It may catch you by surprise — I understand one reason why people downsize when they get older. Keeping a large house clean and tidy can turn into a full-time job. No one counts on house cleaning becoming difficult. It seems like such a simple thing, yet those chores pile up. We hate the idea of slowing…

Every place is eerily similar. That’s good and bad — If you’ve ever thought about running away from where you currently live, you should know that some things will look the same no matter where you go. This could work for you or against you. I can see similarities between cities because I have lived in 17 places across the…

Knowledge is not always enough — I thought getting my wife through her knee replacement surgery would be easy peasy. I had concrete proof of the necessity of her doing the rehab exercises, yet I was shocked to discover how hard she would fight to keep from doing what she needed to do. I had surgery on both hands a year and a half ago. Both hands had…

At least, that’s what biographies are saying. I beg to differ — There’s an annoying quirk in the biographies I’ve been reading lately. I’m at a point in my life where reading the stories of musicians who were big when I was young is fascinating, mostly because I met and spent time with many of them throughout my 30-year radio career. It’s…

I guess a $16 beer gets you thinking — It was a bright, sunny day yesterday. A buddy and I were in the third to last row of Oracle Park, watching the Giants and Phillies duke it out. I had a beer and a hot dog in hand, and a bag of peanuts was on the seat next to…

It’s now a bizarre mix of the past and the future — I’ve been afraid to go into a library for eons. I’m worried that the moment I walk in, alarms will go off, telling the staff I have two books I forgot to return 50 years ago, even though I’m 600 miles from the library I borrowed them from. …

They contained lessons you should know — “How many years have you been married?” When I hear this question, they’re really asking how long I’ve been married to my current wife. But what if I took the question literally? Instead of replying with eight years, what if I gave the actual number, which is 27? When I married my first wife, we were both…

Too hot, too cold, too hot, too cold — The eternal battle rages on. What to set the house temperature to, and who decides? It’s right up there with what music to listen to and, of course, the Big One: Deciding what to have for dinner. The temperature war is probably the most complex since there are many variables…

There are trade-offs — Living in a tourist town can be amazing. There may be beautiful views or interesting places to visit any time you want. It can also be challenging. I have lived in more than my share of big and small tourist regions, and these five things are good to know if…