Boom This! Lifestyle Newsletter 4/19/02

Boom This! A Lifestyle Newsletter
From Teri's Serendipity (www.tflatley.com)
By Teri Flatley
Volume 1, No. 1 April 19, 2002

Table of Contents:

* Welcome to the first issue
* Serendipity column: In Search of the Perfect Decaf
* After 9/11, Five Helpful Travel Tips
* Vote now! Purple, pink or aqua?
* Looking for the Perfect Mother's (or Father's) Day Gift?
* Serendipity sightings on the Web
* With thanks

Welcome

Welcome to the first issue of Boom This! It's my high hope that you will find things you like here and in future issues, all designed with the Baby Boomer in mind.

I'd like to hear from you if there's something you like -- or don't like in the newsletter (teri@tflatley.com). If you would like to stop getting the newsletter, which I hope to send out every couple of weeks, see address at end to unsubscribe. No pressure.

Please spend a few moments bopping around until you land on something that catches your eye, although reading the whole thing is an option, too.

Feel free to pass along the website (www.tflatley.com) to friends, family, the couple next door, the guy who collects money at your parking lot, the lady at the coffee shop where you get your first cup of joe in the a.m. or to anyone else who needs an occasional lift.

Oh, and for you macho guys out there:
No, the website/newsletter is NOT just a girl thing. If this nasty rumor persists, I may have to seriously consider my brother-in-law Michael's suggestion for subjects worth pursuing (and also worth putting into future newsletters). His suggestions are listed below in the EXACT order in which he gave them to me:

Baseball
Naked Ladies
Auto Racing
Naked Ladies
Football
Naked Ladies
Gambling

Take care.
Teri
_______________________________________________________________

Serendipity
In search of the perfect decaf
By Teresa K. Flatley

When people say life isn't fair, they are talking about decaf coffee. Decaf pales literally and figuratively to a good cup of joe, one of life's perfect pleasures (along with cheesecake, air conditioning and Sean Connery.)

I was raised on coffee. When I was very young, my grandmother used to serve me a cup of coffee heavily laced with milk and sugar in my very own espresso-sized "Bon's Cafe" cup. I probably never actually tasted the coffee, treating the drink more as a dessert than a beverage. But the seeds, or beans if you will, for a lifetime love affair, were sown.

Having experienced the thrill of the dark brew so early, I was inured to the jitters it could create. I could drink coffee anytime, even before going to sleep and still feel relaxed.

I got in the habit of drinking coffee all day long when I was working on deadline in newspaper cityrooms, with the occasional donut to counter the acidic effects.
Chugging the hard stuff -- the stronger the better -- was considered a prerequisite to good writing and a badge of honor for newspaper reporters in those days, a habit which has probably given way to herbal tea in today's politically correct newsrooms.

To count yourself among the rank and file of hard-nosed journalists, you either had to drink bad coffee or smoke cigarettes. I have no proof, but I think those who did both got more than their share of plum assignments.

Today, I manage (and not well) on decaf because coffee's caffeine finally caught up with me. I was buzzing so badly from its effects I could have challenged that pink battery-packed rabbit to a road race -- and shut him down.

I didn't give up coffee easily, though. I tried all sorts of other healthy things first to see if that wouldn't lower my out-of-control stress level. Eventually, I had to face it. My system could no longer handle the caffeine. I had to quit.

It's been almost four years since I've been off the real stuff. Since then, I have been on a private pilgrimage to find the perfect decaf. My search has taken me from coffeehouse to deli to specialty store, but I've always come away disappointed.

The sad truth is that no matter whether you buy the grocery store brand of decaf or take out a loan to purchase specialty whole beans and grind them a microsecond before brewing, decaf is a very poor substitute indeed for java.

To make matters worse, now that I can no longer imbibe coffee, coffeehouses with all their Bohemian ambiance have sprung up on every corner and become the meeting place of choice for all generations. You lose some of the mood, though, when you step up to the bar and ask for a double cappuccino, "oh, and make that decaf."

Clerks give you that "why bother?" smirk, but there is reason to bother. We who can no longer handle caffeine don't want to also be denied the opportunity to "have coffee" with someone, something which goes far beyond what you are actually drinking.

I still call friends and suggest meeting for coffee, which translates into a good old- fashioned gab fest, a true soul-liberating event, even though I can no longer carry through on my own lovely suggestion.

So I will continue my search for a really good cup of decaf. Until then, I know I will have to suffer through my share of bad ones, feeling like an imposter at the local coffeehouse, a Bohemian wanna-be.
__________________________________________________________________

After 9/11, Five Helpful Travel Tips
(Five more in next newsletter)
By Kathleen J. Ganster

As a travel writer with a roaming soul, I have continued to travel as often as I can even after September 11, 2001, but I have made a few changes. Here are a few of my tips to make your travel easier:

1) Electronic ticket (E-ticket) whenever possible. The E-ticket lines are still shorter and you don't have to worry about losing your ticket. Just make sure your itinerary is official and has your first and last name on it.

2) Carry picture ID with you EVERYWHERE. You may want to buy one of those handy little carrying cases that allow you to wear your ID around your neck.

3) Pack lightly whenever possible. A carry-on bag should get you through just about anywhere. You can take it on the flight and don't have to deal with the hassles of tracking down your luggage. This is also a good time to mention mixing and matching. Pack smart so you can get by with a few items of clothing you can mix and match to create several outfits (OK, This actually may be a girl thing).

4) Pack a snack. Since they rarely feed you on board anymore, you will want a healthy snack available for long waits, flights and after arriving late at your hotel. I have always packed granola bars, power bars and crackers when traveling because vending machines rarely have healthy snacks and they are so expensive. If I have something healthy on hand, I am less likely to buy chips.

5) Pack a paperback. Again, for those long waits and flights. Standing in a mile- long security check line is shorter when you have a good book. When you finish the paperback, leave it behind for someone else to read.

Kathleen J. Ganster is a food and travel writer based in Gibsonia, PA. She often travels with her three young children. Kathleen writes The Travel Bag column for the monthly Northern Connections Magazine.
__________________________________________________________________

Vote now!
"Fight...for your right...to vote!"
~ Chris Farley,"Black Sheep"

Since I am what you might call an "avid" -- read that "obsessed" -- collector of all things M&M, I couldn't believe the candy company was sponsoring a new contest and I was one of the last to hear about it But who can stay mad at those sassy guys? If you want to be a part of chocolate history, visit www.mms.com to vote for your favorite new candy color: purple, pink or aqua. If those colors seem too sissified for you, there's a place to enter your personal color choice (Camo? Harley Davidson black? Pigskin peach? There are also free (!) things to download and play with, if you are so inclined.
__________________________________________________________________

Looking for the Perfect Mother's (or Father's) Day Gift?

Amy Lowenstein based her computer manual now in its second printing on the premise that you don't need to know how a stove works to bake something. It follows then that you don't need to know how a computer works to use one. You just need to know what you need to know. And that's what Amy clearly illustrates in her book.

Amy says her 136 page manual entitled "For Grandmas Who Do Windows" is the most practical computer instruction manual available for those over 55 years of age.
Published by Dithridge Press, it can be purchased for $19.95 at Barnes & Noble booksellers or ordered through any book store. It is also for sale on BarnesandNoble.com and Amazon.com (specify 2nd edition). Amy is happy to take questions about the easy-to-use manual at Amypgh@aol.com.
___________________________________________________________________

Serendipity sightings on the web

Now that Spring has definitely sprung, visit www.boomercafe.com to read my column on the warring factions in my green life: deer and weeds. My column "Waging war in the garden" is featured on the site's home page, but if it's no longer there, check out the "Living" listing in the library section to find it.
__________________________________________________________________

With Thanks

The launch of my new website has been just slightly less thrilling than the launch of the Queen Mary. Although they probably used expensive champagne to send that ship on her maiden voyage, we settled for lukewarm decaf coffee, but it was still exciting.

I want to thank Ruth Simmons of Silverleaf Designs (Silverlf.com) who designed a wonderful site for Teri's Serendipity. Ruth found a way to translate my ramblings into a cohesive, easy-to-use, friendly site that has been lauded by everyone who visits. Thanks, Ruth. And thanks, too, to Beverly Miller, also of Silverleaf Designs, for her input in my new venture.

As always my special gratitude goes out to Lynn Hogan-Webster, the publisher of Pittsburgh Senior News, my all-time favorite newspaper. Pretty much all of the Serendipity columns have seen first light in that newspaper and Lynn continues to print my columns monthly even though I am no longer editor. I appreciate her support very much.

I also want to thank Harvey Kart of the Pittsburgh Boomers newspaper who graciously offered to include a link for Teri's Serendipity on his Pittsburgh Boomers website (pghboomers.com). There's much to learn there about life as a Boomer and much to laugh about, too. The only way to adjust to this middle age thing, I think.

Also, kudos to my friends, the other members of the Pittsburgh Professional Women Writer's group (prowriters.org); to Kathleen J. Ganster (www.fyi.net/~kganster/) for contributing her travel expertise to this first newsletter; to Georgene Gallo for her wonderful editing eye and to Pat Marcello (patmarcello.com) for her help with many things over the years.