A Blog of Retirement and Related Thoughts
I desperately need a new cell phone. But more on that a little further below. Nearly a year after blogging about my rejection of creeping self-consumerism, I am once again taking note of a tendency I have to parse what constitutes as being acceptable in how I spend money. I can literally feel my nose …
Continue reading Wants and Needs Redux
One of my favorite movies is Albert Brooks' "Lost in America." There's a scene midway in the film when he wakes up in a Las Vegas hotel room only to find that his wife (played by Julie Hagerty) is downstairs in the casino losing all of their nest egg. Wearing his bathrobe, Brooks heads down to …
Until I received my latest copy of NARFE Magazine¹, I suddenly realized that I hadn't fully considered all of my post-retirement options. I've thought about employment, non-employment, travel, reading, writing, and lots of television viewing. But one thing I never considered was prison. Prison does offer an opportunity for great writing. Martin Luther King Jr., Oscar Wilde, …
I believe I am only two grocery store trips away from buying the Archie comic book that I've been secretly reading lately. For years I would self-consciously pick up the tabloids and hope that no one I knew would see me flipping through one. These days I could really care less if George Clooney's marriage is …
I no sooner wrapped up negotiations with my ex-wife than my former employer is now causing me problems. This time, however, the issues are decidedly based on those involving red tape and not with the settling old scores. For the last several days I have been trying to make sense of recent changes made to my annuity, now …
My wife doesn't seem to appreciate my songwriting abilities, specifically the most recent one titled "Medicated Shampoo Wednesday."¹ She thinks even less of its companion piece, "Medicated Shampoo Saturday," which in fact is actually the same exact song performed on, you guessed it, Saturday. Like other artists since the beginning of time, I suffer through spoken and unspoken …
After nearly seven months, we are still undergoing a bit of culture shock with the driving habits of Floridians. To put it mildly, the roads and highways here are a bit like the prairies of the wild, wild west. I'm now so used to being followed within an inch or two by other cars that I'm …
One of the gravest of concerns I had prior to retiring was whether my belly and bank account would each meander in an inverse direction from the other. Just to be clear, I am speaking of a fat belly and a thin bank balance. It therefore came as somewhat of a surprise yesterday to learn that I …
Continue reading Wine, Martinis, Popcorn, M&M’s, and… Weight-Loss?
I discovered this week how feeble my skills apparently are with office automation software when I was asked to take a proprietary test given by a local employment agency. They wanted to determine my office "bones," if you will. The results were less than stellar. I have never operated under any delusions of grandeur in regard to …
I no sooner wrote my previous posting about looking forward to a tax refund, then I was greeted 24 hours later with news from our accountant. It appears that my lovely wife's 2014 income far exceeded the good accountant's "conservative" expectations for estimated taxes she paid, and we now have a sizable tax bill owed to Uncle …
