I haven't posted a blog in over two weeks. I've been sick for a month with an underlying condition, that I won't go into since it will soon be completely ameliorated, and nothing's so boring as hearing about someone's aches and pains. I recall one of our NCFR conference speakers from a few years back who talked about the health problems associated with aging that will mushroom now that the Baby Boomers are growing older. He said that the list of complaints sounds like an "organ recital."  His wisecrack was a hit with the audience.

Now I have the upper respiratory crud that I caught from a coworker, thank you very much John Pepper. It's not H1N1; no fever. But my voice sounds like Darth Vader, and I feel like a dishrag-wrung out.

There seems to be broad agreement that immune systems are compromised by stress. Hans Selye's famous theories about stress indicated that "Distress" vs. "Eustress" (good stress) can be affected by the individual's perception of the event. White coat folks tell us that distress makes us all more susceptible to opportunistic infections.

What stresses me out?  One source of distress for me, and maybe for you, is all of the passwords I'm expected to memorize to conduct daily living. Here are some. Of course they're all different and all weird.

The code on the garage key pad.

The code on the entry door at NCFR.

My password to sign onto our server for email and WWW.

My password for our Association database.

My password to sign onto our online academic journals.

The passwords for my personal Facebook and Twitter pages.

The passwords for the NCFR Facebook and NCFR's twitter pages.

My passwords for other association memberships.

My password for online banking.

My "pin" number for my cash card.

The code to unlock my cell phone/PDA.

The password to our home voicemail.

The password that allows my laptop to fire up.

There have to be more that I'm forgetting. It's oppressive. Not only that, many of them ask me to choose a new password every few weeks. I wonder if someday each of us will have some kind of universal password?  

This reminds me of the old TV show "Password."  It was a fun game show that featured Hollywood stars competing against ordinary folks. Here's a YouTube clip:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOW9elO_lkc

It's been out as a home board game for decades and is a lot of fun to play. But, sadly, my husband and I haven't played it in years. It was early in our marriage when we last played this game. The object of the game is to give your partner a one word clue and have them guess what the "real word" -the password-is. We didn't do very well, because he gave such screwball clues! (He would say the same about mine!) Let's say the word he was trying to get me to say is "cabbage." Here's how it would've gone, many years ago.

George:  lettuce

Nancy:  salad 

George: red

Nancy: tomato

George:  gas

Nancy: You're deranged. I have no idea where you're going with this.

George: Sauerkraut

Nancy: cabbage!

It always took us a minimum of three tries. Now, however, many years have gone by, and we should try it again. Like all long-married couples, we now speak in a shorthand language that is full of inside jokes and references known only to the two of us. We finish each other's sentences which, after all, is the whole purpose of the Password game.  Now in middle age, we could probably trounce a younger couple at Password.

Oldyweds?  Want some Eustress? Try a round of Password with some newlyweds.