From Paperboy to Boomer

How did you make it happen? I created a release date and arranged the release signing event. Ahead of that self-imposed deadline, I sent out my own press releases and scheduled my book signings, radio interviews, and TV interview during the first week of the book release. All of this activity got the book noticed by the media and eventually lead to the conversation with Wayne Dementi.

The month before my self-published book release, my computer crashed. I already had the books printed, but most of my marketing material and contact info was on there.

I plan to call it 52 Cents! Taking an Idea from the Garage to the Retail Shelves. I would also want to write a faith-based book one day. In a word, create! We were all created to make something unique. If you enjoy writing and you have a passion about a subject, you can create a finished book from your ideas with determination and persistence. Figure out your step-by-step process and a schedule that works best around your individual lifestyle. You may want to think of creating a book as a part-time job. Just be sure to set realistic timeline goals.

When did you discover you were a writer? When did you begin writing and what or who influenced you? What do you like to read? What tricks and techniques help you to be both creative and productive?

From Paperboy to Boomer (Paperback)

What is the worst thing that has happened to you? Search song lyrics for a word or phrase. Search the title and artist of over 4, oldies. Click here for membership details. It is a terribly costly endeavor. But many employers feel that they cannot attract the skilled and experienced workers they need without offering a health care plan. I have a better solution.

When -- when did I ever refuse an accommodation? All of you know me here -- when did I ever refuse? Directly or indirectly, the individual would be paying for a portion of the cost of the surgery he was about to undergo. I imagine that, long before he signed the medical permission slip, he would check into the price he was going to pay, just like he checks the price of the new car before signing on the dotted line. But that will change Within the next decade, Medicare will flip.

That is, more money will go out of the system each year than comes into it. That is not hyperbole; it is reality. Not for any valid reason; only for a political reason. This bill is about power and politics, to our great detriment. It is not about health care. You certainly need major medical insurance, for the obvious reasons mentioned above. But what on earth makes you think that your HMO can provide prescription drugs, x-rays, and Band-Aids more conveniently, more appropriately, more effectively, and less expensively than if you paid for them as your grandparents did?.

In order to have the health care bill score at under a trillion dollars, the law mandates that revenues covering the cost of the bill -- that is, increased taxes and fees -- would go into effect immediately. But the services covered by the bill would not begin for three years. So, the decade covered by the cost estimate includes 10 years of collecting money, but only seven years of providing services. The other guy, with an HMO, makes full use of his health care coverage.

Which approach was more effective? Which was more efficient. What are the implications of each? They are about to take a huge step toward managing our lives to a greater degree than ever before. I do not want, I would not expect, I would not ask for, and I would adamantly refuse to accept any taxpayer handout to pay for a medical procedure which I could not afford. It is a matter of principle to me.

He is burying it under a cloud of gobbdy-gook Because the more people learn about his desire and his plan But I am driving a 19 year-old car with , miles on it. More frequently these days, it has to call in sick. And if my car is sick, then I am sick. Now, I am the only person I know driving a 19 year-old car with , miles on it, but surely I am not the only person whose car gets sick from time to time.

After all, I am no good to the company if my car prevents me from getting to work. Think about it; which has been more annoying to you, dealing with your doctor, or dealing with your car dealer? Well, friends, relief is just a moment away. The outcome has been predetermined: The government will increase premiums even more on those who have insurance through their employers, and penalize further those who pay their own medical bills without insurance or government assistance.

Employers will drop health care coverage. The Next Shoe Nearly everone agrees that that it would be good for the government to ensure that all children have health insurance. And how could anyone disagree? Health insurance is a good thing, especially for children, who cannot provide for themselves. And so it would be The deceit that the proponents have used is disgraceful.

And yet, it worked. For some reason, no mention of the anniversary was made by the White House -- no cake and ice cream, no expensive wine, no low-calorie truffles That does not seem right to me. The voters who were most supportive of the man from hope and change are the ones who will be most crippled by it. That reality not buried deep in the 2, pages of the law. It is right in front of us. They will never benefit from this foolish, selfish, immoral spending binge.

We -- primarily the unions, and the politicians, and the government employees -- have and will benefit.

Boomers Book Blog: Based on the new paperback book "From PAPERBOY to BOOMER" by Rich Babbitt

But we will never have to pay the price. In , the debt was just under a trillion dollars. In , it was about three trillion. A decade ago, it was just under 6 trillion. In the last decade, we have more than doubled the debt. So, at a mere half-trillion dollars more each year, we will still add ten trillion dollars to the debt in the next 20 years. Exactly how is that going to happen? The interest payments do not go away under that scenario.

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No; we have to go further; we have to reduce the debt And that means not just balancing the budget; it means having an annual surplus -- a surplus that we can use to pay off some of that debt. Lunch for forty of the diners cost less than four dollars each. Several diners got a check indicating that they owed nothing for their meal -- absolutely nothing. Instead of paying for their meal, they were paid money because For them, Woody Allen was right: I can do without. I prefer to go where they like and appreciate American tourists, and where they speak English.

That is why I also avoid Miami. And it has nothing to do with the issues facing us in our everyday lives. But that is precisely my point. We avoided the massive crowds and the commercial hangouts. If we have to spend 50 weeks a year fighting rush-hour traffic perhaps we should spend two weeks where there are no crowds, no lines, and no hassles. No, I am not talking about Bali High, Brigadoon, or some other fantasy location. I am taking about the trails and streams and hills and valleys of our state and national parks. Imagine two loaves of bread, stacked end to end.

That is the size of the box in which the tent was packed. This supposedly unfolds into a self-supporting, fully equipped tent six feet by eight feet, and four feet tall at the center. Oh, I could unpack it, but what do you suppose the odds were that I could ever get it back into that box? There is no such thing as having too many batteries. There are few things more stupid-looking than some dork with skinny legs and white knees sitting on a tree stump in front of a campfire with a PC in his lap, playing solitaire. Walking down the road at a campground is an entirely different experience!

Princess and I took a late night walk almost every day. Tents to the right of us, RVs to the left of us; and each one with a story to tell - some much louder than others. One guy that could have been a double for the Bluto character in the Popeye comics camped in a small tent barely big enough for him. Not surprisingly, he was quite a snorer; his trademark sound was like a foghorn in the night. No chance we would get lost with his endless homing signal.

As we walked past his tent, I swear the tent expanded and contracted to the beat of his snoring. But you get the idea. You will not hear of great deals on camping vacations at Expedia or Travelocity. We got up early one morning and hiked out to Laurel Falls. What amazed me was the total silence We were on the trail and at the falls for over 90 minutes.

In the entire time, we saw only about three people. I spent a day at the uber-oppulent home that George Vanderbilt had built in George was the grandson of the shipping and railroad tycoon, Cornelius Vanderbilt. His little abode has 43 bathrooms. No, I did not use any of them. One of my first visits was to the municipal swimming pool, Thornton Park, in Shaker Heights, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland. I spent the better part of many summers there. No, I was not a life guard; I worked in the food service area As I recall, the primary task of the life guards was to examine the feet of everyone who entered the pool area I could do without that, thank you.

As I understand it, you stand at the edge of a platform mounted near the top of a large tree over a deep gorge in the forest. They strap you tightly into the harness, attach one of end of a large, metal clip to the harness, the other to a long, thick metal wire stretched across the entire gorge, and shove you off the edge of the platform. It is a welcome relief after you have blown all your money in Las Vegas. Yep; it attracts over a million visitors every year.

When I Was a Kid COM I will always remember sitting on the front porch of their "flat" with my grandfather on hot summer nights in South St. Louis listening to the cicadas and waiting for the paperboy to push his wooden cart up the street yelling "Morning Globe Paper! Taking nickels to the confectionary on the corner for a bag of penny candy. Drawing hopscotch outlines on the sidewalk that lasted forever. Calling Davey Lee's Pharmacy and ordering two Cokes which the delivery boy would bring on his bike. Knowing, without being told, that each Sunday after Mass our entire family would pile into the car to spend the day at our grandparent's house.

I can still see my grandfather sitting in the kitchen with the lights out in the summer "it made the room cooler" listening to Harry Carey do the play-by-play for the Cardinals games Stan the Man was the favorite! Watching dad set off fireworks in the back yard every July 4th. Trips to the St. Louis Zoo, Highlands amusement park, renting a rowboat for a ride on the lake in Forest Park, and riding the ponies at the "pony stand.

I collected all 15 or 16 that way, devouring each one in a single sitting. Walking over a mile to school alone along a busy highway when I was eight without fear. Learning how to "tease" my hair from the girl across the street. Riding the bus anywhere! Going "downtown" shopping with my mom. We dressed up, complete with hats and gloves. We'd get off the bus in front of Rich's department store. One year I got my very own 15" black and white TV for Christmas. I couldn't believe my parents had spent so much money on me! It was a luxury that not many of my friends had!

When I think of school, I think of having to get in line before going anywhere One of these tickets would get you in to a 25 Looney Tune cartoon marathon followed by a western or science fiction feature. From the time school let out in June until we went back in September, our "uniform" consisted of undershirts, shorts or bathing trunks and shoes were optional, in fact, they were non-existent. We would spend the warm summer days sunning ourselves in the back yard, occasionally running through the stream of the garden hose my mother would aim in our direction to cool us off.

Boomers Book Blog: Based on the new paperback book "From PAPERBOY to BOOMER" by Rich Babbitt

Our nights were usually taken up by playing hide and seek or truth, dare or consequences on the steps in front of our house and on Friday or Saturday nights, going to dollar-a-carload night at the Drive-in and stopping for ice cream on the way home. We didn't go on any fancy, expensive vacations I remember the once a year showing of "The Wizard of Oz" was a special treat.

Mom would make popcorn and we'd pretend we were at the movies. And we watched it all in black and white. I remember watching Ed Sullivan when the Beatles were first on. My dad complaining "I don't like that yeah, yeah, yeah. Everyone still lived in town and families weren't so scattered.

I knew who ALL my first and second cousins were. These days, my kids are amazed at who they are related to! Racing to the Dairy Queen for lunch, even though we only had 35 minutes, Elvis Presley movies every Saturday afternoon, learning to dance in my aunt's apartment with all my friends.

We started in the living room down the hall into the bedroom and back up the hall again! She was so cool! No one else offered to teach us to dance. All those late night talks at my best friend's house. Staying up all night. To this day we are still best friends and talk for hours on the phone. Our husbands just don't get it!! I remember being taken by my mom with my friends to rock concerts ususally sponsord by the local radio stations, dropping us off and returning to get us hours later Our grandfather, Poppy, would be there along with us since we had never thought of doing it, before, and he was the one who showed us how fun this was.

I still do it to this day! Also, I remember my sister and I always laughing with our Grandma and aunts and Judy and I playing our aunt's record player. Waking up at dawn and watching the sun rise was a thrill for me. The best memories I have of these visits are of Grandma and our aunts, Carol and Elaine, having to tell us bedtime stories every night. They were completely made up and there was hardly ever an ending since we would all be laughing so hard. My grandparents would always buy me a "Storybook" doll on every visit we made to St. Louis, so these were visits I looked forward to.

I also remember visiting my grandparents on my Dad's side, too. Grandma would make the best sugar cookies in the world! Both sets of grandparents had TV sets, which was a real treat, since we were still listening to radio and didn't get a set until Times were simple, then and you felt safe.

I really miss this growing-up time and will always remember it! I remember our Saturdays at the teen club I remember standing at the beginning of the movie for the Pledge I remember saying the Pledge in school I remember going to my bedroom and crying Being in a foreign country though during the 60's was a great experience though Yes the 60s was an experience