shAARP Talk: Observations from AARP

Things are wrapping up here at Life@50+, but not before Kiss's Gene Simmons stopped in for a few interviews and some words of wisdom for the AARP faithful. You may recognize Simmons this way:

However, most of you will recognize him like this:

Simmons's main message: live each day as it comes and you'll never really grow old. Very carpe diem, and I couldn't agree more. You're only as old as you live your life and this year's Life@50+ is just further proof.

Studio 50+ Night Club was packed with dancers on Thursday night. Then on Friday, hyped up fans rushed the stage for the Chicago concert. Despite the weather, thousands of members showed up and listened to the candidates speak via satellite. All in all, a great event and one heck of a 50th birthday part for AARP.

Did you attend Life@50+ or know someone who was here? Post below and do what Gene Simmons would do: Shout It Out Loud

Dr. Ruth joined us on the exhibit floor of Life@50+ to talk about intimacy and relationship after 50. Among many things (including encouraging the crowd to shout "sex!" in unison) she offered some insight into viagra and other enhancement drugs:

"It's all very well," she remarked about the "little blue pill," "but if your wife's not happy with you, an erection from the floor to the ceiling won't do you much good." Besides, she added, "Women don't want to have sex for 36 hours. They want to go shopping."

But best of all, she reminded everyone that the hardest part of sexuality and aging isn't the physical part of it: "The challenge is saying, 'Look how fortunate we are to have each other. Let's make the best of it.'"

Clinton Kelly, fashion guru and down to earth make over man, joined a packed room of men and women who wanted to hear about how to be stylish after 50. Clinton is from TLC's What Not To Wear and co-author of Dress Your Best shared with fans his essential style tips and easy ways women can funk up their wardrobe.

In a press conference, when asked if older women can or should be wearing the latest trends he offered this: "Last fall there were about 20 major trends out. Twenty! Of them, there were probably about 12 that a more mature woman could wear." Well, that makes us all feel better....no more keepin' up with ridiculous fads each year. He also offered that a woman should dedicate at least one day of shopping to getting the basics (classice white shirt, great fitting pants, etc.) so that you won't have to look at your closet in the morning and think, "Hm! Nothing in here works!'

Did we mention he was super nice and handsome too?!

As planned, Bill Novelli, CEO of AARP, chatted with presidential hopeful Senator John McCain in front of a packed room full of AARP members, volunteers and 50 plusers. Sen. McCain answered questions about pre-existing conditions and how his health care plan addressed that, partisan gridlock in Washington and more. He also took the opportunity to tell more than 3,000 people where he stood on the issues and expressed his appreciation for Divided We Fail.

If you watched, tell us what you thought of the half hour chat. If you didn't, check out the replay on www.aarp.org anytime.

Bob Harper, fitness trainer on NBC's "The Biggest Loser," really got a crowd thinking about weight, fitness and developing a healthy lifestyle.

Bob told a crowd of folks that you only need three things in order to successfully lose weight on your own, and they are the three Rs:

Relax: You can't try to do it all at once. Forget extreme dieting and weight loss. You will set yourself up for failure.

Respect: Stop being down on yourself. You are worth the effort it takes to get healthier.

Resolve: You have the power to change your behavior. You can make healthier choices even in fast-food restaurants. You can get up a bit earlier to add a half-hour walk into your day.

For older people seeking to lose weight, Harper recommends cutting junk food, doing cardio and resistance exercises several times weekly, and adding eating lots of veggies and healthy proteins.

Perhaps most important: Set realistic goals. "It's no good trying to look like those models on the covers of the women's magazines," said Harper. "They don't even look like that."

Of course, no event in Washington, DC is complete without a larger than life American president, decked out in red, white and blue AND on 6-foot high stilts!

I can't get the Mr. Clean jingle out of my head now! Mr. Clean himself was here and boy did the ladies go crazy! Check out those muscles! And he cleans too...he's my dream guy.

As promised, Senator Obama joined more than 3,000 AARP members, volunteers and 50 plusers this morning. Bill Novelli, CEO of AARP, asked the presidential hopeful questions about his health care plan, social security and more. Sen. Obama took the time to explain how his position differed from his opponent's and took the time to share his personal perspective on these national issues.

If you watched, tell us what you thought of the half hour chat. If you didn't, check out the replay on www.aarp.org anytime.

Mr. Novelli will be speaking with Senator McCain today at 12:30 p.m. ET - and you can catch that live on www.aarp.org as well!

Check out the video of Yolanda Adams and CeCe Winans talking about AARP turning 50 this year!

AARP is clearly in good company, considering NASA is turning 50 this year too! They've been at our annual member event, Life@50+ with a HUGE set up. You can get your picture on the moon, learn about all the major space missions over the last 50 years and even check out a robotic space explorer (see picture above)!

You know we're bringing the biggest and the best to this year's Life@50+, but perhaps THE coolest? Well, that might be superdriver Richard Petty!

That guy really knows how to drive a car!

Oh Regis, we just can't get enough of you. In fact, we want to know SO much that an AARP member from the Q&A session at our Annual Member Event yesterday asked him if he's a boxer or briefs man. Well, more specifically: "Regis, do you wear boxers, 'tighty whities,' or thongs?"

We were happy to find that he's a boxers man.

Aside from his undergarments, Regis talked about his native home in the Bronx, joining the Navy, and his eventual path to Hollywood. Kudos to Regis for coming out to support and answering our ridiculously personal questions!

I love this. During this week's AARP Annual Member Event this week, one of the highlights I was particularly interested in was their Online Dating panel. Because online love is always worthy of a blog mention!

Did you know that as many as 20 percent of online daters at sites like Match.com are aged 50+? That's right, older folks can not only be single, but also know how to use the internets! Relationship expert Dr. Gilda Carle and Tom Blake, author of the weekly newsletter Finding Love After 50, were on the panel of experts o' love, and gave the audience a number of onling dating dos and don'ts, including:

• Seek friendship first, and build up to a more meaningful relationship.
• Leave your "baggage" behind.
• No prom pictures. Be honest! Use real, current pictures.

But the best line of the panel was actually from one of the gentlemen in the crowd, "I'm not interested unless she has an AARP card and hot flashes."

Awesome.

Tomorrow morning Senators McCain and Obama will be speaking to 25,000 AARP members, volunteers and 50 plusers via live satellite. Each presidential hopeful will chat with AARP CEO, Bill Novelli about the issues and topics that our members, and you, our readers, are telling us matter most this election cycle.

We recently asked folks to submit their questions for the candidates so that we can share them with Mr. Novelli and the campaign teams. So far, you have sent us 12,000 questions! We think it's great, so keep sending questions our way!!

Click here to watch Senator Obama at 8:30 a.m. ET tomorrow (Saturday, September 6th).

Click here to watch Senator McCain at 12:30 p.m. ET tomorrow (Saturday, September 6th).

If you don't catch their chats in real-time, feel free to visit www.aarp.org anytime this weekend to watch them at your convenience. After you're done watching, come back to Shaarp Session and tell us what you think!

Congratulations to David Squires of Hampton, Virginia! This week, Mr. Squires became AARP's 40 millionth member. And in so doing, he won a ton of cool prizes, ranging from tickets to his local Washington Redskins football games to gas cards and a free vacation. So who is David Squires? Just your average AARP member.

A native of Hortonville, NC, David Squires is now a columnist with the Daily Press in Newport News, VA. Over the course of his journalism career,
50-year old Squires has worked for more than 10 newspapers, some African American publications. He was one of the first editors of AOL Black Voices. He is also a husband and father of two. Squires enjoys the various benefits of his AARP membership.

"I really appreciate what AARP does in making a difference in others' lives, as well as the great discounts AARP offers its members," said Squires. "I would certainly recommend AARP membership to my family and friends."

We're turning 50 this year folks! It's exciting for so many reasons (not the least of which is that we can now join ourselves and get all those great discounts!).

We're celebrating at our annual event, Life@50+ with lots of cool exhibitors, concerts, learning sessions and more. Visit our website for more details, and feel free to bring a friend! We're hanging out at the Washington Convention Center in Washington, DC until Saturday, September 6th.

I'll be sure to post some pictures for those who can't be here for the fun!

For those of you workaholics who didn't get away this summer, you might want to consider a group beach house next summer. Yes. I said group beach house.

Contrary to messy, drunken, 20-something belief group summer homes are turning into quite the class affair among those 50 and older. As reported by the Washington Post:

Members are recruited by word of mouth and vetted thoroughly. They work for the federal government, big corporations or defense contractors. They are college professors, economists, political consultants. Many are at the top of their game professionally.

Sounds like a deal to me! Make a note in your PDA to do some research for next Summer!

We ain't talkin' about Dunkin' Donuts either. Via Forbes, we find that last year, about 3.4 million Americans enrolled in the Medicare Part D drug plan encountered a gap in their prescription coverage, otherwise known as the "doughnut hole," leading some of them to stop taking their prescribed drugs altogether.

This comes from a new Kaiser Family Foundation study, which found 26 percent of Part D enrollees who filled any prescriptions in 2007 reached the coverage gap. (Not to mention 22 percent who were stuck in the hole for the rest of the year and 4 percent who eventually received catastrophic coverage.)

Poorna from H.M. Press isn't pleased either:

So let me get this straight, our government forces Medicare onto the 65+ age group, but then most of them who are on numerous medications, some of them very pricey, will "fall" into the donut hole, and many of them may never get back up. This is yet another serious problem with our health insurance that needs to be fixed.

The researchers also found that many enrollees also altered their usage of prescribed medication due to the coverage gap. Kaiser CEO and President Drew Altman reminds us that the new presidential administration is an opportunity for change:

"The Medicare drug benefit has produced tangible relief for millions of people, despite the unusual coverage gap that was created to make the benefit fit within budget constraints... But if a new president and Congress consider changes to the drug benefit, it will be important to keep in mind that the coverage gap has consequences for some patients with serious health conditions."

Check out some more info on Medicare prescription drug coverage at AARP's policy and research hub.

Despite the bad reputation some retirement homes may have, millions of Americans reside in them and rely on them for both housing and medical care. As part of the ongoing effort to improve the experiences of those living in these facilities, many communities have invited pets onto their campuses. Animals can help residents deal with isolation, frustration and many other emotional issues that can crop up. Some facilities bring in animals while others have them on-site permanently. Now the only thing to worry about is whether it is getting near time for your pet to retire.