Retirement Ahead

So, I'm looking at LinkedIn and I got to thinking, I am looking toward retirement in the next couple of years, what am I doing here?

Then I got to thinking, what will I do there...

I need to start thinking about what I will do once I am retired. I hope I won't have to continue working, but I do want to keep active so that I have a long and happy -- or at least contented -- retirement.

So what does something to do during retirement look like?

1. Keep Active
   I think I need some interests which will keep me active. I'd like them not to be yard work or such, but something which keeps me moving.
2. Keep the Mind Active
   I need things which will keep my mind active. Don't want to lose the circuits once I give up thinking for a living.
3. Keep Involved with People
   Because I'm not much of a joiner, I think I have to make a special effort to keep involved in the community and in contact with people. The Internet doesn't count. I mean real contact -- face-to-face.

Retirement: Volunteering

Days Until Retirement:

• 22 work days
• 45 calendar days

I just signed up to volunteer for Habitat for Humanity Restore shifts. I will start after 1/1/2020. I wanted to volunteer for something where I would be more active than my current day job which involves sitting at a desk all day.

Volunteering here allows me to pick shifts. This is good as I also plan to travel some and I can skip the weeks/days when I will be on the road. It will allow me to be around people and will also serve a good cause. I'm looking forward to it.

Retirement Getting Close

December 31, 2019, is approaching. As of today I have

• 46 calendar days
• 23 work days

People ask me if I'm excited. I'm not sure excited is a good description -- but definitely ready. I have been unemployed one day since I was 14 years old. That's 56 years of working.

• 675 Months 24 Days
• 2,938 Weeks 3 Days
• 20,569 Days.

Wow! I'm ready.

People also ask me what I will be doing. Will I consult? Right now, I think the answer is I will volunteer. But, I want to volunteer in something at which I can keep active, not sit at a desk.

I also plan to travel. I'd like to have the money to go around the world, but I'll start with something a bit more local. My wife is still working, so I'll probably just get in the car and go to places I haven't been. Perhaps just turn down the road that I pass as I have traveled in the past the thought, "I wonder what's down there." It's time to find out.

News Junky?

I have come to the realization that I may be a news junky. I do spend time on sites which have news on them. Some of my regulars are:

• Feedly
  An excellent RSS site.
• Facebook
  Yeah, I know.
• Twitter
  Ditto

There is one thing about Facebook and Twitter that I hate. That is THEM selecting the order of things I see for me. I want the new presented in chronological order (maybe reversed), but I don't want some service selecting what I see first. I don't care whats trending or popular or has the most likes. I don't want some algorithm determining what I "prefer". I want the new simply presented and I will decide what I want to read and not read and in what order.

Enough said.

Retirement Thought

It seems as I near retirement (81 days) that things at work are more irritating. I work in a job where I have to do on-call, and it seems things are going somewhat bonkers. I definitely will NOT miss this part of the job -- although my employer is excellent to work at. I think it's more me than the actual job. I have been unemployed one day since I was 14, so it's has been a long slog and I am just ready to not work.  OK, I'll work, but not at a job, if you know what I mean.

I need to keep busy, so will come up with something to do. One of the first things is to lose about 20-30 pounds and get into some shape other than that of a ripe avocado. The next is to make sure that I do things around the house. Then to come up with something to keep my mind and body active.

PG&E Power Outage

I have been watching TweetDeck and the Tweets about the Northern California power outages. It's interesting. Most are irritated by the blackouts. Some are ranting about it being "communism". Many are complaining that PG&E has not maintained it's equipment over the years in favor of shareholder profits and executive bonuses. I think many of the comments may be valid. Some complaints about their web site which was overwhelmed by people seeking information.

As an interesting aside, KCRA 3 in Sacramento reports that there have been 50 fires reported in the Sacramento area over the past day. Six were residential and commercial, the remainder were grass fires. Maybe there is something to this wind thing?

[By way of disclosure, I'm not affected either at home or work as we are in the SMUD control area.]

Retirement Update

I am retiring 12/31/2019. A new phase starts. Now I just have to figure out what to do.