Boomers, boxing and making a difference

I'm in a movie! Yes, I finally made it to the big time.

 

Actually I'm just a big-time fibber. I'm not in THE BOOMER LIST, a documentary airing on PBS this fall.

But my bloggy friend and fellow Life@50+ attendee Mindy and I did get to pose together for a faux movie poster of the film. The movie poster posing was all part of the fun at the Life@50+ event.

After yesterday's post in which I showed you some of the work part of my Boston trip (as if that was really work), I figured that today I'd show you some of the fun.

Community Day of Service
In addition to having the opportunity to pretend I'm a film star, there was the Community Day of Service, the traditional kick-off of Life@50+ conventions. Participating in making a difference in the hosting community — this time it was Boston, of course — requires rising early and gathering with hundreds of other volunteers. After words of inspiration from AARP ambassadors James "JB" Brown, Pepper Schwartz, AARP Board of Directors President Robert Romasco and Dan Marino (above), we volunteers headed out to make a difference.

I was fortunate to participate in the same charitable task as fellow AARP Member Advantages guest, Zippy of Champagne Living. Our chosen mission was to help assemble learning aids: lap desks, flash card sets and books preserved with sticky and surprisingly difficult to work with protective coverings. (Interestingly, coffee for the early-rising volunteers was entirely MIA. Nowhere to be found. Hence my look when photographed with Zippy... and throughout much of that day.)

Despite the lack of coffee, Zippy and I felt good about the couple of hours we put in covering books for the kiddos of Boston.

 

Magic time
One of the AARP Discounts booths was manned by a magician. Unfortunately, I didn't get his card, and I can't recall his name. But his hijinks and sleight of hand kept The Gypsynesters (that's Veronica above) and me, plus a few others, under his spell with impromptu magic tricks. Such fun — and such a bizarre optical illusion he dazzled us with, courtesy that spinning wheel.

Kinect Boxing
AARP TEK (Technology, Education and Knowledge) provided an astonishing array of techy trainings, information and fun in the Exhibit Hall. It was impossible to pass by the Kinect Boxing space without giving it a shot. So giving it a shot — and a jab and an undercut — Mindy and I did. I'm a pretty good Wii bowler, but I'd never tried anything on the Kinect. Let's just say Mindy was far better than I was, knocking out her animated opponent in no time.

(A quick plug for AARP TEK: This arm of AARP provides immensely useful, free information for the 50+ crowd on anything and everything about personal technology, including social media basics, online safety and more. They offer workshops at Life@50+ events as well as online tools you can access from home. Do check them out.)

Selfie training
Mindy and I ran into our bloggy friend Jen Reeves while in the AARP TEK area. Jen is a master of technology training. She works for AARP TEK and helps get boomers and older up to speed on personal technology. She even teaches how to take the perfect selfie. Jen provided some useful selfie pointers for Mindy and me then snapped a shot of herself and her selfie students.

 

A perfect end to some perfect fun.

Stay tuned: I still have more from my Boston trip that I'll be sharing with you soon — a post on when Mrs. Laura Bush spoke at Life@50+ (my first Secret Service-approved media access event) as well as a post featuring my favorite photos from my trolley tour around Boston. Yes, it truly was a jam-packed couple of days.

Today's question:

Thoughts on any of the above? (Yes, my brain is mush right about now.)