Welcome to the new and improved Norcalblogs site. In this ever-changing world, everything must change because - well, because this is an ever-changing world. This is America, where "creative destruction" is a way of life.

Change is good and new is good, but for the time being I'm sticking with this old photo of myself. Right now (probably because we live in an ever-changing world) I'm going through a phase. Call it aging hippie. I have long hair and a beard. I don't look like myself. This photo may be almost nine years old, but it looks like the usual me. I could go back to looking that way at any time. Phases don't last.

Ultimately, I'm heading toward a final phase. I will be an old, bald guy. When this happens, I will definitely need a new photo. In this ever-changing world, some changes are written in stone. The transition from young to old is one of them.

It's shocking to think I'm almost elderly. I'm sure 15 million to 20 million other baby boomers feel this way. In less than three years, I be turn 60. I see now that worrying about turning 40 is for wimps. Sixty is a serious milestone.

But why am I so surprised at my advancing age? Listen to how I talk. In this post, I'm making fun of the idea that change for the sake of change is a virtue. If that's not a sign of age, I don't know what is.

I love the belief that some things don't change, including love itself. How's that for an old-fashioned point of view?

In this aging hippie phase, I'm looking at the past and romanticizing it. I like the Sixties more now than I did 40 years ago. I was an awkward teenager in the Sixties. Why would I want to go back to that?

Part of me would like to be hip in a 21st century way. I would like to occasionally surprise my 23-year-old son, who's always accusing me of "geriatricating."

But I'll show him. This may be the last blog entry I will ever compose in longhand. A couple of weeks ago, I bought a baby laptop computer. My son has been giving me lessons at home, but soon I'm going to go out into the world and take it with me to my coffeehouse haunts. Pen and paper will be banished. How cool is that?

I have a feeling it won't be long before I start taking photos with a digital camera, downloading music online and - wonder of wonders - making calls and even texting on a cell phone.

And why not? When was the last time I used a typewriter? Would I ever clean my clothes with a ringer washer, use ice to refrigerate my food or drive a horse and buggy? Of course not. This is America. In this ever-changing world, nothing changes faster than technology. If I didn't think this was true, I wouldn't be sending you this message from blogoland.