Happy New Year!

My wife and I are off to Vegas. Actually I'm writing this in the Diamond Lounge at the Rio. We're here thru the 2nd of January, my birthday. I'll be 63, and headed to the big 65! Hope to hit it big on Keno!

We've got a nice sit down dinner planned. The theme is "Fairies"....you know, the magical kind with wings, like "Tinkerbell". After the dinner, it'll be out to the patio, where we will be able to see the Fireworks display planned for seven of the casinos along the Vegas Strip. This year they expect 200,000 to 300,000 extra folk to be there to witness in the New Year. If you've never done Vegas at New Year's, you should, at least once, in your lifetime...you'll never forget the experience!

I'd like to take the time to wish you all a Happy New Year....for those of you reading this Blog.

Best wishes for a great 2007! This will be my last post of 2006.

Let's Become a Team Blog!

The way this has been set up, at present, only I can post topics for you to read and reply to. My "vision" was to have other Author's who would also be able to write, add and remove articles and subjects.

At the very least, we could have regional Author's that would give us viewpoints from the different parts of the country. North, South, East and West. I'm sure our issues as retired folk (or seniors, if you're yet to retire) differ from region to region.

How about it? Any other Aircraft/Aerospace retired folk who want to join this Blog and help in it's direction or what we say?

Ford Critical of Iraq

Boy, if you ever doubted that the news media was against Bush and the Iraq war, it should be crystal clear now!

Would the interview ever have been published if President Ford would have agreed with what Bush and his staff are doing on the Iraq war?

Gerry Ford passed away the day after Christmas. Funeral plans have yet to be completed. Betty, his wife, has not been seen or given any "live" comments about her 50+ years of marriage, but Bob Woordward sure lets us know what President Ford thinks about how the present President Bush is handling things on the "Washington Post" website today.

The following is quoted from the Austrailian "Hearld Sun" posted to the web several hours ago.

"US President George W. Bush and his top advisers made a "big mistake" in their justification for invading Iraq, Gerald Ford told journalist Bob Woodward in an interview embargoed until after the former president's death.

Ford, who died on Tuesday at his home in California, aged 93, said he would not have gone to war, based on what was known publicly at the time, said the report on The Washington Post website today.

“I don't think, if I had been president, on the basis of the facts as I saw them publicly, I don't think I would have ordered the Iraq war,” Ford said.

“I would have maximized our effort through sanctions, through restrictions, whatever, to find another answer.”

In a four-hour tape-recorded interview in July 2004, Ford “very strongly” disagreed with the justification for the 2003 invasion of Iraq advocated and carried out by key Bush advisers and veterans of his own administration – Vice President Dick Cheney and former Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld – reported Woodward.

“Rumsfeld and Cheney and the President made a big mistake in justifying going into the war in Iraq. They put the emphasis on weapons of mass destruction,” Ford said.

“And now, I've never publicly said I thought they made a mistake, but I felt very strongly it was an error in how they should justify what they were going to do.”

The Bush administration's initial justification for the war was that Iraq posed a threat because it had stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction. None were found."

I'm sure you'll find many more articles on the web, in the papers and all over TV. I was watching the morning news at 7AM, when I found out what was going on with the Ford inverview that Bob Woodward had and promised to keep "quiet" until his death.

I'm not happy with the way the war effort is going in Iraq, but would it be better to pull the troops out and fight the war here at home?

Shopping For Food, Etc.

We all have to try and save money on our daily expenses. One of the ways I manage to stretch my food dollar is to shop at the 99 Cents Only Stores. I believe they are limited to CA, AZ, and NV (Las Vegas).

All kinds of canned goods, bread, bagels, english muffins, fresh fruit and vegetables, frozen foods, pet food, detergents, cleansers, automotive, tools, eletrical, and all for 99 cents or less! Yes, some of the items are 2 for 99 cents. A six pac of Shasta Soda (both regular and diet) is 99 cents, plus CRV.

Some of the Orange County stores sell 750ML bottles of wine. Call ahead before you go to see if the store has a wine section. We've sampled wines from CA, OR, and WA as well as world wines from South America, France, Turkey and Austrailia. For 99 Cents a bottle, it's worth a try. Each store has a different stock, so not all of the wines are available at any one time. Both reds and whites are stocked. We've yet to be disappointed with our choices on wine.

I guess I'm not alone. Even the "rich" like to save money, because I see Cadillac's, BMW's, SUV's and Mercedes' in the parking lot along with me. If you haven't checked them out, do so.

Think of a breakfast for 4 for $4 (or for 2 for two days)....a dozen eggs, a package of turkey bacon, a loaf of bread for toast, and a package of frozen hash browns.

Pre 65 Medical Expenses/Insurance Coverage

One of my major gripes is the continuing annual cost increase of Medical Insurance coverage for the year's prior to reaching Medicare.

I was a salary employee for my entire career in aerospace. For over 20 years, my company covered Medical for the time period from retirement until you reached Medicare. This usually required you to have a combined total of 85 points in age plus years of service, or be over 50 with 30+ years of service. Then, they decided it was too expensive, and it was dropped....no coverage for the period between 55 and 65.

They gave us COBRA, which lasted for 18 months in my case. Then I had to go out and buy my own Medical Insurance, which is deducted monthly from my pension. I retired at 58. I'm now 62, soon to be 63. This coming year, starting in Jan. 2007, for the So. CA region, my monthly medical premimum went up over $125 a month to about $535. A little over 5 years ago I was paying about $185 a month. In other words, in 5 years, my medical has increased 3X! This is for the less expensive HMO. For PPO coverage, my monthly premimum would be over $800 a month.

In my case, my monthly retirement is locked. I get no cost of living. The amount I get is fixed for as long as I live. Fair? No, but I try to look at the glass as half full.

One of the keys to existence in retirement is money management. You need to be aware of this when you choose a final place to live out your retirement years. During our last annual retirement party (usually held in Laughlin, NV in April) my ex-Manager told me he had moved to a Southern state where there was no HMO. He lived in a small town of about 4,000. His Medical Insurance premimum for he and his wife was $2,000 a month!

I don't know about you, but many of the medical personnel in my plan have English as a 2nd language...boy, are they hard to understand!

How about you folks? How do you hold down medical expenses as seniors?

Welcome To RAP!

Hey, it's Christmas night, 2006, and I'm sitting here on the web, waiting for my wife to finish cleaning the kitchen. She just finished, so I'll make this short.

I thought that it might be interesting to have a spot to allow all us old, retired aircraft and/or areospace worker's a place to post and talk about anything and everything related to our life and interests.

I'm open to what any of you have to say or offer....so good night for now.