The Platinum Living Network

It is both encouraging and discouraging that there are so many boomer blogs and websites. It's encouraging because you know there are needs out there and people are trying to fill them. But then it can be discouraging because there are so many "fluffy" blogs and websites, many of them loaded down with ads, filled with 60s reminiscences or anti-aging beauty tips. Now I have nothing against this sort of thing per se. It's just that I don't think that anybody on their deathbed is ever going to say, "I wish I had reminisced more," or "I wish I had found a better anti-aging cream." Lest I seem too callous, let me remind you that last week, I recommended the irememberjfk site to you, and about a month ago linked you to a 60s video retrospective . I like that stuff, really I do. But I don't want to get "stuck in the past" as I get older, as so many older folks do. I want to keep pursuing my passions and checking things off my ...

As promised during last week's review of PC Magazine's top ten boomer websites, I have completely revamped and expanded the Platinum Links page on our website . It was long overdue and therefore a pretty big project, but it's done - or at least done enough to post... Is anything on a website ever really done? ... but I digress. For you newcomers, let me explain the relationship between this blog and the website. This blog, like most blogs, is sort of a stream of consciousness flow of writing. Many articles represent fleeting thoughts that stand alone. But sometimes, you get on a topic, you think about it, you write an article, then maybe a part two. You get some comments, you write some more. Then when you have thoroughly beaten a topic to death, um, I mean, covered it exhaustively, it sits there in chronological pieces on your blog. But if you really have covered a topic to a conclusion, you may want to massage it into something coherent for posterity. That, to me,...

“Retirement is not biblical” So said my Pastor and friend at Sunday service this morning. Actually, I must confess that he got that from me. He and I have discussed it several times over the years in terms of our own lives and futures. I don’t think it’s even controversial biblically. No one ever retired in biblical days, and God seemed to delight in calling people to great tasks at advanced ages – Moses and Abraham spring to mind immediately. The context of this morning’s comment was in reference to a 79 year old mutual friend and mentor named Dow Robinson, with whom we just had contact. Dow maintains a schedule of teaching, learning and mentoring that could only be described as “whirlwind.” I’m not sure I could keep up with him, even though he is 18 years my senior. I remember the last time I was with him, I was relating my plans to start Platinum Years, and told the story of platinum wife Melanie always coming home from her job conducting sightseeing tours and telling me “we ...

Tonight I'll cover the last three of PC Magazine's top ten boomer web sites. I probably shouldn't have let myself cherry pick the list earlier in the week, because tonight I was left with the sites that interested me the least. But I slogged through, so that you, dear reader, won't have to. Well, that's not exactly true, because the jury is still out on several of these sites. It's hard to tell in a quick visit, but one, and maybe two, of tonight's sites piqued my interest. Let me start with an easy one. Easy for me anyway, because BoomerGirl is obviously a site for women. I looked around for a while, but in all honesty, I am incapable of evaluating it. There's lots of stuff there. I'll show it to the Platinum wife when she gets home from her current business trip, but she's not much for web sites and blogs (except of course for mine :-) So ladies, go for it. And let me know if you think it's worth recommending and why. One of you c...

Tonight I visited two more sites in our continuing review of PC Magazine's top ten boomer websites I'll take the easiest first. " Retired Brains " is a very helpful site - provided you are looking for another job. My impression is that this site is much more for people who NEED to keep working or want to avoid idleness, as opposed to say a site like www.encore.org , that is more geared to helping you give back to your community or pursue a passion. The expressed mission of " Retired Brains " is "Helping Older Workers Find Jobs." There are also links to general information about government programs, health issues, retirement planning, etc., that you may want to check out, but I won't be recommending it except for people who are actually in the job market. Tonight's other site is " Boomer411 ," whose expressed goal is to "help people access Trusted and Relevant content related to baby boomers quickly." And they do a ...

As promised, we're checking out the top ten boomer web sites this week. I already gave two thumbs up to BoomerTowne . Eons and AARP are already on my list. So tonight, I visited two new sites, "TeeBeeDee" ( www.tbd.com ) and "I Remember JFK" ( www.irememberjfk.com ) TeeBeeDee , as they call themselves, stands for the letters TBD, as in "To Be Determined," which is an apt description of the rest of our lives. The description at PC Magazine led me to believe that it was more about finding a new career, something like www.encore.org , but it comes across as a pure social networking site. To be sure, there are forums where you can discuss second careers, but this is one of about thirty discussion groups. " I Remember JFK " is actually a blog, although the line between blog and website is pretty blurred by now. And I really didn't expect to like it, because there are so many "reminiscence blogs" written by boomers, but I can...

Are you ready for some serious surfing? PC Magazine has just come out with a list of the top ten web sites for boomers . Actually, "just" is a relative word. It was actually about three weeks ago... I don't know how I missed it. One of them, the AARP site , is already a "Platinum web site," and another, www.eons.com , is already a "Platinum Link" on our own website, www.platinumyears.net . So what about the other eight? I have only gotten to check out one of them, BoomerTowne , which is a social networking, news, game, and resource site. It was number one on PC Magazine's list, and that's as far as I've gotten, since it mesmerized me for over two hours with games, jokes, news, articles, etc. In that respect, it is similar to eons.com, but BoomerTowne's menu choices and its "Main Street" layout seem easier. And BoomerTowne has something eons doesn't have. For as long as you're navigating around BoomerTowne, you...