90 Day Retirement Checkin

Please pardon a certain degree of typos; eyesight makes it a chore to catch everything.

Ok, it's a little more than  90 days, but I'm not quite ready to embark on Phase II of my IT experiences yet, so a little update on how retirement is going.

First, an update on the major initiatives of my retirement, for keeping myself busy and out from under Anne's feet:   Focus on Health, Chess, Music, Time with Family and vacation time with Anne.

Health.

I'm fairly pleased on this front.   I've been able to maintain an exercise regimen of swimming and walking 4 days a week.    The winter weather has been really beautiful where we live, making it a real pleasure to walk to/from the gym before and after swim.     I started out doing 13 laps in 1/2 hour (small pool, about 40yards/lap).   Today I did 26 laps - about 1000 yards.   My current goal is to get to 30.  I can easily do this if I stop taking breaks and vacations during my swim.    (A break is a 7 second rest after each lap.   A vacation is a 40 second break after 5 laps).

I must reserve a swim lane one week in advance every day.   You must call after 4am to reserve.   This is not a problem for me since I'm often awake by 4am.   I get lane 3 at 9am, every day.

 am often the youngest person swimming; it's a good exercise for older folk.   I can out-swim most of the 80 year olds and my share of the 70 year olds.   There are a couple that consistently out-swim me, but I console myself with the fact that they are not taking breaks and vacations like I am.

This routine is usually very smooth but there was a little drama this week.   I showed up for my Wednesday swim, got in the pool and did a lap.   There was a young (20's) couple standing at the end of my lane, and they said that they had lane 3.   I knew for sure that I'd reserved the lane, so I said they needed to go double check (them being dry and all).   They did so, and came back with the same report.   So, I climbed out of the pool and walked up to the desk - not far, but dripping wet and cold.   The young lady there informed me that my name had been whited out and someone else had the lane.   I'd had no such problems in 3 months of swimming.   I suputtered and huffed, but did not think fast enough to do anything but harumph off.   I'd been evicted from my lane.

After a shower in humiliation and a chance to think, and went back to the desk and asked how this could happen.   She didn't know, so she said.   I asked to check my next week's worth of reservations - and sure enough, Monday's reservation was missing as well.    Again, I knew I'd made the reservation (a fact I could substantiate because I call on my cell phone at the same time every day.  Yup, ther's the call, 5:05am, 41 seconds long).  I asked for a manger's card and headed home. 

In talking to the manager, it turns out that some members, who have access to the signup list for swimming, will white-out another members name and put their own down.   This made more sense to me than the people I make reservations with every day doihg so, but it's not conclusive.   Bottom line is I'll be triple checking my swim lane reservations every day.

It's been difficult to keep blood sugar numbers stable.   My average (A1C) is still good and improving, but there are too many swings from high to low back to high, and too many lows.   Seeing the doc soon.

Only other thing I'll mentions is that I have two doctors.   My endocrhonologist is 90 years old, and a great doctor.   My generalist MD is a fifty-ish guy from NYU.   I received a notice that my doctor is retiring...and it wasn't the 90 year old, it was the other guy!   So now I have to break in a new doctor.   Ugh.

Music

This part is going pretty good.   I'm getting my studio where I want it, although possibly contemplating seizing half of the garage for a studio expansion.  Anne does not object to this. 

Part of my justification for this is that I believe the next 10 years will see the need for two cars per family start to disappear, between Uber and driverless cars.   If a car can take a guy to work and then drive itself home for the rest of the family's use...I thin a lot of foks are not going to need the traditional garage, especially the older generation (which the area we live in caters to). 

I'm possibly up to two groups recording in the studio; a young cousin will be visiting with a friend from her school singing group, and we'll see what happens from there.

I've been super excited to be playing again with buddies Tod and Ron.   We use the RockSmith Remastered program I've blogged about before.   What a fantastic learning tool.   I've thoroughly learned at least 20 songs, primarily on the bass guitar.    When the trend toward 60-something guys covering 80's music catches fire, I'll be performing once again. 

I can't quite fam with Rocksmith the way the boys can; it's really designed to move from song to song without having to "learn" them.  That unfortunately does not work unless I am very familiar with the song, since I don't see well enough to use the interface in real time.  Still, fantastic learning aid.

Music:  A+

Chess

This is an area I've got to get more in gear.   I've still only played in 2 tournaments.  I play on line, but I have a bad habit of only playing 5 minute blitz games.   This is not good for my chess psyche because I don't see well enough to play five minute blitz, so I lose more than I should and lose foolishly because I'm not seeing obvious things.

I have studied, and do enjoy that.   I've never been willing to study enough and need to concentrate on that more.  I hope to be playing in another tournament in early April. 

I have overcome my fear of the Sophies, but a brief update:   I blogged before about getting beat by a 12 year old girl named Sophi, and Anne got tired of hearing about it.   Last month, my Northwest Chess magazine came in and guess who was on the cover?   ONE OF THE SOPHIES!   I think she's quite the prodigy.   So Anne had to give me that one.

Chess:  C+

Vacations and Time with Anne

We've really only taken two non-swim vacations.   The first was Mexico for a week with friends Tod and Ann.   The second was fairly recent, a short trip to Palm Desert.  Both were good fun trips, and in Palm Desert we ended a 20-year search for a ring Anne likes and she actually let me get it for her.

I was VERY close to being able to go to a regional Burning Man even in Joshua Tree National Park (not far from Palm Desert), but it was short notice and my wingman buddy was unable to go.   My friend Blaine is really into the Burning Man events, and I'm hoping to be able to to the other reginoal later in the year.

We're going to Florida for a week at the beginning of April and will see family as well as visit Connectwise for a board meeting.   

Vacations:   B+

Time with Family

This I hope to see improve, although it has not been bad.

The single biggest pain point here is I really miss my eldest son, William Gregory.   He's working in London, and we're about half-way though his year-long stint.   Very glad he's got the fantastic opportunity to do so, but definitely feeling his absence.

Very fortunately, we get to spend some time with my son Gary and his fiancee Haley - usually after few weeks, but this particular week we've seen them quite a bit.  Always a happiness grenade to see them. 

Had mom's 75th birthday party last week and that was a good time.     60% of applicable siblings made it to the event, as well as grandkids.  Mom was in great form.

Family Time:   C


Outside of the primary missions....


We've connected with friends old and new, and socializing has been a bigger part of our life than it has been for a long time.   I'd say that's pretty much our favorite thing to do. 

We continue to enjoy activities we've always enjoyed - movies, theater, etc.

I've been able to stay on the retirement trajectory.    I've pretty deliberately avoided trying to "check in" too often with my former colleagues (except for social occasions, lie our Scotch Club).    I do not (yet) find myself thinking about another venture. 

Anne's feared twin demons of boredom and the resulting 'being underfoot" have not materialized.   While routine is a big part of our lives, it's got plenty of variability to it and we most often find ourselves asking where the day disappeared to.   I remember being a kid and a teen and thinking that time couldn't possibly be moving slower.   Now, it speeds by.

Definitely watching too much cable news. 

Perhaps because of this, I also find myself feeling very political and even activist.   I am quite alarmed by certain things (which I won't got into in this update), and I'm feeling that the time for complacency may soon be over.

Overall Retirement:   A-



Next:   My IT Journey, Phase II