u/CommieMartyr

I had several stints over the years selling cars. I wasn't great at it, but I was pretty good. Made more money for my employers than I cost them.

What I enjoyed most was the comradery amongst my fellow salesman. Sure we'd cut another's throat to get in on a deal, but when things were slow we'd just hang out and talk about this, that, and any other thing.

So what is the current take on claiming Social Security? Take it early, take it on time, wait until you get the max?

I know what I can get if I take it today. I know what I can get if I wait until wait until I wait until I turn 67. I know what I can get if I wait until I'm 70. I know that the break even point no matter how you choose is around 80.

Not sure I can make it to 80, so should I take the money now? If I'm wrong and live past 80 would I have better off taking the money now?

I live in the town we both grew up in. When my brother comes to visit, his friends come over to hang out. I consider them my friends as well since I've known them for well over 50 years. But they're my brothers friends because while I'm 64, he's 69 and met them in school.

So I'll hang out and catch up with what's going on currently, but the real gold is hearing stories from decades ago in their youth that I can only hear now because I'm no longer a "kid."

While this might be too political for this site, I thought it might be a good venue because we're old people who have lived long enough to have a better opinion on this subject.

My people were in America when it was still part of Britain. So I fully claim birthright citizenship.

I've had discussions (arguments) with people whose ancestors came later who oppose birthright citizenship.

The argument generally goes like this. I ask why you think you are a citizen. The respondent says because my parents were citizens. I ask why you think their parents are citizens. The respondent say because their parents were citizens. This goes on until the immigrant ancestor is introduced. Then it becomes "things were different back then."

I believe in birthright citizenship because I believe that I am a citizen because I was born here, not because my parents were born here. I believe that anyone born here is a citizen even if their parents weren't under the law.

I realize this might not be the most popular opinion, but I'm really leaning in to being becoming the old man who doesn't care what other people think.

Who said it first is subject to debate. I admit to enjoying pissing in my yard. I have a spot, not too far from my back door where I can do so without any of my eight immediate neighbors seeing me. Yes, I've done so since I was a kid and yes I have three toilets I could piss in inside, and no while I lived in Texas for 15 years, I'd done it decades before I moved there. It was just from living in Texas where I learned this old Chestnut.

I live in the house that my parents bought in 1971. The house was built on .6 acres in 1955 but I can walk downtown in less than 20 minutes. The houses in my neighborhood were similarly built on similar sized lots.

That's not my beef. My beef is that as the houses have turned over on my street, the owners no longer do their own yardwork. They've turned to tradesman.

Which means the regular visits of tradesman has led to noise pollution. Everyday, starting early in the morning, lasting until the afternon, 7 days a week.

Seems like there is little activity here. Which is a shame because there is plenty to talk about in Chico,

I went to college, graduated in 1985. But that was in a very different time. For one, having a college degree did make a big difference in getting a job in the private sector, while pursuing a trade was more difficult because because the economy wasn't great.

40+ years later, I'm not that's true unless you want to become a doctor or a lawyer. I didn't mention teacher because while you need you need a college education to become one, the pay is so low you will be forever paying interest on the student loans taking out to get that degree.

Breaking News: Mike Mulligan and Mary Anne latest victims in technology push.

After learning of their termination, Mulligan stated "While I'm figuratively crushed, Mary Anne will be literally crushed. I'm too old to go back to physically digging ditches and Mary Anne having successfully transitioned from being a Steam Shovel to a Boiler is unwilling to transition again to electricity.

https://preview.redd.it/k619wjn2b1eh1.png?width=800&format=png&auto=webp&s=a176fe2bf2c1e46219ba6013664484c5633bdac9

I posted a couple of days ago about going out for some drinks with a very old (meaning a friend for over 40 years) and one of my elder brothers. We all grew up in the same town. My friend lives out of state and was in town visiting her mother. We went to a local bar to hang out and catch up when unbeknownst to us a trivia contest broke out. I already told that story, that's not what I want to talk about on this one. It is important however to note that three of us all had birthdays in July. My friend on the 11th, my brother on the 13th, and mine today on the 16th. My friend and I were both born in 1962, my brother was born in 1955.

I was not aware of the Boomer subset "Generation Jones" until this Monday. My friend (who teaches college history) mentioned it during the game. Unfortunately, we weren't able to discuss it at length, because we were trying to win a trivia contest. I hadn't considered it much until I read the replies to my first post and it was mentioned again. So I started doing a cursory search and thought this would be a great topic to discuss.

So why don't we? I'm game I hope you are as well.

I can see the merits of the concept, but I also see the flaws.

So let's talk about it and let's welcome input from the traditional boomers who would not be considered Generation Jones, input from those who would fall into the category who may or may not embrace it, and of course Gen X whose leading edge members turned 61 this year.

It was my first winning bid on this site. After completing the Bring A Trailer portion of the transaction, I followed BAT's advice and have attempted to contact the seller by both Phone (left a message including my phone number) and by e-mail. I've yet to hear from the seller. So what now? I'm prepared to pay for my purchase and collect it. But what recourse does one have if the seller chooses not to complete the transaction?

So, I went downtown to a bar last night to meet a friend from High School who is in town to help her mother sort through the stuff her mother wants to get rid of. This is the result of her step-father's passing a couple of months ago.

She'd turned 64 on Saturday, she's also friends with my older brother so I'd invited him to come along. He turned 71 yesterday. I'll turn 64 on Thursday. So kind of birthday party.

When we all arrived at 7pm, there were only two people there. We sat at the bar, caught up on current events, and told stories.

We noticed an increasing inflow of "20 somethings" arriving individually and in groups. We thought it odd because the local university is out of session and while not a dive bar, it is more of a niche bar. And it was Monday.

Turns out Monday night is trivia night. We decided to join in. So we picked a team name, "Ok Boomer."

The subject was Ireland and the questions were both current (Identifying actors from photos) but also included some obscure questions on topics involving green, politics, history, and mythology.

We were one of 9 teams. We came in 3rd, but it was close. I'm so happy we lost because we were beaten by two teams of kids young enough to be our grandchildren.

I was happy because they knew the answers. The knowledge hasn't been lost.

Don't get me wrong, I'm well aware this is real.

I'm of the opinion that everyone is on the spectrum. They just don't realize it.

It manifests it's way, in many forms.

In my case with my printed work schedule. Even when I know I'm not scheduled to work, I'll look to at least once to confirm it

I'm not posting this to be political. Instead to have a discussion about when should we determine someone is too old to drive.

The ability to drive in the US has so many implications. The foremost is freedom. I'd say the second historically is the expectation that you should be legally able to do so.

I grew up in California and the expectation that you should be legally able to drive was important enough it was offered as a course, during school hours, at my High School. You earned credit for enrollment and the credit earned counted toward graduation.

It was a Semester course divided into two halves. Driver education and Driver training. Driver education gave you the book learning that allowed you to get your learner's permit. Having gotten your learner's permit, you were actually taught how to drive.

In real cars, on real streets.

And not just with a fleet of old school board hoopties. Nope these were late model cars "loaned" by a local dealer who understood that today's fledgling drivers would become tomorrow's used and new car buyers. It was an investment.

Oh, yes. We were also taught how to drive a manual transmission. That training included hill starts and hill stops and how to properly use the clutch when upshifting and down shifting.

That was in 1977.

Back to my initial question.

When should we determine someone is to old to drive? I admit that I dodged that bullet when one day my eldery mother declared she didn't want to drive anymore, and handed over her keys. My siblings and I had already become concerned she might be a danger to herself and others, but were relieved that we didn't have to fight her over it.

That led to the second problem, we'd all now need to drive her to and from any destination she wanted or needed to go. I'm introducing that as the third problem.

If you are fortunate enough to still have elderly parents, I'd like to hear how you addressed this.

If you are like me and think, well I'm fine for now but how do I prepare for the day that I will need to surrender my keys, I'd like to hear your plan.