Act your age?

[Uncle Al]

WHY

Act your age 2013-05-25.jpg

Uncle Al

[Sinned]

I don't act my age. My wife ( and others ) remark that I don't look my age. I always say that if growing up means facing a cold and cruel world that doesn't care one bit then I'd rather stay in my own little immature dream world. The day that I grow up ( as opposed to mature - I did that in my twenties when I assumed the responsibility of a family and mortgage ) is the day that they carry me out in a box.

[Kirbstone]

Interesting how it is assumed that one's activities and behaviour are age-related.

Last Saturday I rowed a race At Dublin Metropolitan Regatta seated in an eight whose average age was 56, placing us in the same category as another composite Masters' eight down from Belfast to compete. In a straight 6-boat final race the Belfast guys got up two men on us and stretched this lead inexorably throughout that 1,000 meter race to win by almost half a length. We were second.
This was 3m 22sec. of very enjoyable torture for each one of us. I, at 71 years old was 15 years above the crew average age, the oldest competitor but claim to have pulled my seat as well as the rest of 'em.

Blessington 2013 TJK.jpg

The weather gave us what we here in Ireland call a 'pet day', in that it was fine and sunny and almost warm in the afternoon. (It's cold again and pouring with rain now, no surprise).

In another field I'm not acting my age either, in that I still have a hefty residual mortgage on my 'castle', which we built just ten years ago and I won't have paid off for another five years, so I'm not retired. I'm still working, not just because I have to, but also because I enjoy it.

Last Wed. I attended the funeral of a good friend who succumbed to Cancer at age 84. This guy ran his specialist butcher's business and farm right up until just a few months before the end. He also played both tennis and golf with great enthusiasm and was a beacon for the rest of us.

T.

[Big and Bashful]

Congrats on your lifestyle, your sporting prowess and your health & survival! Long may it continue!

I often look at a guy in our village, 84, still sailing single handed and still firing on all mental cylinders. I think to myself, "I hope I am that fit and healthy at 60!"

[crfriend]

Great pic there Tom -- that looks like one happy Kirbstone!

We seem to be having out pet day today, a holiday so at least I'm off work, it's sunny and may make to 70 degrees (F, obviously); the Irish have been sending us the weather for the past week and it's been cold, rainy, and generally miserable. The lawn, on the other hand, has been loving it and growing like crazy.

On "Act your age", I must admit I've always wondered precisely what the phrase meant. I can see it meaning, "Grow up, will you!", but once into adulthood it really has little meaning. I keep busy with things that engage my fancy; I sail from time to time (went out last Friday and will do so again this), am contributing to an Open-Source software project, am helping bring a KI-10 system back to full health on the other side of the continent (see Personal Stories/It's 106 miles to Chicago...), and help pals out with their computer problems so things are pretty good.

[Big and Bashful]

Carl,
Good to see you bouncing back upward again, I didn't respond to your more Down posts, because I was in a similar frame of mind. Amazing what a couple of days off can do, I am feeling considerably less stressed just now, good to see I am not alone.

[crfriend]

Carl,
Good to see you bouncing back upward again [...]

Thanks, B&B, and sorry to hear that you were "in the dumps" as well.

Sitting in my study last Friday evening, I came to the conclusion that I'd been allowing work to effectively define who and what I am, and since work is so bloody bad at the moment it dragged me down with it. In contemplating the situation further it was really apparent that the problem wasn't me -- as I have other irons in the fire that I am successful with -- it was work, and that I was empowering them to drag me into the pit of despair. Once I settled on the fact that I am a worthwhile person and have value outside work and that it is I and I alone (with help from those closest to me, obviously) who can make that judgment; this lifted the weight and allowed me to toss most of it off.

I'm still not looking forward to going back tomorrow, but now that I am not going to let them define me I can deal with their idiocy a bit better. I'll still speak my mind -- to no avail as my current Management has no respect for my talent or experience (or me, for that matter) -- and document the bad decisions and my advice so when the bad decisions adversely affect the company the boss-class above my immediate superiors will have evidence that it didn't have to happen.

Non illegitimi carborundum.

[Milfmog]

Good to read you in a more positive vein Carl.

I am a great believer in the "tell them and keep a copy" form of backside covering and in some previous jobs have made sure that the rank above me know it. Confirming conversations in emails that are visibly copied to my own email address for safe storage beyond their control has proved remarkably effective on occasion.

Having said that; if work is not fun it is still time to look for a new job. We all spend too many hours at work to put up with idiots and their bad decisions. I have always had a simple yard stick for this; when I can no longer wake up with a smile it is time to make my views known and be prepared to move on.

Good to have you back as yourself,


Ian.

[Kirbstone]

In our business we pay very hefty monthly contributions to the Medical Protection Soc. and their offshoot, DPL, or Dental Protection Ltd. These people stress time and again exactly what Ian Milfmog said....Informing patients how things have gone, record keeping and storage of same.

Quite simply, in the event of a query, dispute or outright litigation you have your records to attest to your statements and minimal damage results.

I'm relieved to detect a renewed upbeat timbre in your posts, Carl. I was a bit at as loss to reply to the very gloomy ones. Just last w/end we were entertaining two of our grandchildren visiting from England. Admittedly they're still at very biddable ages, but the enduring impression left by them is that they are the Very Bright Future and the Earth needs these sort of young people to populate it and bring about change for the Good.

It was the greatest pleasure to spend that real quality time with them and we didn't stop smiling and laughing all weekend.....Keeps you young!

T.

[crfriend]

Last Wed. I attended the funeral of a good friend who succumbed to Cancer at age 84. This guy ran his specialist butcher's business and farm right up until just a few months before the end. He also played both tennis and golf with great enthusiasm and was a beacon for the rest of us.

Sorry to hear that, Tom, it's always tough to lose friends.

Last month we lost Sapphire's aunt to cancer at age 86; the amazing thing was that three weeks earlier she was still very active and driving her own car. It is in that way that I hope to "go" -- none of this lingering on for years in misery the way my father did. When I think of the things that Sapphire's aunt Carmen and her husband Bob, who is now a widower, have seen and done my mind positively boggles -- being on the last flight out of Tehran in 1979 when the Shah was overthrown comes to mind as Bob was teaching the Iranian Air Force at the time how to maintain some of their fighter aircraft (as a civilian, mind, and his wife was with him at the time, Iran being an ally and whatnot).

On the notion of making public a "backup copy" on key e-mail is an interesting idea; I've been doing that privately for years on important stuff, but it doesn't telegraph the fact that an off-site record is being kept. I rather like the idea of making that explicit. Thanks, Milfmog!

As far as my more upbeat mood now goes, that's right down to the fact that I was mistakenly putting vastly too much weight on work as a justification for my existence. In retrospect, I should have merely looked at other things I do that more than justify who I am and which are going well -- I assist in computing-related projects as far flung as Seattle, WA/USA to Austria (hardware and software, respectively) and locally, both networking-related and in the seemingly oddball field of computing sociology (Leominster, MA/USA and Providence, RI/USA, respectively) and all are going swimmingly.

"Computing Sociology?", the astute may ask. My computing-history group (see my sig) is gearing up to do a trans-Atlantic video presentation on the operational PDP-12 that we have in our collection, and I'm the guy that drew (was handed, actually) the short straw and chose to frame my portion of the presentation as, "Why a laboratory instrumentation computer?" to connect the device with its context in the real world before delving into the technical minutiae that make it a truly remarkable beast (read, "30 year life-span in daily use."). Let's see the typical corporate 'droid try that one!

[Grok]

If you are making some sort of contribution, even if not paid, you must surely have worth.