“I read your magazine when I got home.  Really enjoyed it.  Keep up the good work.  Two stories hit me.  The first, Woodstock.  I was there.  I was a flower child.  Totally brought me back to the moment.  Also pg 28.  “We are the Baby Boomers”.  Oh, yes we are!!!  I was cheering with that one.  I felt like I was standing on a mountain top saying, “I am a baby boomer and proud of it.  Check me out at 60.  I am not my grandmother!  No housedress, apron and rocking chair for me.  NO THANK YOU.  Although, I certainly honor and admire the woman she was in her time.” Sandi Dickinson

“Recently my wife and I relocated to Huntersville, from snowy Syracuse, for semi-retirement purposes.  Upon our visit to Harris Teeter, in Cornelius yesterday, we were both delighted to first see  your magazine in the rack at that store.  In Syracuse we were regular readers of the 50Plus Magazine which is a Central NY Publication that many people look forward to on a monthly basis.  After we both consumed your publication we both feel that void is now filled.  Many useful articles as well as an ad for something we want to do this weekend (The Festival at Latta Plantation).  Thanks much for making us both feel  more at home.” Joe Starociak

“Congratulations on your first issue! This is great what you are doing, and I look forward to contributing in some way, especially for those of us who are parents of young adults and wondering how to do this well…

How can I get a hardcopy of the print magazine if I am in New England?” Susan Alle

The non-governmental organization isn’t requiring one to be retired in order to enjoy their benefits, just stating that one needs to be over 50 years old now.  And it’s not just financial, health and educational services that they’re offering their over 40 million members, now they’re inviting them to come to Vegas.
From October 22 through the 24th the Sands Expo and Convention Center in Las Vegas, Nevada will be hosting Boomers for the AARP’s  “Vegas @50+, The 2009 National Event and Expo” proving that Vegas is for the over 50 crowd too.
AARP touts the event as three days and nights of celebrity speakers, informative panels, exhibitors and concerts, covering topics from lifestyle and health care to sexuality, midlife dating and careers.

And don’t worry, if you can’t make it Vegas you can still get lots of great information on a wide variety of topics relating to Baby Boomers from The Baby Boomer News magazine.  All without making the trip to Nevada.

Online and mobile technologies and practices that people use to share opinions, insights, experiences, and perspectives with each other.

In fact this blog is considered a form of social media, since it allows for sharing of information and the ability for you, the readers, to interact and add your own information and opinions.
For those of you that think all of the technological mumbo jumbo is best left to the ‘young folk’, think again.  In February and March of 2009, our age group was the fastest growing demographic on Facebook. Apparently, unlike our predecessors, we’re a generation who’s willing to not only face the computer age, but to embrace it.

But why join a social networking site like Facebook or Twitter?

One of the biggest reason Baby Boomers give for joining Facebook is to reconnect with people.  High school classmates, former co-workers, and family members can all congregate on the site.  It’s like a virtual class or family reunion.  With the ability to share pictures, we can see just how well the star football player and head cheerleader have done for themselves and stay in touch with children and grandchildren no matter where they may live.

As for Twitter, at first it may seem pretty pointless, but watch what happens when breaking news takes place.  Twitter has the story before the news channels do.

For example, when the USAir flight 1549 made its emergency landing in the Hudson River, the first reports and pictures were received by users of Twitter.  Those of us following along as the ‘tweets’ (the 140 word or less messages are called) came through from eye witnesses as all the people aboard were rescued.

And it’s not just the big stories. When I-40 was under construction this summer near my home, I got frequent updates as to the traffic congestion via Twitter, delivered straight to my cell phone.  This allowed me to choose an alternate route home and miss out on the frustration of being caught in traffic.
I’ve also made ‘Twitter friends’, other Twitter users in my local area whom I’ve gotten to meet with. Definitely a bonus for me, since I’m a newbie to the area.

And new uses for Twitter are coming to the forefront all the time, take for example @BoomerAuthority. @BoomerAuthority is  a free service on Twitter that advocates a change from one-way communication to one of listening and two-way conversation. Through Twitter, Boomer Authority connects you to qualified professionals who will first listen and then help you with your question.

So how about you? Are you a Social Media Boomer? Yes? No? Tell me why or why not by leaving a comment.

We’ve experienced the first man on the moon, Woodstock, female supreme court judges, the first black American president,personal computers, and so many technological advances I couldn’t begin to name them.  We’ve seen things come and go like 8 track tapes and BetaMax videos and we’ve ushered in things that were only imagined in science fiction novels.

So it shouldn’t surprise us that, as a generation, Baby Boomers face aging differently than any generation before us as well.

Thanks to advances in medicine, we’re more aware of the importance of nutrition and exercise in keeping ourselves healthy as we get older.  We also know that it’s important to exercise our minds as well as our bodies and video game manufacturer’s are now offering us games that will help keep our minds sharp too. Some of us have embraced things like plumping injections and plastic surgery to match our appearance with our youthful outlook.

But perhaps one of the most important differences in our generation is our understanding that we can age, without necessarily getting old.

We’re not afraid to learn new things and take on new experiences because we don’t let the number of candles on our most recent birthday cake dictate what we can and can’t do.  No longer do we see age as a hindrance to following our dreams.

Whether it’s learning to fly an airplane or paint a landscape, we tend to embrace lifelong learning and seek to truly experience life, not just live it.

Baby Boomer News is the magazine that will help us explore, learn and experience life to the fullest.  Be sure to head on over to the website and poke around. Click on the links; check out what the site and the magazine has to offer.  I think you’ll agree that it is as unique as our generation tends to be.

The woman in front of me smiled slightly, her eyes sparkling as she looked at me and said, “I loved him when I was a teenager.”

I smiled back,” Me too”, I admitted.

And suddenly an instant kinship was born with a perfect stranger. We giggled like school girls recounting our infatuation for a former teen heartthrob turned middle aged producer.  Then the cashier rang up my new friend’s sale and she was gone.

But the warm, fuzzy feeling of connection lingers with me even now, weeks later.

There’s just something about making connections with someone who shares your experiences that makes you feel good inside.

I want to welcome you to My Boomer Community, and the official blog for the new magazine, Baby Boomer News.

It’s a magazine for us, the Baby Boomer Generation, that will not only allow us to fondly reminisce about things like teen idols, television shows and fads (remember Pet Rocks?), but it will also address those things that are important in our lives now.

Many of us have struck out independently and started our own businesses. Our concerns range from our financial futures to caring for our children as well as our aging parents.  We’re trying to stay active and healthy and we enjoy things like travelling, eating out and getting involved in our communities.

Baby Boomers are looking to ‘go green’ and understand the need to preserve our local and global ecology. We’re a generation aware of how our actions will affect the generations to come.  We’re reading our news online instead from the paper over morning coffee and we’re more likely to be carrying a Blackberry and laptop than a briefcase these days.

And now we have a place to connect with one another about all of these things; a connection that won’t end when a cashier finishes the sale.

I encourage you to visit the Baby Boomer News website and look around, kick off your shoes and stay awhile.