Welcome to the 116th Carnival of Boomer Blogs. This crew has been a joy and a great resource for as long as I've been privileged to be part of it, and this week is no exception. Given the economy and all, let's start with John Agno of So Baby Boomer. John, always wise, warns us this week that early withdrawals from Individual Retirement Accounts and 401 (K) plans are a "No, No!" because they trigger taxes and penalties that can really add up. Good advice, no?
While we're on serious "boomer interest" topics, we'll move to Wesley Hein at LifeTwo. This week he's writing about HBO's multi-part documentary on Alzheimer's Disease. The underlying message is that Alzheimer's can no longer be ignored. I've actually seem some excerpts and would concur.
That health issue is part of what makes Janet Wendy at Gen Plus "mad as hell" and she's not going to take it anymore…maybe.
On another side of the economy, let's talk business. Andrea Sternberg at The Baby Boomer Entrepreneur asks: "With Twitter you can have conversations with a large number of people, but do these twitter conversations convert to actual sales? That question haunts many small business Twitter users and is the main thing", Andrea says, "holding others back from giving Twitter a try." You'll find her answer to this dilemma in her post Make Money with Twitter – Is It Possible?
Also on the business end of things: do you ever feel like a loser? The Midlife Crisis Queen did often after she lost her job. This is how she dealt with it.
One of our founders and leaders, Rhea Becker, reports from Boston on The Gemini Web "I can't read my favorite magazines any longer without eyeglasses. I think they're using smaller type. Or maybe it's just me."
On a cheerier note, the Glam Gals (style experts for women over 40) ask, "Have you heard the true story of the woman who overcame having diabetes, while losing 100 pounds and then entered the Mrs. Idaho pageant?" This is a must-read and inspiration story, they tell us. Find out more from FabulousAfter40.com.
Oh – and do you remember watching Art Linkletter? Dina at This Marriage Thing, who loved the show Kids Say the Darndest Things shares some newly discovered gems about marriage "out of the mouths of babes."
Feeling artsy? During her recent travels in the Florida Keys (who wouldn't love that?) Barbara Weibel at Hole in the Donut discovered Stanley Papio, whom some consider an important folk artist, while others insist he was nothing more than a welder with a yard full of junk. Stop by and contribute to the conversation!
In the same vein, Ann at Contemporary Retirement has a video clip of some amazing sand art, crated by Ilana Yahav using just her fingers, some sand and a glass table.
One more travel contribution from Nancy Mahegan at Vaboomer. Ever want to sell everything and retire on a beach in Mexico? Read about real people who did at Vaboomer.com,
Finally, my own contribution is a tribute to an old friend, long-time New York Times Book Review Children's Book Editor Eden Ross Lipson. If you have children you've probably made use of her classic NY Times Guide to the Best Books for Children. She was something special.