I’m glad to see gender neutral language appearing on official forms.
My employer recently distributed forms to re-enroll for health care benefits. Unfortunately, the rates of insurance have skyrocketed — an increase of over 25%!
On the form, there were boxes to tick, including “employee only,” or “employee + spouse.” I like that–the gender-neutrality of it. Doesn’t matter, straight or gay, a spouse is a spouse.
What was my response on this form?
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I see or receive this question (or questions related to the same topic) frequently: “How do you determine the right size for police motorcycle boots?”
I own and wear police motorcycle boots — called patrol boots — regularly. Here is how I do it (your experience may be different):
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Someone running for elected office in our home state contacted me the other day to say, “I heard that you and your partner got married. Congratulations. As you know, I am running for [position] and my team is creating ads to air as we run up to the primary election. Will you and your partner join us to be featured in our ad campaign?”
My spouse was sitting right next to me when I got this call. I put it on speaker so he could hear the conversation.
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Ahhh… our early Spring tease weather has arrived. Yesterday and today, the weather and roads were cooperative, and I was able to ride to work. What gear did I wear to keep me warm as well as protect my shirt/tie & dress slacks? Have a photo? Come see…
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I have failed. I have tried for decades to convince the PTB* to exchange the work week with the weekend. That is, give us five days for the weekend and two days for the work week (and, of course, be paid the same pay for two eight-hour days as I earn for five.) LOL, hasn’t worked yet.)
This past weekend was no exception to the “crammed” but productive life I lead.
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My beloved spouse worries about me riding my Harley to work in the dark. I arrive at my office each day very early, long before the sun rises, even in summer when the days are longer. Bless him, he bought me a pair of very bright “motolights,” which are halogens mounted on the front brake calipers at the bottom of the forks. See what they look like…
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I was asked by a blog follower to comment on aging alone. As many readers of this blog know, I look after a rather large cadre of older people who I call my “senior pals.” These people are neighbors and friends of my family, then friends of theirs, then friends of friends of friends… my senior network has grown over time — mostly because I cannot say “no” to a kind face and warm heart.
But this post is not about me or what I do to volunteer my time outside of work. It is about the issue of how older people deal with aging alone.
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I have mentioned before that my spouse retired a year ago. He enjoys staying at home while I go off to work each weekday. He enjoys staying at home while I go help my senior pals or visit family on weekends. He enjoys staying at home while I ride my Harley with my buddies.
He enjoys staying at home… always.
How has this affected my life?
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I enjoy a large variety of boot styles, and have a number of cowboy boots (and some motorcycle boots, too) with exotic skins like ostrich, python, and rattlesnake. I have some boots that are colorful and have fancy inlays.
Most of the guys where I work know that, and I see them checking out my boots each day. Most don’t say a word, or if they do, they often pay a compliment.
So it was amusing to me yesterday that one of the guys looked at my boots and said, “just plain boots?” with a degree of incredulity. What boots was I wearing?
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I received an email with a series of questions from a fashion design student based in Hong Kong, who wrote:
I am doing a men’s boots fetishism (MBF) fashion research. The project aims are finding out the MBF consumer behavior and personal perspective; i.e., how the MBF wear their boots in daily life, how MBF wear boots with clothing, and what they want to express their message form they wearing.
He said that many others referred him to me. Wonder why.
I tried to answer his questions. Here goes…
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