I survived turning 60, but will 61 be a bigger challenge?

You been following my adventure as I turned 60, and I thank you for your encouragement along the way. Turning 60 was easy, but suddenly I'm 61 and pushing 62. Life moves quickly at this age.

There are times when I long for the days of being 35 -- what I always thought of as an invincible age. Young, strong and dumb enough to think you know everything. But for the most part, I like my current age. The main exceptions are those daily trips to the medicine cabinet for blood pressure, cholesterol, and other age-related medications. I understand why pharmaceutical companies make so much money. Baby boomers have traded the illegal drugs of their youth for very expensive legal drugs.

The job at the newspaper is still a wonderful challenge -- much more now that we have fewer resources. But I have been blessed being in a business that has allowed me to meet presidents and foreign leaders, and seeing firsthand what has been called the "first draft of history." I've covered tragedy and scandal. And I have been able to fight for the underdog, even as government at times has used all its resources to unfairly overwhelm the innocent. We won a few of those, and they represent proud moments in a 40-year newspaper career.

I also know that when I get a letter from a state prison and the inmate says he's been framed, he probably hasn't been. I have received dozens -- maybe hundreds -- of those kind of letters over the years. But there are a few who are innocent, like the parents wrongly accused in the Bakersfield child molest debacle of the mid-1980s. The newspaper made a difference when it exposed the phony charges and drew a line against the hysteria.

People ask me when I'm going to retire. I don't have an answer for them. I love my job and I think I can still have an impact. If I hit the Lotto, I might change my mind. But until then. . .

Seven days to 60, and a party of nine

It's getting close, folks, and people are already celebrating my entry into the 60s. Hold on here. We've still got a week until it's official. But I'm accepting the earlybird birthday special.

Some members of my family threw me a small party last night, and I'm so grateful for the work they put into this gathering to usher in my 60th birthday. My mother, my brothers and my sister, as well as their spouses and significant others, were there. That made it a party of nine, including me and Jill.

The menu was incredible, steak and lobster, and the meal was topped off with German chocolate cake. We ate, drank and told stories all evening. There was a lot of laughing and a lot of reminiscing. This party went late (considering my age) and we didn't leave Eddie's and Linda's house until 1 a.m. I had a great time.

But I'm not used to partying that late, and when the alarm went off this morning for church. I was very tired. But I made the 9:15 a.m. service and got my usual seat -- fourth row from the back on the right. The seats in the back go first, as Pastor Tim is fond of pointing out.

It was nice having this small gathering with my brothers and sister and my mom. My mother earned sainthood long ago raising five children, including four boys. I'm the oldest child and over the next few years my siblings will be turning 60, too. But right now, turning 60 is all about me.

It's October -- the birthday month

This is the month that I turn 60 -- 17 days from now. But October is a big birthday month for my entire family. My Mom's birthday is Oct. 27, my brother's is Oct. 8 and my sister's is Oct. 6.

Then there's my dear friend Kathy, who also turns 60 this month. She reaches that magic milestone on Oct. 6. Yes, she is older than me -- by 12 days -- and I never let her forget it. In fact, in five days, she will be in her 60s and I'll still be in my 50s.

On Saturday, Kathy's daughter is throwing a big birthday bash for her. It'll be fun. There's a group of our friends who have birthdays this time of the year, and we've had some great celebrations.

This occasion reminds me of a wonderful list of the most important things invented in the past 2,000 years. The entry that I like the most is reading glasses, which was suggested by a New York professor. His reasoning was simple: Reading glasses have been crucial to our development and "prevented the world from being ruled by people under 40."

So I raise my glass -- and my reading glasses -- in salute to the month of October. It is where this journey to 60 ends, and where another one begins. Cheers.

We're approaching countdown

In two days, it will be exactly two months from my 60th birthday, which is the reason I started the Surviving Turning 60 blog in the first place. The idea was that I'd write about what I'm going through as I get ready for this significant birthday. For the most part, I've written about issues facing people in our age group, but I haven't really explored in any real depth my feelings about turning 60.

I plan to do more of that in what I'm calling the countdown period -- the 60 days leading up to Oct. 18. That begins on Tuesday, Aug. 18. So we'll see where this discussion goes. My hope is for me to get in touch with my feelings and maybe share that with those of you who are feeling the same thing about turning 60.

On Saturday, I decided that I would begin training for a seniors track meet. These are age group events, and my grouping would be 60-65. I chose the shot put because I think I can do this event. I know I can throw the shot better than I can run the 110-yard hurdles or pole vault over a bar and into a pit.

I bought a 12-pound shot to begin training. Nobody sells these things in this town. I finally found it at First String Sports on Blackstone. In the 60-65 age group, they use a 5-kilogram shot, which is 11 pounds. The only one I could find was 12 pounds so it will have to do for my training.

I set up a shot put area in my back yard. Searching on the Internet, I found that I need to be able to do about 35 feet to be competitive and at least 42 feet if I want to get one of the top three places in a meet. My best on Saturday was 24 feet, so I have a ways to go in my training.

This was the first time I ever did this. My technique is bad, and my strength will improve. So with some coaching and weight work, I think I can add the distance needed over the next two months. By my birthday, my goal is to add 15 feet, which would mean a 39-foot toss. There's an event in San Diego on Sept. 12, but I don't think I will be ready that soon.

You should see the dents that a 12-pound ball puts in the lawn. That is one casualty so far, and my arm is very sore, but in a good way. I haven't pulled anything so I didn't overdue it.

Do you think there will be drug tests? They do call some of these events "Senior Olympics." This is the dream (or nightmare)that I have been having:

"Sorry, you have been disqualified. Your drug tests came back positive for blood pressure and cholesterol medications." I plead that they aren't performance-enhancing drugs, and the meet director says, "Well, they're keeping you alive and we consider that performance enhancing. The last dead guy didn't post a score."

This is the time of our lives when battle against the bulge is the toughest

I've been on a diet most of my life and I know it's getting even more difficult to take weight off as I age. I was very active in sports through about age 50, and that helped, although I loved to eat. But I don't play soccer or baseball anymore, ending my participation in those teams sports just before I hit 50.

Now I play golf occasionally. While golf is a difficult sport to play, you're not going to lose weight riding in a cart to your next shot. In fact, you gain weight playing golf. But it's fun. I also have a membership to Gold's Gym and used to faithfully attend four times a week for cardio and weight training. But I've lost my discipline for that this past year. I need to start going again.

I'm actually down about 20 pounds from a few years ago, though, thanks to a low-carb diet. But it's a battle everyday, and lately I've put too many sweet things in my mouth. I call it my "blow-carb" diet because I'm blowing right through carbs.

So what should we do as we approach age 60? The experts tell us, though, it would be much easier to control our weight by walking regularly. In fact, walking 30 minutes a day can help keep the pounds off in your 50s and into your 60s, according to the experts.

"A new study suggests that the more you walk, the less likely you'll gain weight as you age," says this article on the web site MedicineNet.com. "Researchers followed nearly 5,000 men and women for 15 years and found that a half hour of walking per day reduced the usual weight gain per year by 1 pound among women who were the heaviest at the start of the study."

So get out there and walk. No excuse.

We're getting older

The world’s population of seniors age 65-plus will triple in the next 40 years, according to a story in the Associated Press. That would mean that 1 in 6 would be in that age group and that will strain the ability of the United States and other nations to care for them.

"The world’s population has been graying for many years due to declining births and medical advances that have extended life spans, according to the AP. "As the fastest-growing age group, seniors now comprise just under 8 percent of the world’s 6.8 billion people."

In addition, a wave of baby boomer retirements will challenge pension plans and add to rising health costs, according to experts on senior issues.

U.S. Senate to consider sweeping health care legislation

The U.S. Senate next week is scheduled to begin considering a massive bill that would make foundational changs in the nation's health care system. The office of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy released the 651-page bill this week, and proponents and opponents of health care reform are already picking it apart.

But it's time to change the broken health care system. Congress must act now. Those with health problems know all too well how lives can be changed by the cost of care, not to mention the health issues themselves.

News reports say the changes include revamping the way health insurance works, with insurabce carriers having to deal with new rules. Here's the good part: Insurance companies would have to cover Americans with health issues. As we know, the current system allows insurers to duck coverage of people with health problems, or charge an arm and a leg for limited coverage.

That's just plain wrong.

Kennedy's office said there would be proposals that would help disabled seniors and healthy young adults. Taxpayers, businesses and individuals would share in the cost of adding coverage of 50 million uninsured Americans.

There would be a new long-term care insurance program that would provide modest assistance at an affordable premium to help disabled people keep living in their own homes.

Watch this space for more details of the proposal.

Is 60 the new 40?

Not really. In fact, 60 is the, well, new 60. You can't get away from it so you must manage this age sort of like the way you manage the garden. Weed often, but not so often that it makes you tired.

Good things will come with a little water, a little sun and some luck.

This is the first point in my life in which age actually has meant something, although I'm not quite sure what that is right now. I'll let you know through the posts on this blog as I develop answers. But it is a little startling that age has now become such a big deal in my life.

And it does give you perspective that you didn't have at 30 and 40 and 50. So that must be a good thing. Plus, you get senior discounts at restaurants. You can also see retirement on the horizon. Unfortunately, the economic bust has put that horizon a bit more into the distance.

So with my AARP card I venture forth into a world that has a lot of aging baby boomers trying to figure out the same questions I pose. Let me know if you have some usable answers.