Walked Out

Charlie and I walked just barely further than usual this morning, and I am completely worn out.  Not sure why the 10 extra minutes made such a difference, but it did.

I finally got something done on the kitchen yesterday.  Not much, mind you, but something.  Some time ago I took out the old island in the kitchen and then set the new cabinets in place.  Well, yesterday I started connecting the cabinets to each other.  I still have to figure out how to connect them to the floor, and there used to be an outlet in the side of the island, and I am trying to put that in the new island.  Oh well - after doing so much nothing on it I am glad I got something done.

New Week, New Computer

A couple of people asked me if I was having troubles adjusting to retired life.  The short answer is "No", the long answer is "No".  I feel like this is what I should have been doing all along.

In preparation for my retirement I poured a glass full of water on my computer.  It is amazing how quickly and how completely that can kill a computer.  I had been getting by with an old computer that I had not yet discarded, but it turns out that it was not able to run some applications that I am used to using.  So I went out and bought a new one this morning.  So much for living on a budget!

The newer computer has a much higher-resolution screen than any of my previous computers, so everything looks really tiny.  However, I like having more pixels, so I shan't complain much.

Well, let's see if I can get some work done on the kitchen.

Sleeping In

Last night I stayed up late helping Delkys with some grading, so I did not get up when she did this morning (I know - she still had to).  So I slept until 9:30.  I probably would have slept longer except the phone rang.

Since I got such a late start I only walked Charlie for about 40 minutes.  I don't know how finely he is calibrated, but he was still very antsy after we got home.  Can he really tell it was a short walk today?

I worked a little on the clock-timing application yesterday, but Delkys asked me to go to her class to help with a minor emergency, and I ended up spending the rest of the day there.

I have realized that I do not miss work in the least.  I still feel pressed for time, and I am trying to analyze why I feel that, but I definitely like this new life-style.

Routine

After nearly a week of retirement I am thinking about the (more or less) routine I have developed.  I get up, walk the dog for an hour, shower, eat breakfast (during which time I also do my scripture study) and then move on to whatever needs to be done.  Yesterday that was school work and programming, although I spent about an hour working on the kitchen.  I also graded some papers for Delkys and took my computer to a repair shop to see if they can revive it from the water damage it suffered.

However, the bottom line on that is that I am not in vacation mode.  For me vacation means sitting and reading books endlessly.  As it stands now I may read a little in the evening before going to sleep, but that's it.  Sigh.  Maybe at some point I will have to give myself completely over to a day of reading.

I also had meant to spend more time in the temple, but our temple is closed for maintenance, and I have not planned far enough ahead to drive up to Fort Collins to attend there.

As Charlie and I walked this morning I was watching for rocks to be polished.  Found some very promising areas.  However, at 7℉ I was not too inspired to take off my gloves and pick any up.

Snow Day!

Well, not quite.  I was impressed that with almost 1/8" of snow out there everything remained open.

I spent way more time on school yesterday than I meant to.  I ended up re-investigating a charge of copying from last semester, and that required a lot of work to recover everything that would have been easily available on my old system.

Yesterday also included my first trip to Home Depot since retirement.  It is a lot less crowded during the day than it is at my normal times.  Of course, I bought the wrong size heater filter, so I will be going back today.

When I got in the car yesterday I realized that I had always listened to conference talks in the car, but now I spend very little time there.  I will have to come up with a new routine for listening to conference talks.

Wasting Time

Many people asked me what I was going to do with my time in retirement.  Unfortunately, yesterday revealed one answer - Waste a day reading news.

So today I am working more diligently.  I have walked the dog 4 miles, taken care of one phone call, and have graded a bunch of assignments for my online class.

However, avoiding wasting time may be one of my biggest challenges.  *Sigh*

First Day

So this really is my first day of retirement.  I got up to see Delkys off to work, then I went back to bed until 10:00.  I got up meaning to take Charlie (the dog) for a walk, but before I could do so there was a friend at the door.  He had a carton of chocolate ice cream and said he had come to celebrate my retirement.  So we sat and talked for an hour.  It turns out that he is between jobs, and so had the time to do this.  Amazing.

Why is this day different from all other days?

Apologies to the seder for appropriating my title, but today is different.  I have done all the things I normally do in preparing for work, but when I conclude work today I am done with work ... forever!

All of this provokes different thoughts in me: How will I use my time wisely in retirement, what sort of a daily schedule will I follow, how will I budget my money with half the income I used to have, etc.  But I realize at no time do I ask myself if this is a good or appropriate time to retire.  Apparently I am pretty sold on the idea that this is.

I did think about the pictures we have of the children dressed for their first day of school, and briefly thought about how I was dressing for my last day of work.  But I have never yet taken a selfie, and I don't think today is the day to start.  You will just have to take my word for it that I am dressed pretty much as I was for every day of work before this.

Quick Introduction

John D. Reading - Husband, father, grandfather, son, brother, software engineer, Primary teacher, adjunct professor, home teacher, friend, neighbor.  Seems like there are quite a few titles I can claim.  Tomorrow I am going to add another one to the list: Retiree.  After some 35 years of employment with four different companies I am leaving work - hopefully for good.  No more going to work every day, no more paycheck.  We'll see how those two realities balance out.

Since leaving work also means leaving behind pleasant associations that I have formed over the 20 years with my most recent employer I decided to start this blog as a sort of a window into my day-to-day life.  I really am not sure what will end up getting included, but I hope at least to give some idea of how life is treating me, what I am accomplishing, and some of my thoughts on life.  It is not, of course, just for former coworkers, but anybody who has enough excess time to wonder what I am doing.

Let the adventure begin!