Tales & Trails of a Traveling Wiseguy

Chicago Trip Log #n+1
Back Home for 18 hours

I'm worn out today. I got home from a business trip late last night and I've just been kind of coasting all day. I would've slept in if I could, but I had to start my workday with an 8am meeting. Fortunately today was meeting-light— light being a relative thing meaning only slightly less than half the day tied up in meetings 😨— so I could take it easy.

Mid-afternoon I went out to the pool with Hawk. She'd already been there for at least 45 minutes. I did slow walking laps in the pool for a bit, hoping the exercise would wake me up. It didn't. Though it did help a small bit with stretching sore/tired muscles. Then I sat for a soak in the hot tub. I could've vegged the rest of the afternoon on a lounge chair after that, but I did need to get back to my desk to finish up a few late-day responsibilities. Taking 90 minutes for a pool break wasn't a problem as I'm already at over 55 hours marked for the week.

Now it's Friday evening and... I'm glad I don't have any plans. Hawk and I discussed going out for dinner but then decided to stay in as we both felt we didn't have the energy to dine out. Then I decided to get a take-in pizza as I lost the energy even to cook dinner. For tonight I'll probably just fritter on my computer for a while then get to bed early. Getting older sucks.

My plan this weekend was #PoolLife. After a busy-busy week of work Friday would be a half-day, I'd enjoy the pool mid-afternoon in the heat, then having little else on my calendar this weekend, do more of the same Saturday and Sunday afternoons while the warm weather lasts. Alas by the time I finished work Friday sometime after 3pm I was too tired to bother going to the pool. I just wanted to lie down and take a nap. 😧

I'm-too-tired continued to be a challenge over the weekend. Saturday I ended up not using the pool at all. Sunday I went for an hour because I forced myself to, frustrated that I didn't want to let my grand plan for the weekend go completely unacted upon.



Yes, going out to the pool for a while was nice. It was also tiring. I wound up microwaving some Hot Pockets for dinner Sunday night because I was too tired to go out for dinner and also too tired to actually cook anything. Sunday night I went to bed right before 9pm, once again lying down to sleep while there was still light in the sky.

Now it's Monday morning and it's almost time for work. Where did my weekend go? I feel like I slept/sleep-walked through too much of it. 😞

Oregon Cascades Travelog #20
Bend, OR - Fri, 4 Jul 2025, 10:45pm

We spent a lot of the day taking it easy in Bend today. Really too much of the day. I get it that sometimes the weather doesn't cooperate with outdoors adventure plans, or that we need to take an easy day when we're traveling, or both. The take-an-easy-day thing is a reality we've faced more frequently as we get older. I accept that. But as I gazed at the bright blue sky out the window of our hotel room— a blue sky that the weather forecast continued to insist did not exist, had not existing at all today, and would not exist until tomorrow— I grew frustrated that what started as "Sure, let's take it easy" had turned into frittering. Inertia. Languor.

Hawk was still feeling out of sorts. She made it clear that she was willing to hike but not in a headspace to plan things or make decisions. She knows I know what she likes and is willing and able to do, so she trusted me to do the planning. I reviewed the lists of hikes we'd collected for this trip, checking them against maps for what there was still time in the day to do. As the hour wound toward 3pm we'd already frittered away more than half the day. But surely there was something to do. Indeed, I came up with not one but two possible hiking itineraries. One was desert-y and the other waterfall-y. Knowing Hawk, I figured the one with the waterfalls would be better. And I felt more like seeing waterfalls, too.

We drove northeast from Bend over the crest of the Cascade Mountains to Willamette National Forest. First we visited Gooch Falls, then drove south to another trailhead for the two-fer of Sahalie Falls and Koosah Falls. Actually the latter was more like a three-fer or even four-fer, as the McKenzie River flowing over these big falls also cascaded over a few smaller falls in between them.

As with the past few days, I'm holding up on detailed blogs with photos to keep more on top of the chronology of the trip. I'll add links here when I'm ready to post those blogs.

You may notice that the driving route for this trip bears a lot of resemblance to our trip of two days ago, when we hiked Downing Creek Falls and Proxy Falls. Indeed we drove right past the turnoff for Downing Creek Falls on our way to Gooch Falls today, and the drive from there to Sahalie and Koosah overlapped part of our drive to Proxy Falls.

"Why didn't we combine these trips together better?" you might wonder. I wondered that, too. And I was frustrated about it. The simple answer is that we didn't plan well enough. We didn't adequately research the location of all the hikes on our various lists. On the other hand, even if we did research them better, there are the issues of time and energy. There aren't enough of either to do all the proximally located hikes in one day. So we made another trip back over the summit and hiked them today.

And you know what? These hikes were awesome. All my frustrations about doing the same drive again two days later melted away, completely disappeared, as I saw the surprisingly big Gooch Falls. And Sahalie and Koosah and all the little falls in between them made today an excellent day— even though we didn't leave the hotel until just after 3pm.

Of course, the morning wasn't wasted. Soaking in the hot tub was nice. And late this evening I went back out to the hot tub for another soak. Oh, and during this soak, at 10pm, there were fireworks— because it's July 4th! I relaxed in the hot water with hotel neighbors I'd just met, watching the fireworks show for 30 minutes.

For a while now I've joking remarked about my "old man pills" and "old man pill sorter". I don't share that sly reference with everyone, though; just those I think are old enough to get it.

What's an "old man pill sorter"? It's one of these:



Okay, it's also an old woman pill sorter, or an old person pill sorter. I mean, it's not gendered. But it is generally age-aligned. You buy one of these (or, worse, multiples) when you have so many pills you can't keep them straight otherwise.

I knew what these were when I was younger. My grandma had one. I didn't expect to need one until I was, like, 70.

I sure didn't need these when I was younger. Through my20s and 30s I didn't gobble a bunch of pills daily. I took a multivitamin, maybe one or two other supplements if I was trying something, and an allergy pill during allergy season. Plus maybe a prescription pill for a week at a time if I was sick with something— which was rare. I could manage all that by just grabbing pills one at a time from their bottles.

But for the last few years now I've become an Older American— which is to say, a Well Medicated American. And it happened well before 70. Now in addition to a few supplements I've long taken, I'm taking a pill of this to keep that level down, then another pill to counteract side effect #1 of that pill, plus yet-another pill to minimize side effect #2, plus... well, you get the picture. ...And in case you don't get the picture, it looks exactly like the one above. 🤣

Last week the program Marketplace on NPR ran a series of stories entitled "The Age of Work". Tuesday night I tuned in during a long car trip and listened to the episode In Tennessee county, an aging population means business opportunity.

"We start today in the middle of a line dancing class," host Kai Ryssdal started, "Because, silly as it might seem, the people in this class are the driving force behind a changing economy."

"You're talking about Boomers," I said back to the radio. "Boomers are the driving force behind a changing economy. And that's not news because Boomers have been the driving force behind pretty much every change in society, politics, and the economy for the past 60 years!!"

Indeed that's the whole gist of not just this episode but the whole series. A social trend is stretching and shifting to accommodate the needs of the Baby Boomer generation. Gosh, where have I heard that before? How about "Everywhere" and "For my entire life."

In this episode the story is about clubs and businesses in small, remote Cumberland County, Tennessee, that are thriving as they serve the needs of a burgeoning retiree population. The program's host and writers picked Cumberland in conjunction with payroll company ADP because ADP's data show it has the highest average age workforce in the US. What's happening today in Cumberland is coming soon to your community, the hosts tell us, like never before in the world has anyone seen things shift to favor the needs of Boomers.

The first business the show spotlights is the one Ryssdal quips about in the opening: a dancing class. It's full of seniors. It's pretty much all seniors. And it's totally crazy how it's so busy... at 9:30am on a Tuesday. Who could possibly want to take a dance lesson at 9:30am on a weekday? the host says in so many words.

"Because they're retired," I said back to the radio. Retirees can take dance lessons at 9:30am on a Tuesday. Especially when they're cheap, like $5 for a full hour if not longer.

"And do you know why it's only retirees there?" I continued. Well, aside from the fact that younger people might be literally barred from attending. Age discrimination is illegal in the US... but only when it discriminates against older people. Telling the young to kick rocks is socially and legally acceptable.

So, aside from having the police called on them and possibly being arrested for disturbing the peace if they make a fuss about wanting to dance, too, why aren't more younger people at this just-$5, 9:30am-on-a-Tuesday dance lesson?

How about, because a) School, and b) Work?

Seriously, how is this considered news. People under 65 are mostly busy with school or work on a Tuesday morning. And of those not in school or paid work, many of the rest are busy with the unpaid work of raising children at home. My mom was a stay-home parent for several years during my childhood, and never once during that period did she have time on a Tuesday morning to join an adult dance lesson at the town's rec center.

Speaking for myself now, as a child-free adult, I would've loved to have an opportunity like inexpensive dance lessons anytime the past 30 years... but again, not on a weekday morning. Dance lessons at 8pm? Sure! But those are rare. And even more rarely just $5.

The cheap classes on everything at the community center are at... drum roll, please... weekday mornings. Nights and weekends the community center is generally closed, locked, and dark. Programs like these have always been offered during the day, because people who teach them and support them by operating the facility only work during the day, making them implicitly only for people who don't have to work during the day. So they've always been implicitly, if not also explicitly, for retirees. And now because Boomers are retirees it's news!

Hawk and I both had birthdays recently. ...Well, recently if you count a month and a half ago for mine; less time since hers. With our birthdays falling close together and right around the winter holidays we decided years ago not to have traditional birthday parties but instead to combine our birthdays into one party and celebrate it once the holi-daze has passed. We started our tradition 11 years ago with our combined 82nd birthday. Last night we celebrated turning a whopping 104!



Ahead of the party on Saturday evening we cleaned the house on Saturday. Hawk had already done some baking on Friday. Saturday evening we decorated and set out our snacks. I made a bowl of guacamole, as is our usual. I only have a photo of the table before our guests arrived (above), not once they arrived, many bringing additional food to share. Once guests started arriving I was too busy to take another picture. Plus, the room was crowded.

Speaking of crowds, we had a good number, about 20 including ourselves. A few friends who planned to attend dropped out at the last moment for various reasons. But like I said, 20 was a good number because it fits well in our house on the main level(s) without spilling upstairs or outside.

We appreciate friends who bring food to help with the party. Friends who know I enjoy alcohol often bring a gift of a bottle. Though...



It's not really like I need more bottles. 😂 But I got a few more last night. A bottle of Scotch, a bottle of bourbon, a bottle of rum.

We also had a fun time drinking from many of those bottles in the overflowing liquor cabinet above. I started by mixing half a dozen or so margaritas then figured, "Hey, let's open the even better stuff and save time by drinking it straight!" 😂 I took a handful of our friends on a tequila tasting adventure. Then Scotch and Japanese whiskey, especially for those who didn't have to drive. BTW, I was careful to pour very small servings, about 10mL at a time (vs. a standard shot which is 50mL), so everybody could try several different types of liquor, even those who did have to drive afterward.

All I am is tired anymore. Since returning from our trip to Panama nearly four weeks ago, all I've done is is work on workdays and veg other than that. My weekends have been mostly full of sitting around. Today I couldn't even manage to sit around all day; I took a nap for about 3 hours mid-afternoon because I was so tired.

What's going on here? Do I have long Covid? Do I have some other sickness condition that's sapping my energy? Is it because I'm depressed from my work situation? Did I suddenly get 10 years older in the past month? Or is it just because I've been a sloth the past few weeks and now this is my new energy level?

Either way, I'm not liking it.

Thanksgiving '24 Travelog #9
Back in Falls Church, VA - Tue, 26 Nov 2024, 11pm

As I write this I'm back at our hotel in Falls Church, VA. I'm even back in our room. You'll see why that matters in a moment.

After meeting one of our nieces for lunch and then going on an impromptu road tour along the Skyline Drive this afternoon, we met my cousin, Matt, for dinner this evening. Well, we didn't just meet Matt. His wife, Sally, joined us for dinner. We also met Matt's son, "Tank", who's now a third-year student in college. He's home for Thanksgiving break but wasn't feeling well enough to join us for dinner. Surprisingly, though, he was feeling well enough to twist our ears in a vigorous conversation before we left the house.

Matt is technically not my cousin but my first cousin once removed. That bit of relationship naming means that his mom is my first cousin. His grandma and my dad are siblings. Yet among all my cousins I always felt close kinship with Matt because we were so close in age. (It also helped that we shared similar intelligence and curiosity about the world.) Yes, we're in different family generations despite being only maybe 6 months apart in age. Matt's grandma, my dad's sister, was older than my dad and married and started her family early. Her kids also started their families young.

That all took on new relevance when I told Matt about my generational shock earlier this week when I confronted the fact that my younger sister is a grandma. I am a grandma's older brother. Matt was unimpressed because my younger sister, now a grandma, only became a grandma in her mid-40s. I'm in my early 50s. Matt's grandma became a grandma by age 38.

Anyway, Hawk and I had a good dinner with Matt and his wife. Well, the dinner sucked, but good company more than made up for the poor food.

After dinner we drove back to our hotel in Falls Church. Hawk stayed in the room as she had a 10pm Teams call to join for our HOA back in California. I headed up to hang with my sister, who'd been out sightseeing in DC all day with her family and a friend from high school days. She was tired physically but still engaged mentally. We chatted amiably for 45 minutes over a nightcap. Her husband daughter came home after that, having stayed out to catch a movie. When they came in they were wrecked. I took that as my cue to call it a night. Now I'm back in my own room, Hawk is done with her call, and we'll wind down so we can plan our own day sightseeing in DC tomorrow.

I never thought I'd say it, but I'm feeling burnt out on eating at good steak restaurants. I don't mean burnt out forever, fortunately. Just burnt out for maybe a few days after eating at nice steakhouses two nights in a row.

These two dinners were connected to the small conference my company sponsored yesterday. Both meals were with customers. Wednesday evening we dined at Birk's, a nearby favorite for business lunches/dinners since at least the time I moved out here in the 1990s. I dined at Birk's a few months ago, also a business dinner. In fact it was with the same customer— and it was his pick both times. Obviously he likes steak, too. 😅

Thursday's dinner was almost at Birk's again. But my CEO, who wasn't even joining us, interceded and said, No, Birk's is "too twentieth-century" and that LB Steakhouse in Santana Row is where all the cool kids go for steak now. 😂 If nothing else I was glad for something different. Slightly different.

Thursday afternoon I wasn't even sure if I wanted another steak dinner. I was still full from Wednesday's. When my VP expressed concern about too many staff attending the dinner relative to the number of employees I offered to tap out; but he insisted I was one of the important people he wanted to be there.

Ultimately the food at LB was fantastic. And I enjoyed it. But by the time I went to bed last night I already felt like I'd eaten way too much rich food in just over 24 hours. I woke up several times during the night just wanting water. I felt like I still needed more water to wash everything down. I felt the same way until I ate a light breakfast this morning.

It feels like some of this is about getting older. I can't imagine having felt almost sick after eating at steak restaurants twice in a row when I was in my 30s. Indeed between age 35-40 I was doing it on the regular thanks to heavy business travel. It's sad that I can't indulge so much in nice things anymore.

Yesterday I got a flu shot and a Covid booster at noon. Thankfully my side effects are mild this time around.

Nothing much happened yesterday. I was tired and went to bed a bit early... but that could also be because I was up at 6:15 to start my workday with a 7am meeting.

This morning I woke up with dull body aches. I tried lying on one side then the other to sleep in. Both hurt so I got up. Through the morning I was feeling lethargic and slightly achy all over. It was no worse than if I done a decent hike the day before. One of my arms was slightly sore at the injection site— meaning, it felt sore when I poked it— but there was no swelling.

I'm now past T+24 hours. The achiness is at bay with the help of Tylenol and ibuprofen. I'm still feeling a bit tired... but honestly I've felt this way most of the past several weekends. Some of it is just me getting older.