ShAARP Session: Observations from AARP

Love coffee? Love Starbucks coffee? How does a FREE Starbucks coffee sound to you? We think it sounds pretty darn good, especially at this time of day. (*yawn*)

What's the catch you ask? Well just five hours, really.

On Monday, January 19 - which is also Martin Luther King Jr. Day - hit up your local Starbucks, pledge to do five hours of community service work in 2009 and you get your free cup of Joe.

You can read about it all right here.

What do you think about Starbucks getting into the service action? Will you pledge five hours of the 8,304 hours that will be left in 2009 by MLK day? We are! Visit AARP Create The Good for ideas of what you can do - whether you have 5 minutes or 5 hours.

Whether you've had a digital camera for years or just got one for Christmas, chances are you have more than a few digital photos stored up of your family, friends, and pets. Unless you've got one of the cameras that prints its own photos, chances are you're just keeping those photos on your computer's hard drive. But what if there's a fire? Or a flood?

A new company at the Consumer Electronics Show this year was showing off a hard drive that can make it through a fire, be thrown in a swimming pool, and still come out with all its data intact. They even put it through a fire to show us:

If you don't want to go through all the hassle of manually moving those important photos of Grandma and Grandpa over to a backup drive, another company is making a new cable that automatically backs up anything important on your computer. All you need is one cable and an external drive - or just an Internet connection - and their software does the rest. Easy, right?

And don't forget - if you're ever unsure about how to keep your photos secure when you share them online, this video from AARP member Karen Ryan is a great resource.

And you thought the Madoff scandal was bad. Sure, he's under "house arrest" in his luxurious New York apartment, but at least he didn't fake his own death to escape the investigation into his misdeeds. Businessman Marcus Schrenker is accused of erroneously claiming his plane was having trouble, then jumping out of the plane and parachuting to safety in Alabama. It gets crazier though as he then is alleged to have hit the road on a motorcycle he had stashed away. The chase ended when he was surrounded on a camping ground in Florida.

Our friends at www.USAService.org have teamed up with You Tube to sponsor a video competition. Get out your iPhone or video camera and get shooting - the person who has the best video telling what they plan to do on MLK Day wins a personal call from future First Lady Michelle Obama!

Need ideas on what to do MLK Day, visit Create The Good for more than 200 ways to make a difference!

Now, what would I talk to Michelle Obama about first?

Get the details below and get shooting footage.

Today on Capitol Hill, Divided We Fail held a press conference to announce the start of its efforts in 2009. Acknowledging the quick start that Congress and the President-elect have had, AARP CEO Bill Novelli noted that "The president-elect and new Congress have hit the ground running this month, and we're here to help with the support of 53 million consumers, workers and entrepreneurs." The press conference marked the beginning of Divided We Fail working to improve health care and financial security issues in 2009.

Divided We Fail will be working through the upcoming Congressional recess with townhall meetings across the country to take the people's message to their Representatives and Senators.

President and CEO of NFIB Todd Stottlemyer said "If our organizations-business, labor and consumers-can join forces, so can our leaders in Washington. We're just getting started and we're ready to help."

We are just getting started, but it looks like it's going to be a busy year for Divided We Fail.

Take a look at some photos from today's press conference:

AARP CEO Bill Novelli speaking at today's press conference on the Hill.

Sen. Orrin Hatch making remarks.

Senator Dick Durbin made an appearance and spoke at the DWF press conference.

Remember Polaroid? Big, brick-sized cameras, and you could take a picture of your cat and five minutes later it'd be a beautiful printed picture?

I ran into Polaroid at the Consumer Electronics Show, and they're making some new cameras that print pictures without even using ink. Remember how the old Polaroid prints had to sit out on your counter and dry for a painful, long 2 minutes? Not anymore. This is a picture I printed of myself at the show:

They weren't the only ones - there's a Japanese company that makes a similar camera in all sorts of different colors. Check them out here.

Over the weekend, President-elect Obama made a much-publicized visit to Ben's Chili Bowl.

Ben's is a landmark here in Washington and Obama's appearance with D.C. Mayor Fenty made quite a splash. Obama reportedly ordered a D.C. classic at Ben's, a chili Half-Smoke. Afterwards, there was a big scene outside of Ben's when Obama and Fenty emerged to greet people with the protection of their security entourage. Check it out:

If you haven't seen the Golden Globes yet, you should. It's been a phenomenal year in movies and television, and it was great to see who took the cake home last night. (Not to mention the glitz and glamor was pretty fun too!) Some highlights:

• Slumdog Millionaire sweeped in winning awards for Best Motion Picture - Drama, Best Director, Best Screenplay and Best Original Score. Whew!
• The lovely Kate Winslet double dipped for her two wins for Best Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama and Best Actress in a Supporting Role.
• Mickey Rourke's awesome comeback in The Wrestler won him Best Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama. We're pretty proud of this baby boomer!
• Health Ledger won the award for Best Performance in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture for his work in The Dark Knight.
• 30 Rock killed the awards in TV comedy, and the made-for-TV flicks Recount and John Adams dominated as well.

Congrats to all the nominees and winners for a great year of on-screen entertainment. Click here to check out all the winners.

President-elect Obama launched a new public service announcement asking Americans to get involved. Looking for ideas on how to get involved, check out AARP Create The Good or visit www.USAService.org. Here in DC on MLK Day, we'll be weatherizing homes with the free tools provided as part of Operation Energy Save. What are you planning on doing?

With a struggling economy, two wars, and a health care crisis to deal with, President Obama and the First Lady will have plenty on their plate when they move into the White House. Thankfully, one thing they'll have plenty of help with is watching their kids.

Michelle Obama's mother Marian Robinson, 71, will be moving into the White House and helping care for the Obama's two daughters. Mrs. Robinson will be just one of 3.6 million parents living with their children, and surveys show that 24% of boomers expect their parents to move in with them at some point.

Knowing they have a caring role model to look after their children has been a huge help to the Obamas during their years of campaigning and the arduous transition to the White House. Despite the new challenges facing Mrs. Robinson, she fully plans on maintaining her very active lifestyle which at one point included participating in the Senior Olympics.

Although the Obamas rave over Mrs. Robinson's caregiving abilities she fully acknowledges spoiling her grandchildren from time to time, something I'm sure they don't mind.

In case you haven't noticed all the advertisements, February 17, 2009 is still the date when you can't get those analog signals anymore.

Lately, though, we're hearing calls for a delay after the coupons for digital converter boxes ran out - even from President-Elect Obama's transition team. At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, however, the commissioner of the FCC seemed strongly against it - saying it would be a bad idea to confuse everyone by changing the date.

Stay tuned.