it's our web site, it's our forum.  That said, it's probably not a good idea to get into arguments about politics, religion, and the like.  While we're experts on everything, we also have a wide range of values and beliefs. This site belongs to all of us ... the whole range ... and we are not here to isolate, alienate, or subjugate anybody.  Of course insults, humiliation, sophomoric barraggadocio, and demented humor is expected behavior among some of us less mature people.
 

Garry Sellers

“Invasion of the Body Snatchers” (1956) is on PBS tonight here in the Bay Area. I turned it on and instantly became 12-year-old Gary again (back when my mom assured me there was only one “r” in my name)—shaking, wide-eyed, and afraid to blink in case a pod showed up in my bedroom.

But my horror history started earlier. In 1951, "The Day the Earth Stood Still" gave us “Klaatu barada nikto”—and also gave me my first near-death experience from fear. Then "War of the Worlds" (1953) left my fingernail marks permanently embedded in the seats of the old Ritz Theatre. And in 1954, "The Creature from the Black Lagoon" finished the job. That one didn’t just scare me—it delayed puberty by at least six months.

Those four movies are my Mount Rushmore of Childhood Trauma. And that’s why, to this day, I don’t watch scary movies. I hit my lifetime terror limit before junior high. (Actually, I confess to seeing, "You're going to need a bigger boat.")

Jim Cejka

Garry,

Of your 4 Mt Rushmore movies, 3, at least, have had later remakes (not sure about Creature). IF you've seen any of those, how do they compare with the "classics"?

Jim Cejka

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARINES!

Jim Cejka

Oh, the excitement.

Went out and watched a rocket launch last night from Cape Canaveral. Always awesome, always exciting. Really cool following them across the sky, and then wait 5-7 minutes and hear the rumble of the engines. Great thing about living here now is we see a launch almost every week -10 days - from our driveway.

Last night, and something Garry said earlier, made me think back to being a kid on 35th St. Rockets? Most airplanes then still had propellers. Rockets were Buster Crabbe and Flash Gordon reruns on a 12 inch black and white TV, if the parents weren’t watching something else. Rockets were only in movies (and  in NASA’s dreams), and they brought invaders from outer space, e.g., The Day the Earth Stood Still, War of the Worlds, The Thing (From Another World), and anything to do with space was terrifying. Now, like I said, we see them every couple weeks, and instead of Dr. Ming or The Thing, we’re getting good (matter of opinion) things from outer space in amazing research and communications. In fact, if you’re reading this, it’s because of something floating around up there. 

And, 5 more to watch the rest of this month.

How cool is that? 

Terri Levenhagen (Hoornstra)

Thanks for the laughs on the Home Page, Garry. Some very punny careers people chose. Speaking of rocket launches, when I lived in the Bay Area, people were always seeing "UFO"s that turned out to be rocket launches from Vandenberg AFB. The evening news would have to report it to reassure people we weren't being invaded. Our weeklong rains have finally ended, turning the California hills a beautiful green again. I took a lovely photo of it today, and tried unsuccessfully to upload it. But it was lovely.

Jim Cejka

Watched the Macy's Thanksgiving parade with the granddaughters. Anyone else disappointed like I was?

Garry Sellers

Jim Cejka

Garry - Right on in all points. I refuse to believe it’s because you and I can no longer keep those old folks amused. 

My son is having his 2nd Christmas in Bend and he loves it. This is the guy who loves the mountains and was never going to leave Boulder, CO.

I couldn’t wait to watch the Macy’s parade with the granddaughters. They lasted about 15 minutes, got excited about a couple balloons, and then decided the movie on another tv was better. I stuck it through and like I said, was sorely disappointed. Out of all those loud, stop and go talent (?) numbers, I counted only 3 that the songs were recognizable about Christmas. Even Santa was unreal. The sled looked like one of those Tesla “trucks” in red, and Santa was no Edmund Gwenn. And, he got less camera time than those dance numbers. 

Oh well, welcome to “Grumpy Old Men,” in absentia. 

Merry Christmas. 

Terri Levenhagen (Hoornstra)

Okay, Message Forum folks - I want to throw something out for discussion. (BTW, I always enjoy reading the comments, even though I may not comment a lot!) I am on a family plan for my mobile phone service, and today, d-in-law posed the question: "JP (son) is at Target and wants to upgrade your iPhone. Is that okay?" (As in: make a decision NOW). So, I love my Apple SE 2nd Generation, which I bought just a few years ago. It has a friendly Home Button for getting it to do things; it's small and lightweight and fits in all kinds of pockets and purses. And so I am being asked, on a moment's notice, if I want to trade it in for one of the larger, heavier phones with no Home Button. My complaints are these: 1) My friends & family have these, and I can't ever get them to do ANYTHING when they ask me to. take a photo, enter my phone number, etc. 2) After spending a large part of my life in Silicon Valley, I am accustomed to (and annoyed by) these devices contstantly being "aged out" of their usefulness. And yet, I haven't had any problems with the SE, and so far, no apps have told me they could no longer function on my SE.  3) If Apple really wanted me to upgrade to a newer model, why don't they bombard me with daily texts or ads on every platform, like virtually ALL the other merchants I've dealt with and have my phone # and/or e-mail do. How am I supposed to know how much better the newer versions are? Am I supposed to say, "Hmm, I think I'll go look on the Apple website to see what better phones they have to offer?" Who ever does that? Any thoughts?

Nancy Davison (Boerger)

Hi Terri,

Your frustration is shared here. I don't need my phone to do anything but make and receive calls, although I am pretty impressed with the photos it takes and occasionally can get it to GPS me to a destination. Also nice to check email when on the road. But every time I see one of those "scan this" notices, I feel my heels automatically digging in and my jaw clenching. Adding any app is scrupulously avoided. Sadly, I think I'm "aged out". 

Terri Levenhagen (Hoornstra)

Thanks, Nancy. I gave up the free upgrade to a newer (large) phone to the kids. With my luck probably tomorrow the battery will fail on my old phone or some of the apps will stop working. I really do find my phone useful for many things. It does take excellent photos andI'm even using it at the store to pay for things. I don't think I could've survived moving to Los Angeles without the GPS to get me around this very complicated city. I pretty much stay within 5-10 miles of my own little neighborhood of Mount Washington, and the GPS has taught me how to get to my doctor's appointments and shopping places without taking the freeways. 

Nancy Davison (Boerger)

Oh, yes, traffic in a "complicated city". Having lived many years in Chicago suburbs, we got fairly good at that. But, that was then and this is now. Eyesight and reflexes not what they were, so we also avoid cities and freeways. Unfortunately, yesterday we were messing around with a fresh snowfall to get out of Traverse City, which is across the state from us. Happily, we made it home before dark without hitting any deer, and a neighbor had ploughed our driveway so we were able to get in.

Karsten had a total shoulder replacement yesterday to replace damage done by a killer tennis serve. Unfortunately, when you chose to "get away from it all" and live in the woods near the water, you have also gotten away from all the best doctors. Almost every shoulder, hip, or knee replacement in the area has been implanted elsewhere. 

Nurse Ratchett on the way out now to shovel the walk. Settling in for a quiet day and what looks like the "hard winter" that had been predicted. 

Jim Cejka

Ladies - Remember those "Mr. Yuck" stickers that we got to put on pill bottles and such to protect our kids? To me, that's what those little "scan this" stickers are now. Down here, my wife goes into a dentist office and there's a screen to "scan this" to check in. How about just walking up to the desk and saying "I'm here"? We had to get a different car a couple weeks ago. Sign here and here, and scan this - which down loads an app, and the user's manuals onto your phone. 800 pages of manuals, on my phone! Like I'm going to flip through hundreds of pages on the little phone to find out what this or that button does. Moot point though, I have no idea where they ended up amongst all those app things.

Or, it goes the other way. Today, in WalMart, they had boxes of goodies for stocking stuffers. Many of them had no bar codes or pricing info, and they weren't in the checkout clerks reference file. People would walk up with them and they couldn't check them out. No sale.

Nancy, thought of you the other day on your last post. How you handle it up there "up nort." Living in California and parts of the south have removed any ccld tolerance from my old body. I haven't worn shorts yet in Florida, and today I was freezing just walking past the open cheese and lunch meat counters in WalMart. 

Nancy Davison (Boerger)

Yes Jim, you might have been one of those Floridians we've seen all wrapped up in January as if it were cold. If there's little wind and no precipitation, we don't even think of a warm jacket until it's nearly freezing. Add in a little sunshine, and it feels almost balmy until we get into the 20's. Must admit, though, that we're not as hardy as we used to be. 

Ronald Imig

Talking about new tecnology. How about the Apple Watch. Hard to get use to answering phone calls on the watch and talking to my wrist. Gives me messages like you need more activity. Then be carefull your not very steady on your feet. I guess with the activity part going from the couch to the refrigerator isn't going to do it. With alll the interest in the weather just push the button on my watch and it tells me it is 84 outside of my Simi Valley home. Not going to Wisconsin for Christmas. No direct connection from LAX and too many things to. deal with that time of the year. Talking about phones. I use my I phone alot. Usually the battery needs to be charged during the day. Much of the time is on Facebook selling stuff. 

Nancy Davison (Boerger)

And Ron, do you feel as old as I did when I told our grand daughter that when we read Dick Tracy comics and saw them talking to someone on their watches, we thought that was unbelieveable? 

Terri Levenhagen (Hoornstra)

Ron, l When I first wore my Apple Watch, I didn't know you could get phone calls on them. I was walking down the hallway when it started buzzing. I pushed the green button And I couldn't believe it was my sister calling me! I felt like a character out of Get Smart - except he talked into his shoe,  I believe. But the watch is good because it keeps me motivated to get in my steps, especially when my grandson asks me if I closed my rings today.

Jim Cejka

Hey, I got one of those new watches last year. My old one had hands that pointed to the time, my new one actually shows the time in numbers. 

Terri Levenhagen (Hoornstra)

My watch has Minnie Mouse with her hands pointing to the numbers. When you press it she announces the time in her Minnie voice. My grandkids love "touching Minnie". So much that I can use it as a reward!

Jim Cejka

And a Merry Christmas to you all! 

Terri Levenhagen (Hoornstra)

Thanks, Jim! I hope everyone's being warm and cozy Is having a nice relaxing Christmas!

Garry Sellers

Ronald Imig

I purchased a Chevy Equinox EV. It's pretty slick. Seat vibrates if in reverse and anything moving on the side or back. Brake comes on if I get to close. Pretty much the same for the front. I have solar panels on my roof. My electric meter is has three different rates . So when charging 10 pm to 6am at lowest rate. Works out to about 34 cents to 35 miles . So with solar panels can get all electric I need to charge the car. That is like buying the gas pump at gas station then getting all the gas you want for nothing. That is why a electric car makes a lot of sense to me.

Karsten Boerger

Karsten's personal secreatary taking dictation:

Many thanks for wishing me a happy birthday, celebrating my 84th, the oldest in the '62 class. This Christmas could have been a bit better. After 65 years of tennis, I've just had a total shoulder replacement, which makes one chairbound for most of the day. We're always happy to hear from you, and thank you for maintaining this web page. Viele Gruesse, Karsten.

Terri Levenhagen (Hoornstra)

Ron, I also bought an EV - a used Nisssan Leaf -  a few years ago and it's been perfect! Doesn't have all your advanced technology, but it does have a backup camera. With solar panels on the roof of my house, very little cost. It is old, so doesn't have a big range, but it gets me to where I need to go, and I just plug it in when I get home. And - What's a gas station? When I was using my sister's gas-powered car, I almost had forgotten how to use the pump! I will have to replace that Very Expensive Battery soon, but around now, I might have been  looking to get a new car anyway. This one will go on forever! I have to take it in once in awhile to get the brakes checked, and they kindly fill the window washer fluid for me, and take a look at the wiper blades and tire treads. I can see how the auto mechanics might be dreading an increase in EVs! AND Happy belated birthday, Karsten. Best wishes for your shoulder recovery!