My Car of The Future

Posted on June 24, 2011 by Judi

I never thought much about cars before this week, when I attended the 2011 Forward with Ford conference at The Ford Motor Company in Detroit, Michigan. My late husband M was the master of my car universe. He was the one in the family who negotiated all our car buying, took care of my car when I had issues, or put the air in the tires when they were low. (Oh yes, there was one time when I decided to buy a VW Passat, the first VW Passat on the market, simply because I thought the new design was hip and cool. That was the last time I ever ventured out of my comfort zone. In 2004, I moved back to the world of Honda.)

We’re thrilled you could join us at our first futuring and trends conference,” said the note in my hotel room, “You’re not here by chance – we see you as a thought leader in your space and are glad to have you as a part of a diverse mix of other innovators and visionaries.” (Finally, yes, the words my astrologist C had spoken two years ago during my astrology reading at the Miraval Spa had come true. I am a trendsetter and now others agree.)

So, what are some of the trends I learned about the past few days and how will these trends impact me during my life after 50? Ford looked at more than 200 trends and clustered them together into five key ones: Living Green, Aging Population, Youth Influence & Global Convergence of Design, Emerging Technologies and Safety for All Ages.

The trend that hit home the most for me was the Aging Population. (Wonder why???) Ford says that “demographic shift is imminent as the worldwide population of older people (50+) becomes a greater percentage of the total population. The 50+ population segment is the fastest-growing worldwide, with predicted life expectancies at a historic high. By 2030, a record one-fifth of the total population will be over 65.”

I started to add up the numbers and think about how old I will be in 2030. I’ll be 72. I hope I’ll still be a trendsetter when I’m in my 70s. (Note: Futurist speaker Joel Garreau says that in the future 80 may be the new 40. That may mean when I’m 72, I’ll really be 32. I love these count backs.) Based on all I’ve seen this week at Ford, I might be a real trendsetter and live in my car. I think when I’m 70, my car may become a bigger part of my life and help me live a healthier life too. Listen to all the things that my car will be able to do, thanks to the advancements Ford labs are working on now:

- My car will have a multi-contour driver’s seat that will have the potential to monitor my heart rate and move the blood around my body so I won’t get stiff on long drives. It will also sense how stressed out I am and there will be other sensors in the car to tell me what’s going on outside my car to make me so stressed. (I may not need a therapist anymore – my car will be my therapist.)

- My car will have seats that easily help me get in and out of the vehicle. (Maybe the seats will also collapse so I can do yoga in my car.)

- My car will have an easy capless fuel cap, so when my arthritis kicks in I won’t have to turn any knob to open the gas tank.

- My car will have bolder fonts when my vision is limited.

- My car will have wellness apps that connect via the cloud and help me manage any chronic diseases I may have. For example, if I have diabetes – which I hope I won’t, but if I do - I will be able to monitor my blood sugar levels throughout the day whenever I am in or out of my car.

- My car will tell me what the pollen count is outside through a Pollen.com app and if my allergies are acting up, it will alert my car to control the air quality level inside the vehicle.

- My car will have an advanced navigation system that will not only provide the safest route to my destination, but also provide the healthiest way to get there.

- My car will listen to me when I talk to it and it will talk back to me. If I want to make a phone call – perhaps to call my grandkids, if I have any grandkids by then, I hope I do – I won’t need a bluetooth on my ear, I’ll be able to talk through the speakers in my car.

- My car will have a customized music via Pandora radio. When I tell my car what song I want to listen to, it will automatically remember and play the song. (Wonder if I’ll still want to listen to Lady Gaga when I’m 72?) I won’t even have to tap my fingers or push a button.

- My smart phone will be linked to my car, so I will be able to check my stocks, find out the closest and the cheapest gas station, find directions to a restaurant or even look up a menu. My car will be my personal concierge.

What fun it will be to have a car in the future. Now, if Ford can just add a big bathtub to my car, I’ll be all set. I will never have to leave my car, even to take a bath. Imagine that!

Stay tuned for more news from Forward with Ford. In my next post, I’ll share and react to the top 10 boomer trends from guest speaker, Dr. Carol Osborn, author and CEO of BoomerInfluence.com.

Judi

The MakeUp WakeUp

Posted on June 21, 2011 by Judi

Just read about this new book called “The MakeUp WakeUp” that was written by the founding editor of MORE magazine and a makeup artist. Can’t wait to order a copy and see if there are any tips to help me fight these wrinkles which are adding up day by day. Looks like there is a version for my Kindle too!

Missing You

Posted on June 15, 2011 by Judi

Father’s Day weekend is coming up and I’m missing you.

I think our son is missing you too. I noticed he took out the family photos that we displayed at the chapel the day of your funeral almost four years ago. He has them on his dresser.

There’s the photo of you cuddling with our daughter A when she was just two years old. She was so cute back then with her hair in a pageboy cut. She turned 25 this year. I know she will be missing you this weekend too.

There’s a photo of you in your Yankees tee. You were on my mind as I watched the Yankees beat the Indians this past Sunday. The Yanks brought in almost five runs in one inning. I know that if you had been here in the bedroom watching the baseball game Sunday afternoon, as you used to be every Sunday afternoon between late April and mid-October, you would have been screaming with joy. (I bet perhaps you were watching that game too. Were you? Huh, were you?)

There’s a photo of you in your Giants football sweatshirt with our son D at eight months wearing his Giants jersey too. You two look like twins decked out in your Giants gear ready to cheer on your favorite team. I know D misses watching football with you. A and I do too.

It’s Father’s Day weekend and it’s also your birthday weekend. You would have turned 60 years old this year and I can’t buy you a card. You know how I like to buy cards. You always said I should have bought stock in Hallmark. Instead, I am going to buy some nice stones to put on your gravesite. Like the Jewish tradition, the love and memories of our time together will always be as enduring as a rock.

In this month’s The Oprah Magazine, life coach Martha Beck says that “The world is full of possibilities – even when you lose something you truly loved.” Martha says that “something we love is always ending.” She says that “if we keep in mind that the thing we’ve lost was itself the child of separation, it’s easier to let go. We learn the way through loss to gain, expecting unimagined delights to be born from every sorrow. It becomes not only possible but delicious to follow poet and writer Rainer Maria Rilke’s advice: ‘Flow into the knowledge that what you are seeking/finishes often at the start, and, with ending, begins.”

My life is very different than it was four years ago. Just like Martha says, “I have learned the way through loss to gain” in my life after 50.

I think this weekend A and D, and I will buy a birthday cake and light a candle in your honor. Then we’ll blow out the candle and make a wish. What should we wish for? I know. I know. I know. We will wish for “a world full of possibilities.”

Judi

My Halle Berry Haircut

Posted on June 8, 2011 by Judi

“I want to have a Halle Berry haircut,” I said to my hairstylist S the other week. I was leaving for NYC and wanted to be stylish. S did a wonderful job with my hair. His assistant googled Halle and then I picked out the picture from her many looks and S gave me an awesome pixie cut.

What do you think? I like my hair with a shorter cut. It is usually easier to take care of. However, it’s not so easy to maintain this Halle Berry look each day.

“How will I ever get my hair to look this good every morning?” I asked S.

“It’s SO EASY to maintain this cut,” said S. “There’s nothing to it,” he added as he began to list the steps to Halle hair:

1. Put some volumizing cream on your hair.
2. Use a round brush to pull the right side of the front of your hair towards the right side over your right forehead.
3. Then take a flat brush to push the back top of your hair back and up.
4. Leave the sides alone, just let them dry naturally.
5. Put some spray wax or styling cream on your fingers (just a little bit) and mess up your hair.
6. Spray with hairspray to keep the spike up.

“This is a lot of work,” I told S. ”Now what about Halle Berry’s body? Can you make my 50 year old body look like Halle’s body too?”

“I wish I could give you Halle Berry’s body. But, if I could do that, I would no longer need to cut hair, I’d be rich,” said S. (Note: I may be able to get a body like Halle Berry if I follow these tips from the How Celebrities Lose Weight website. Check it out. Do you know Halle has diabetes? I didn’t know that.)

I left the salon and went to Ulta to get volumizing cream, a flat brush, a round brush, spray wax, and some hardcore hairspray. If I can’t have Halle’s body, I want to ensure that I will at least have her hair for the next six weeks…until my next haircut appointment with S.

Like Lady Gaga says in one of my favorite songs from her new Born this Way album.

“I’ve had enough, this is my prayer, that I’ll die living just as free as my Hair.”

Do you want to sing a few of the verses with me? I just LOVE GAGA. Don’t you? Do you have her new album? It is so great. Maybe if I start dancing to all the songs on her album, I’ll get Halle Berry’s body. Oh, come on, sing along with me. Aren’t you a boomer girl who wants to be as free as her hair?

Sometimes I want some

Racoon or red highlights.

(Uh huh, uh huh)

Just because I want my friends,

To think I’m dynamite.

(Uh huh, uh huh)

And on Friday rocks in,

High school dance.

(Uh huh, uh huh)

I got my bangs too hot,

That I don’t stand a chance.

(Uh huh, uh huh) a chance.

I just wanna be myself,

And I want you to love me for who I am.

I just wanna be myself,

And I want you to know, I am my hair.

I’ve had enough, this is my prayer,

That I’ll die living just as free as my hair.

I’ve had enough, this is my prayer,

That I’ll die living just as free as my hair.

I’ve had enough, I’m not a freak,

I’m just here trying to stay cool on the streets

I’ve had enough, enough, enough,

And this is my prayer, I swear,

I’m as free as my hair.

I am my hair.

As free as my hair, hair, hair,

Hair, hair, ha-ha-ha-hair,

Hair, hair, hair,

Hair, hair, ha-ha-ha-hair.

As free as my hair, hair, hair,

Hair, hair, ha-ha-ha-hair

Hair, hair, hair,

Hair, hair, ha-ha-ha-hair.

Ha-ha-ha-hair.

I just want to be free, I just want to be me

And I want lots of friends who invite me to their parties.

I don’t wanna change, and I don’t wanna be ashamed.

I’m the spirit of my Hair, it’s all the glory that I bare.

I am my hair, I am my hair

I’m my hair, I am my hair

I am my hair, I am my hair

(It’s all the glory that I bare)

Ooh, my Halle Berry hair, my Halle Berry hair.

I edited the last line. Can you tell?

Judi

Tech Savvy Senior

Posted on June 1, 2011 by Judi

Last week, I went to the BlogWorld conference in NYC to learn all about blogging and social media.

Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, Yelp, and Gowalla, these are just a few of the social networking tools that I need to become more familiar with if I am going to be a more tech savvy senior.

I definitely want to be more social. Yes, I do, I do, I do. But, how, oh how will I ever have time to keep up with all this social media? Maybe if I give up sleeping, which is really only about four hours a night with all my menopausal moments these days, I can spend more time surfing the worldwide web.

Or, maybe, maybe, maybe, I can ask my son D to help me become more tech savvy.

D was very helpful this weekend when I wanted to download the new Lady Gaga CD. I do know how to use iTunes, but Gaga’s new CD was much less expensive on Amazon.com. So, I turned to D and said, “Please, oh, please, can you go to Amazon.com and purchase Born This Way for me and then make a CD for my car and then put the songs on my iPod too? Please, please, please.”

“Sure mom,” said D. What a wonderful son I have. I love him. I love him. I do. I do. He downloaded the entire audio track in about 10 minutes and I was out the door with my CD and iPod in hand. It was a fabulous ride to my condo on the corner for Memorial Day weekend singing and bopping to Born This Way. And instead of surfing the net, I was able to spend more time riding the waves.

“But, mom,” said D, “you’re going to have to learn how to use these tech tools when I’m back at school this fall.”

“You’re absolutely right,” I replied. So let’s see how far I’ve gotten in the past few days since I’ve been back from BlogWorld:

Facebook- will you like me on Facebook? Facebook has 650 million subscribers, but no one is my fan. You can find me at judi boomer girl and hit the “like” button. Then I’ll have some fans on Facebook. Tell all your 50+ friends to like me too. I want to have millions of fans. I do plan to host some contests and promotions on Facebook when I become a more tech savvy senior. So go ahead and become my fan. I want to be liked. But, don’t expect any messages if you write to me…I haven’t learned how to answer a message yet.

Twitter - will you tweet with me on Twitter? You can find me at @judiboomergirl and hit the follow button or check out the side bar on my blog and you can see all my tweets. Sometimes I tweet about interesting articles targeted to baby boomer women and aging and wellness. You may want to follow the other people that I follow. They are more interesting than me.

Foursquare - I haven’t registered with this site yet. Not sure I want to reveal where I am every minute of the day. According to Foursquare’s website, they are a location-based mobile platform that makes cities easier to use and more interesting to explore. By “checking in” via a smartphone app, users share their location with friends while collecting points and virtual badges. Foursquare guides real-world experiences by allowing users to bookmark information about venues that they want to visit and surfacing relevant suggestions about nearby venues. Merchants and brands leverage the foursqaure platform by utilizing a wide set of tools to obtain, engage, and retain customers and audiences.

I will let you know when I become one of the 8+ million subscribers and then you can follow me and I’ll share all the exciting places I visit.

There are several other sites like Foursquare that you may want to check out. There’s Yelp and Gowalla, which have a similar platform. I haven’t joined these two sites either. I actually thought the speaker who spoke about Gowalla was saying ‘gorilla.’ Wonder who names all these sites? Whoever does is very creative.

“Mom, I just got movie tickets for $4.00,” said my daughter A on Friday night.

“How did you get the tickets so cheap?” I asked.

“On Groupon,” said A. ”Aren’t you a member of Groupon?”

“No, no I am not a Groupie,” I said. ”I’ve had enough of all these tech tools for now, I’m tired of being so social, I just want to be liked.”

Judi