Michael Cunningham

Am I a Boomer or Gen X? You decide. I’m definitely cranky that’s for sure, but still cute as a button no matter what my family says.

[Michael Cunningham @MCSHCP]

Not bad.

[Michael Cunningham @MCSHCP]

Rigatoni pie. Hope it holds up. Didn’t have enough rigatoni to stand in the senter so I laid them flat.

[Michael Cunningham @MCSHCP]

Is there any sensible world where I need three heart-shaped baking pans?

[Michael Cunningham @MCSHCP]

I have reached the point in life where I am choosing shoes that would have made my sixth grade teacher Sister Mary Frances proud.

[Michael Cunningham @MCSHCP]

Oreos then apple or apple then Oreos?

Oreos then apple!

[Michael Cunningham @MCSHCP]

I am at Costco. I want a hot dog and soda. I am not hungry. Grrrr! 😖

[Michael Cunningham @MCSHCP]

In the mail today there was a flyer inviting me to visit a assisted living/memory care facility.

Is the universe trying to tell me something???

[Michael Cunningham @MCSHCP]

@damintoell Oh great! So now you’re going to make me check out her profile. I don’t want to, but thems the rules.

[Supersonic Redhead🛫 @Supersonic_Red]

There’s a generation a lot of people forget exists. We were born at the tail end of the Boomers, but we are not culturally the same as people born in the 40s and early 50s. We are Generation Jones.

And honestly, it explains a lot.

We grew up in a world that still felt fundamentally analog, but we were young enough to be dragged headfirst into the digital revolution. We are the bridge generation between rotary phones and smartphones, between slide rules and AI, between Walter Cronkite and algorithm driven media.

We remember when there were only a few television channels and the entire country watched the same thing at the same time. We also adapted to the internet, email, forums, social media, streaming and now artificial intelligence. We lived before and after the technological singularity hit everyday life.

That is not a small thing.

People born in the 40s came of age in a post World War II America that was still industrial, deeply hierarchical and institutionally stable. Their formative years were shaped by the Cold War, Vietnam, the civil rights era and a society where information moved slowly.

Generation Jones came later. We inherited the aftermath of all of that.

We were the kids who watched Watergate destroy blind trust in government. We watched manufacturing begin to collapse. We saw divorce rates explode. We were the first truly latchkey generation in massive numbers. We learned independence early because many of us had to.

We grew up with one foot in old America and one foot in whatever this new thing was becoming.

We played outside until the streetlights came on but we also learned DOS commands. We learned cursive and keyboarding. We had card catalogs and Google searches. We went from vinyl records to cassette tapes to CDs to MP3s to streaming in one lifetime.

We remember maps. We remember memorizing phone numbers. We remember life before GPS and before every human interaction became filtered through a screen.

And because of that, I think Generation Jones developed a very unique perspective. We are adaptable because we had no choice but to adapt. We learned technology as adults instead of being born into it. We remember a slower world but were forced to survive in a rapidly accelerating one.

That creates a very different mindset than either older Boomers or younger Gen X and Millennials.

A lot of us also reject the caricature people now associate with “Boomers.” We were not buying houses for the cost of a sandwich in 1965. The interest rate on my first house was over 14% and that was after buying down a point. Many of us got hit by recessions, outsourcing, pension collapses and economic instability just like younger generations did. We watched promises evaporate in real time.

We understand older generations because we were raised by them. We understand younger generations because we had to evolve alongside them.

That’s why the Jones generation often feels culturally homeless. We are rarely discussed, rarely defined and usually lumped into categories that don’t actually fit us.

But we exist.

We are the human transition point between the industrial age and the digital age.

And frankly, there will probably never be another generation quite like us again.

[Michael Cunningham @MCSHCP]

My 15 mile commute in DC takes as long, sometimes longer, than my 45 mile commute in Houston. I find it harder and harder to justify.

[Michael Cunningham @MCSHCP]

Is there anyone still promoting Esperanto? Wasn’t it supposed to be the future of languages?

[Michael Cunningham @MCSHCP]

I don’t so much run as go on fast walks sporadically broken up by slow running. But today I went over four miles for the first time in about three years.

Frankly I’m exhausted. I feel like I ran a half marathon.

[Michael Cunningham @MCSHCP]

@alexthechick And Carl is a Coastie to boot!

[Michael Cunningham @MCSHCP]

Go ahead and try to tell me Bill Withers wasn’t one of the greats!

https://t.co/CXgT2NEcff

[Michael Cunningham @MCSHCP]

Oh, yeah! A new memory foam bath mat! Ah, luxury!
(Yes as a matter of fact I do realize how pathetic my life is.)

[Lloyd Legalist @LloydLegalist]

Wait until you see the difference in the owners.

[Michael Cunningham @MCSHCP]

@TheJasonAnspach and @RealNickCole, just finished Escape from Red Eye. Wow! Loved it! Can’t wait for Bounty at Star’s End. Two things:

1. Nothing bad better happen to Sammy, and

2. WRITE FASTER!

[Michael Cunningham @MCSHCP]

The Infant was rear ended last week (not her fault). Insurance adjuster has been great. But the shop is saying the damage is far more expensive and now the insurance company wants to total the car. Really not what I wanted to hear. Sigh.

[Michael Cunningham @MCSHCP]

In my defense I did not intend to buy two packs of hot dog buns but I was overwhelmed by dreams of summer…

[Michael Cunningham @MCSHCP]

Me: For the love of all that is holy please stop buying bouillon cubes!

La Esposa:

Me: We have chicken, vegetable, something in Spanish! We have enough!

La Esposa:

Me: No more! (Knowing full well she won’t check the pantry and buy more.)