London bridge is falling down

It happened. I am retired as of 13th of this month. For some reason it is not the joyous occasion I was expecting. Don’t get me wrong it is great to be retired, it just that struggle at the end, kind of like a fish out of water. I have been watching the Vikings on Netflix. That is my reference to London bridge. In season one they bring it down. This was a mixed blessing for them. For the Vikings they won by capturing of the boy king of England, but they still needed him initially to get the noblemen inline. It was a joint rulership.

My situation is not unlike this joint rule. I was expecting to retire and still have a per diem job. I worked for two bosses. My supervisor was from the IT department and my director was from the cancer center. Everything went away because my supervisor didn’t act quick enough to get things settled before the hiring freeze was put in place. He thought the job openings he had were exempt from the freeze. Alas he was wrong. Mind you I gave them plenty of notice to get things in place way before the hiring freeze. I had been training my replacement since October and I told them I was retiring when I moved here 18 months ago. So you tell me who made a mess of things. My directory is still keeping in touch with me. She hopes to find a way to bring me back in the next quarter. So all is not lost.

Though all of this my supervisor forgot/didn’t know about paperwork that needed to be filed so that my final checks could be processed through HR and Payroll. Had I not called payroll it may have never happened. It has not been a restful retirement yet. Payroll told me he didn’t file anything. They sent him a letter telling him what he needed to do. They also suggest that I call him too. I did and he had some lame excuses, but it all got processed and two days later I had my money.

I know this is a lot of boring details but it just makes me crazy. So I am putting it all down here. The week before my retirement date I returned to Reno and they threw me a small retirement dinner party. It was nice and the promises of the per diem were still in place. I would get the details the following week. They gave me a leather bound diary for my present in which my co-workers had written nice things about me. In a side pocket were gift cards. I intend to add to the this diary my adventures in travel. Of course, I will probably post them here too.

I am trying to get into this thing. The first few days I was lost. I cleaned house. I organized things. We picked out carpet and flooring for the bedrooms and main bathroom. Now I am searching for the right vacations. High on my list is to see Paris. I really don’t know why but it is calling to me.

Juggling my future

We made it to the home stretch. I am retiring this month. There has been a slight delay. My boss called me with an update on my ability to transition into part time (per diem). Today HR is supposed to inform me of what the rate is going to be per hour. Seems this is an unusual transition for a salaried person to go hourly in my line of work. They may need an extra week or two to figure things out. That is fine with me. I didn’t have my heart set on being a Walmart greeter anyway. Retirement can wait a few more weeks.

I need to know the rate so that I can calculate how that works out for Social Security. If I am under the limit for the year then I will continue with my plan to start SS in March. However, if the earnings are too high I may post pone my withdrawals. There is a requirement that I work 7.2 weeks minimum if I accept this new offer from HR. I can spread that out over the year as I see fit or as the need arises. My rough calculations show that the number will work with SS. But they have to factor in that I am in California now so my rates will probably go up. I check this out on my own too and found that it could be as much as a 15% increase.

I also have my Covered California health insurance on hold. Depending on when my last day is, I may not need insurance in February and can put that off another month. So many balls in the air.

Ringing in the new year

Be careful what you wish for for Christmas. This year I asked Santa for another security camera to work with our Ring doorbell. You see the door bell is on the wall next to the gate that comes into our courtyard, but it doesn’t show the visitor after they have passed through the gate and approached the front door. Now we have as second camera pointing at the door. We can see Amazon delivering our packages.

It looks so innocent sitting on the counter before the install.

It seems kind of unnecessary because we can see them entering the courtyard already. But we also see the neighbor entering her courtyard. Every time she walks the dog and takes the baby out for a stroll, the Ring doorbell sends us an alert. So the thinking was now we will get that alert and if it is not followed by a courtyard camera alert we know it is a false alarm.

Here comes the part that you need to think about. Every time we come an go to the garage, the courtyard camera alerts us. That is all well and good. What is scary is the videos being captured. For some strange reason I see this big balding old fat man coming and going constantly. To make matters worse the lens is fisheye. I am reminded of my visits to my grandmothers nursing home. There was a sweet old lady that shared her room. She clearly was suffering from dementia. But that didn’t stop her from saying, “look at the belly on that guy”, referring to me as I entered the room. My response exactly as I reviewed these videos on Ring.

Maybe this is a wake up sign. I need to do something about this fat guy. I suppose I could put black bubble gum over the lens. Where is Thing?

Circuit Training

I have been disgusted with my self the past few months. It has been too cold to swim and I have not been exercising at all. To compensate for my stress, I have been eating way too much as well. This week I resurrected my circuit training video. I have successfully done it twice this week so far.

If you follow my blog you know this is an exercise program called D-Fit that was presented to me for free by Novo Nordisk, the drug company that makes one of my diabetes medications, Ozempic. Aside for the fact that the breaks are filled with advertising for Ozempic, the videos are well made and helpful. There are 3 levels, beginner, intermediate, and advanced. I am at the intermediate level.

Staying Active

They look like they are praying. By the end I am.

3-Minute Warm Up:

• Leg Swings
• Jumping Jacks
• High Knees
• Squat Jumps
• A Jumps

Lower Body Weighted Workout:

• Weighted Squats
• Standing Lunges
• Deadlifts
• Step-ups

You do this once through and rest, then repeat.

Upper Body Workout:

• Lateral Raises
• Jab Punches
• Bicep Hammer Curls
• Triceps Raises
• Push-ups

Again you do this once through, rest and repeat.

Cardio Workout:

• Standing Ab Crunches
• Burpee Sprawls
• Plank Hold
• Mountain Climbers
• Jog in place
• Run in place

Rest and repeat.

Cool Down:

• Open the gate leg lifts
• Close the gate leg lifts
• Rotate arms forward and backward
• Arm screeches in front and behind your head
• Flamingos
• Hamstring Stretch

30 minute workout is complete

Early family Chirstmas

We spent the weekend in Modesto. That is where our son, his wife, and grand children live, as well as Ricky’s brother. It was an early Christmas, which has become a tradition since we moved away in 2007. They have their regular Christmas as do we, but this is our family Christmas with Ricky’s side of the family.

We used to make a trip to Morro Bay for my family Christmas, but now my sister has moved and our parents have died. My sister doesn’t have a place yet. Should be ready in February. We will visit once she is completely settled. Right now she is living with her son in cramped and primitive conditions.

It feels like Christmas is over and yet it is still on the horizon. We are going to have a quite Christmas at home and dinner in a restaurant, as neither of us are that fond of ham. Plus it seems silly to make all that food for 2 people. We did have a our neighbor over for dinner and used the Christmas plates. The salmon was delicious.

I have been so busy getting everything done early for last weekend. Now I can relax. I am a little tense as my retirement is less then a month way. (25 days, 17 working, but who is counting!) We had a meeting with a financial advisor and that settle some decision we needed to make. I am still waiting for my company to come back with the details of my Per Diem employment after I retire. Depending on their expectations, I may not want to start drawing social security just yet. I have to sign up for healthcare in January too. So many things to occupy my little mind.

I found a topper for the fairy tree. I think a red flower is more organic in origin than adding a star or an angel. Religious and Pegan traditions should not mix.

We went to another art show. I am becoming a big fan on Leslee Adams. Merry Christmas to us.

Take a 15- to 20-minute walk at lunchtime

The list of 50 simple habits continues. I am not taking them in order, rather I am writing about them as I put them into practice. Today we are going to “Take a 15- to 20-minute walk at lunchtime”.

A quick 15-minute walk can boost your creativity and energy levels for several hours.

The weather and an unheated pool* have curbed my exercise routine. But a 2O minute walk around the complex after lunch is doable. So today we are going to Which Wich for lunch and when we return I am going for a walk. Also, we called for a pickup from a local charity to take away some things we have been storing in the garage since decluttering the house, so we are practicing the first item the list as well, “Rid your home of clutter and keep it tidy.”

Exercise is a dirty word for most of us. But it is nice to take a brisk walk around the place and see what decorations people have put out for Christmas. Some of the residents go all out and put up what looks like a Christmas village. Also, the HOA holds a lamp post decorating contest. Maybe we will participate this year. Either way, I will take pictures and post them here at a later date. Pun intended.

*The HOA board has decided not to heat pool #2 as a cost saving measure. That is the one I like the best for my laps. There is another gentleman who lives right next to pool #2 who also uses it for his daily exercise. We are not happy with the boards decision. I could go back to pool #1, of course.

Rid your home of clutter and keep it tidy

I found this list on the internet. It’s titled “50 simple habits for a happier, healthier life”. There are many lists out there from 5 things to hundreds. I am going to explore this one because they don’t list sit-ups or other painful experiences. Also they seem like quite sane endeavors. The first one is “Rid your home of clutter and keep it tidy”.

Having clean, organized surroundings reduces stress, boosts energy, keeps cold and flu germs at bay, and may even make you more likely to eat healthier and exercise more. Not to mention, housework can be great exercise!

MDLIVE

It is true, I do feel better when the world around me is clean and organized. Sitting in this guest room with clutter from different parts of the house drives me crazy. That’s why I organized the closets. That’s also why the dirty sheet and towels are in the washer and not still piled up on the bed. I think I posted pictures of the organized closet before, but my latest conquest was the linen closet which is directly across the hall from this room.

Our gardeners mowed the grass extra short and reseeded the lawn. They also did some major bush wacking. This brings the bugs indoors. There was a large cockroach waving his arms at me from the hallway. He appeared to come either from the bathroom or the linen closet. After chasing him down and depositing him in the outside garbage, I decided to checkout the linen closet.

On closer inspection, there were trails of insect infestation on one of the shelves. Gross, right? So everything came out and was inspected or washed. What a chore. I scrubbed down all the shelves and sprayed Raid. Then I went on-line and ordered some zip up bags to put all the linen in before returning it to the closet. I was able to find the perfect fit for my shelving. Once the bags arrive and the closet aired out, the clutter on the guest bed was returned to the linen closet. It truly was an energizing experience.

Linen closet – Okay, so there are still some junk basket to be leery of when searching for things, but the linen is safe.

A very fairy Christmas

As you can see we are decorated for Christmas. We had company for Thanksgiving and since no one is coming for Christmas we did it all quite early. However, I didn’t have the Fairy tree on Tday. It seems a shame to put in all this effort for just us. Ricky has added lights to the outside too. Maybe we need to have a little cocktail party for the neighbors.

I have 15 fairies and counting. I posted pictures on Facebook but Ricky said not to call them fairies because I would be asking for snide comments. I really don’t thing so. They are fairies, but I just called them Santas and elves to make him happy. No one reads this blog so no worries.

Two trees this year. Last year I didn’t put out my collection of Mark Roberts fairies. This year they have their own tree.

My first one. The King of Hearts.

The fairy tree.

The standard Christmas Tree.

Miracle Fairy

Presents Fairy

Gingerbread Fairy

Still Spinning

Things have really got me spinning lately. As I said in my last post I am training my replacement. I am trying to prepare for my retirement in January. I have printed out a checklist of things to do provided by HR. And to top it off the holiday season is upon us. We have a guest for Thanksgiving weekend. The house has to be cleaned and decorated. Menus are being planned. Reservations are being made.

Beyond Thanksgiving, Christmas lies in wake. We are getting lists from the children. I have discovered that shopping in person is pointless. The stores don’t seem to have what the kids want. So Amazon and other online venues have saved the day. Things are arriving daily on the front porch. So far no porch pirates have absconded with the loot. We are a gated community, so I don’t think there will be an issue unless it is an inside job. I know my neighbors and I am not worried.

All of this is happening or going to happen and the world is crazy too. Midterm deniers (she who will not be named) in Arizona. A mass shooting at a gay night club in Colorado. (Thank you for that service man who sprang into action.) And Elon Musk…..where do I start. My heart is all a twitter. Apparently, there is a evil spectrum in Mr. Musk’s eyes. At one end is Alex Jones banned for life because Musk watch is child die in his arms. And yet some how MTG and tRUMP are not evil at all and can be allowed, in the name of free speech, to return. Twitter is losing customers at a staggering rate and as far as I can tell tRUMP has not posted any thing since his reinstatement. There is a new place called Mastodon. Kind of ironic since the symbol for Republicans has long been the elephant. Liberals are taking the platform over in droves. In fact, there is a waiting list to join.

To be honest I have never tweeted. Mostly out of fear. You see our HR department monitors social media. I would be living in fear that I might express some view they found distasteful or not in company line and I would be reprimanded or worse yet fired. I solved this issue on Facebook. I only post family, food, and travel. Political views are suppressed. I even went back in time and deleted some pollical cartoons that were on my timeline. I don’t understand Instagram or TikTok. They seem simple enough to use but I feel like a stranger in a strange land. I really don’t want to share videos of myself or pictures to often either. Maybe I am missing out, but I don’t think so. I am a Twitter voyeur. I read the news feed and follow my favorite celebrities. No likes, no comments, no tweets, no retweets.

It is amazing how spending all this time unloading my knowledge into a new employee has exhausted me. Once I am done with my shift I an ready to get off this computer and do something mindless, sleep, eat, streaming. That mindless eating has become a problem. It is too cold to swim although the pool heater was fixed yesterday. I will get back on track soon.

This is the public pool in Palm Desert. Of course, it would mean driving instead of walking out the back door and across the commons. So I have never been.

Merry Go Round

Pier 39, San Francisco

My life is on a merry go round these days. I want to stop and get off but I can’t just yet. It has been a crazy time training the new guy to replace me. I have mixed feeling so joy and dread. I am soon to be retired, like an old horse, out to pasture. The new rabbit is eager to hop into my position, all though he is reluctant at times to take hold of the reins.

I haven’t had much time to think, let alone write down my thoughts here. We did manage a little getaway to San Francisco for Halloween. It was bitter sweet. A lot has changed in the past 25 years since I once lived on the peninsula in San Bruno and worked in the city. (Funny how “the city” means San Francisco when you live north, and Los Angeles when you live South.)

I remember SOMA (South of Market) district being much more fun. It is gentrified now with fancy condos and a new class of people. Some of the old haunts are still there but it just didn’t have the same feel. Oh well, I have my memories.

I am sure West Hollywood is not what I remembered either. We have not visited since we moved, and yet it is so close. When you get old a two hour drive seems daunting and I am afraid of the disappointment that awaits. It was, however, the town I flocked to for my first Pride parade.

We had one (Pride parade) here in Palm Springs on Sunday. I didn’t even bother to check it out. We did go down on Friday night and checkout the scene. It was dismal at best. But there were a few revelers in the streets. I need to sit and that was not possible without waiting in line to get into a bar that is normally half empty. Didn’t happen. Back in the 80s there was no street party here. Palm Springs was a destination to stay at a “gay” hotel and lay in the sun all day, drinking all night, and maybe hit the dance floor. Oh, and wild promiscuity abound everywhere.

So here I am retiring much like most things I remember from my youth have done. Many friends and family have died. So I am lucky to be alive. It is time for a much quieter time of life. I think I can handle it. I can find happiness in new things the other side of the merry go round before flying off into a different kind of eternity.