Tag Archives: retiree

Sometimes you just need to press SHUFFLE!

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I walked outside my RV earlier and stretched out in my chair.

I set my iPhone on the plastic table beside me and set it to run one of my playlists, specifically the one I call MY MUSIC -1.

I only have one MY MUSIC playlist so the list number itself is kind of dumb.

But, it is a very big list holding over 1400 different songs.

I know, that’s a little crazy and I should take the time to organize this personal mish-mash of songs by artists from the 60’s, 70’s, 80’s, 90’s and, oh Hell, right up to today.

Sure I have several specialized playlists with a few hundred songs in each them, but they are all loaded with music of a very focused theme, such as; Jazz, Blues, Country, Rock, R&B, and on and on.

They’re good to listen to on occasion of course, but this big playlist of mine is my favorite.

You see, when I just want to relax, I can select My Music-1, press the SHUFFLE button and each song that comes up is very often a surprise for me.

Some are so old that I am surprised to hear one of those songs which I haven’t listened to, in years. And the great thing about using SHUFFLE, is that one song will often be followed by something I placed in my playlist just a few weeks or months ago.

That’s the great thing for me; just sitting outside, staring at a Palm Tree, or a passing car, or maybe just an interesting cloud floating by and not really thinking about the state of the world’s affairs or whatever silliness is going on in Washington, but just listening while enjoying the act of being.

You see, the music, My Music, makes my heart beat faster, my eyes see more clearly, and my mind flush itself of the stacked up worries about the world stored there.

So, I press SHUFFLE.

I get a new song, unlike the last song, one after the other, with no real rhyme or reason what the next selection will be and the list of selections is so large I am confident that each song will only be played for me once, on that day.

Try it for yourself, in life, or with your music, just press SHUFFLE occasionally!

DON BOBBITT

Copyright, Don Bobbitt, December 12, 2017. All Rights Reserved.

The reader is free to enjoy this article, and share it with friends, but if they wish to use it commercially then they must have the authors permission, in writing beforehand.

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RamblingDon – It’s MY Turn to live MY Lifestyle

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I have a few hundred articles on HubPages, which is a writer’s site designed for my fellow writers and I to exhibit our works.

Recently, I started a series of articles focused on my wife and my lifestyle of traveling in our RV.

I will also include our opinions and comments on not only the places we have seen, but on some of our fellow campers.

If the title looks interesting to you, click on the link below to read and, I hope, enjoy that specific article.

It’s MY Turn, MY RV, and MY Lifestyle

 

I hope you enjoy!

by Don Bobbitt, 2017

Yes, I am an ASSHOLE! But, I’m not a perfect one.

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I just have to write a little something about this.

If my article title offends anyone, I apologize ahead of time, before I go on.

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You don’t know me, I’m one of those who voted for Trump

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Yeah, here I am, one of those Average Americans that came out of the woodwork to vote for Trump. (Or, was it to vote against Clinton?).

Anyway, I was up late, watching this very important election and finally the results turned and started going in Trump’s direction, and I must say, the consternation and shock on the faces of the whole world of journalists was, honestly, entertaining.

I got to watch the final end of the thousands of repeated and twisted ads fired at Trump and his supporters.

Anyway, i wrote a pretty good article where I attempted to explain to these opinionated news-mongers, just who I am. I am, simply put, a veteran and a common man who worked his whole life without any superlatives that the liberal press would be interested in exploring.

Me? I am just an Average American, who was finally able to symbolically  “spit in the face” of those who have ignored the plight of us, the Average American over the past decade.

Click on the link below to read my article.

You don’t know me.

by Don Bobbitt, November, 2016

Bamboo_01

Hey SnowBirds! We Really Don’t Care!

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Frog_01-1Snowbirds are a phenomenon that many people don’t really understand until they move here and become a resident, themselves.

There are so many people who live further North, even as far north as Canada, and eventually save enough money to spend most of their cold winters in Florida that they have this unique name, SNOWBIRD.

Well, Florida is a tourist state and much if its income is derived from what these winder transients spend while hiding form their cold winters, so its the rare public or political comment about how these people act towards the locals.

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How a Retiree Vacations

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People normally don’t get to take a vacation when they are already retired in many peoples view. Most people think that; Hey, they’re retired, how can they take a vacation from a perpetual vacation?

Well, we retirees do get to go on vacation trips but our real vacations are when we get visitors.

Read my article on my Retiree Blog on how someone who is retired often gets a vacation.

How a Retiree Vacations

by Don Bobbitt, 2015

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I’m Mad! Everybody deserves more Money but ME!

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Old_Man_and_Dog

It’s just not right, I tell you!

This is my annual Rant at the world about how our nations politicians treat their Seniors, Retirees, Baby Boomers and others who are living on a fixed income.

Just tell me why:

  • Doctors deserve more for their visits every year,
  • Supermarkets deserve more money for their basic foods like bread, milk, etc.
  • Automakers deserve more money for their new cars,
  • McDonald’s workers and others deserve more money for slapping hamburgers on a grill.
  • Drug manufacturers deserve more money for their pills, even the generic ones.
  • And, the list goes on.

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I was Just Thinkin’ – Here I sit, Retired?

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IWas Just Thinkin' - IRS Agents, FBI Agents

That’s right, I’m Retired!

And, here I have combined two different articles of mine for efect. The first half I wrote when I turned 65. The second half are my reflections on then, Now and what I am afraid about tomorrow and our future as retirees.

Click on the link below to read the article.

Here I am, RETIRED, Reflections of a Retiree.

by Don Bobbitt,2014

Copyright, DonBobbitt, 2014, All Rights Reserved

Sunday Morning Politics - Who is looking Out for ME?

I’m Old enough to Remember-#1 – When we were told SS and Medicare Insurance was a safe thing.

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Yes, I am old enough to remember.

I remember when I was a young worker for a major electronics manufacturing location and they, our government, told us that paying our SS and Medicare taxes was a GOOD THING!

Yep! If we paid those taxes we would be set for life when we retired.
A comfortable RETIREMENT and an assurance of top-level MEDICAL CARE was ours.

We just had to TRUST our government to take care of us!
TRUST?
TAKE CARE?
What a Joke!

Now we are the aging pariahs of a system that just wants us to hurry up and DIE!

Oh, and this was while our arrogant Congress voted themselves separation from “the peoples system” and into one of the must expensive and wasteful system of medical care designed just for them!
FULL COVERAGE! for Everything! For LIFE!

Yes, I remember!
DON

Ten Quirky Places to Retire – AARP Article

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Pic by Don Bobbitt

Here is a great article I read on the AARP magazine that lists some great places to consider for retirement.

They are “Artsy” locations for those that like that kind of lifestyle.

I feel that you will enjoy reading this, so just click on the link below:

Quirky Places to Retire

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Don Bobbitt

 

Deferred Taxes – the Catch-22 for Baby-Boomers and other Retirees

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Check out my Hub article on the realities of being a Retiree and having an IRA that continues to shrink much faster than planned.

DEFERRED TAXES – Another Catch-22 for BABY BOOMERS with a 401K or IRA

Bamboo_01

 

Don Bobbitt

I filed my Taxes and learned something along the way.- Moving Expenses

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I filed my taxes the other day, and boy am  pissed.
I retired, and like so many retirees I decided to move to a more friendly climate.
I purchased a small place in Florida and I relocated there last year, so of course, I expected to get a little bit of a tax break to offset the expenses of moving to my new abode.

Well GUESS WHAT?
Our loving and supportive Congress decided that we, the retirees of the world, do not deserve to claim these moving expenses.
No, if I am employed and even if I get help from my employer, they feel that a working person should still have this tax break.

But, me? A Retiree?
Nope!
No matter that I am now on a very limited retirement income.
No matter that my move was made even more expensive because of my age and health requiring more hired labor than ever before.
Nope, We the Retirees, the Seniors, the Baby Boomers have been forced to live within yet another federally enforced limitation on our remaining years.

THANK YOU CONGRESS!     AGAIN!      For NOTHING!

 

Don Bobbitt

Political News – I hate it when I am drowning in it and I become afraid when I hear nothing.

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The daily Political News is a YIN-YANG thing to me.
I complain when I am inundated with it throughout the day, as with the latest PRIMARY reporting.

But, If I get a few hours into the day, and some idiot in Washington hasn’t come out with yet another stupid statement, well, then I get scared.
You see, in my opinion, a silent Politician is doing one of two things, as far as I am concerned.

ONE, they are off on some boondoggle that is paid for by either our taxes, or by some lobbyist group, that wants to take advantage of the American public in some way.

TWO, They are somewhere, working together on their own plans for either re-election, or changing this great country of ours into either a police state or a socialist catastrophe.

OK, OK, I am being pretty pessimistic.

But, at this moment, I am working on my taxes and when I see how badly I am being taxed, as a retiree, with a small but dwindling savings, I need to attack something.

Sad to say, after I am stripped of what little I have, who is left to pay for everyone on the dole?
Look Out, People, quiet Politicians are dangerous Politicians.

Bamboo_01

Don Bobbitt

Minor Adjustments to my SS and Medicare?

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I watched our president on TV today. And I tried to listen to the whole thing.

Really! I Tried! I tried very hard!

But, everyone, it seems, is off and running for Office or Reelection, and he is no exception.
He went On, and On, and On.

The republicans beat him up! He beats them up! They beat him up! He beats them up again!

Anyway, he did drop one of his little Bombs on us while speaking that I caught.

He, the democratic “defender of the Faith, and the Little Man”  said that his proposal for the Budget now includes some minor adjustments to Social Security and Medicare!

Well, There you have it. some Minor changes!

I gues that it’s now Ok for both parties to make either Some minor adjustments as the great defender said,  or as Perry let slip, disband the whole thing.

Are these really our choices today?

What we once paid for, and had stolen over the 70’s and 80’s by Congress, is now definitely up for grabs.

The only question is; Just how much will be taken away from us, not if it will be taken away.

But, How much?

Here is my question, though.

When did our generation of over-achievers, just give up and bend over like we are doing now!

When did we turn into such weaklings?

When did it become unacceptable to stand up and speak your mind and demand that what is yours must stay yours?

I am truly confused!

Was there something put into the shots I had to take when they removed the Not-Yet-Cancerous growth on my head?

Was there something added to the pills that I, and so many of us, have to take daily to keep my transplanted Kidney alive?

Was there something on the needle that sucks out my blood for testing quarterly in order to check for other more deadly diseases that I am susceptible to with the drugs that I take daily?

Was there something in the Pills that I have to take for the attacks of Gout that I get, almost weekly, due to the side effects of my anti-rejection drugs?

Was there something in the Pills I have to take for High Cholesterol that is a side effect of my anti-rejection drugs?

I don’t know!
Perhaps that is as good a reason as any for so many of us becoming a complacent “walk all over me” personality. The added pains and costs of treating them as you get older, certainly aren’t paid for by Medicare. Medicare pays for most of the cost of the generics and cheap pills.

When you get down with a serious illness, you quickly find that the are those pills that were expertly placed into the “other level” of drugs. The ones that cost $1, $2 or even $5 each!

And then you fall into the famous “Doughnut hole” What a well-designed way to screw the elderly. I can hear them now, as they designed the payment system.

“Let’s pay a little something to the elderly for their cheap pills, but, if they are really sick, and need real medication, lets put a window on what medicare will pay.

Let’s make the window so they can be seriously Ill and at the same time have to worry where they will get the money to buy the pills that might keep them alive.

And then, if they are well off enough to pay for their drugs and stay alive then, once they have destroyed what little savings they have, lets, turn the coverage back on, and help them with some more Medicare payments.”

You  just gotta love the people that we elected, that do this to their constituency. The same constituency that gives them, in return, lifetime coverage after they are elected. Lifetime coverage with no minimums, no maximums, no limits.

And we just sit here and listen, shake our heads and take our afternoon naps!

Well, Sorry people!

While I still have enough savings to pay for my portion of the added cost of my drugs, I will stay alive, and I will try to fight against such people as those that I see on TV now, as they walk that crooked path to the next election, with their skilled, forked-tongue statements of nonsense and lies.

Who cares about me? I do!

Who cares about US? We had better get together and start, and I mean Start Now!

Bamboo_01

Don Bobbitt

We should take care of OUR OWN, FIRST!

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I think people our age need to start literally preaching to our fellow public.

First: You are right, I think where 20 years ago we were in a GRAY area somewhere between True Democracy, and some popular Socialistic trends and laws being implemented.

I am afraid that, as you imply, we have run, not walked, as a nation into a very dark Gray area that is approaching a level of Socialism that even our European friends are finding cannot be sustained under all economic conditions.

Second: I have to remind everyone, and seemingly, even you, that our generation paid into an INSURANCE program, called by chance Social Security. It was designed to “Pay for itself”.

And, as you know, if we had not allowed our democratic friends, starting with LBJ, to rape our “insurance Account” we would not be having the rather mindless conversations in DC about cutting Seniors “Retirement Insurance Benefits”.

But, alas, we sat on our butts and did not keep a vigilant eye on our “representatives” and now we almost need to turn into a revolutionary force to get what we paid for back.

And, I do mean Revolutionary. I don’t think anyone in our generation expected, paid for, or suspected that such a small and devious group would steal our money and turn us into the recipients of a Socialist entitlement.

But , I am afraid, that is where we are at the moment, until we find a unified voice, and force some hard solutions.

My personal fear is that we will, as a group, force another Congressional FLUSH of participants due to our anger, and allow another crop of inexperienced idiots who know the right words to use, into Congress, with similar idiotic and factionalized radical voting, rather than negotiated goals that have a solution for ALL of the people they represent.

Third: Medicare, the Insurance program, originally designed as a benefit for the elderly retired people of America, once they no longer had health insurance from their personal and company policies, somehow got turned into an across the board entitlement for everyone in our country, including; Illegal Aliens, Drug Addicts, the Jobless, Felons, and their spouses and children. Now, that’s Socialism.

Now, obviously, someone needs to be dropped from the public Dole. Who do we pick? Well, my fear is that like so many things that need the approval of politicians, they are going to listen to the most vocal. We, the Baby Boomers, the working Class, the Honest citizens of our country, need to get LOUD and we need to get LOUD fast.

I am truly sorry. but, a sick Felon, under house arrest (just happened with over 150 drug dealers in Tampa), has no right to Food Stamps and Medicare while being kept on House arrest.

They need to be kept in Jail, and if the Jail is full, we need to tent them up in camps, if necessary.

And, the illegal Alien? If he is sick or hungry? He can come to the local government agency. he can be fed, he can be treated for his illness.

But, He can also be put onto a Bus or Plane back to his native country.

You See, We cannot afford to support all of these classifications of freeloading people any more.

We need to back up and take care of our own, FIRST.

Damn, I feel better after saying this. WHEW!

 

Don Bobbitt