Second part of answer to Question 2
Things I did last week:
Tea with George (Earrrl Grrrey – we don’t drink beer anymore)
4 Bags of Lime from the hardware store
Library (pickup book i special ordered "A perfect Mess")
Watched Lila (2 days)
Fixed Snowblower Shear pin
Gas for lawn mower (who says I never plan ahead?)
Trash to dump (85% recycle)
Update blog
Played about 6 hrs on World of Warcraft
Daily Walks (well almost daily)
Got burning permit
Renew subscriptions (Penthouse, Martha Stewart Living)
Shopped for Tax software (decided to wait until last minute)
Replaced color Ink Cartridge (cripes $30!)
Shopping at the market – 2 or 3 visits (I only buy the freshest produce and meat)
Cook dinner (nightly)
Laundry (2 loads)
Breakfast with Maury
Bank (Check to make sure SS check was transferred)
Lottery tix (no winners yet)
Read “The God Delusion” and “Mere Christianity”
Viewed 2 movies "The Departed" *** and "The Prestige" *
Grill shopping (waiting for sale)
Limed lawn (deferred from last Fall)
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Who has time for a job?
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3/31/2007
3/27/2007
How I Spend My Time Part 1
Some of you have expressed feelings that range from mild annoyance to puzzled amusement that someone who is not-currently-employed (NCE) doesn’t seem to have the time to update his blog with more regularity.
If you were my “boss” who was paying for me be somewhere at a scheduled time and produce some “work” I might feel obligated to explain to you. But why should I account for my time to some internet freeloader – who is very likely sitting in an office pretending to be doing “work”?
Since I have been NCE for more than a year now, People often ask me “Are you retired?”
And,
“What do you do with all that free time?”
Answer number one:
I think so; I am not looking for a full-time job. I don’t think I could squeeze a full-time job into my schedule, right now. I am pretty busy. This is not to say that I would not pursue a great opportunity to make a lot of money and do something interesting at the same time. The truth is that the likelihood of such an opportunity materializing is remote. So, yes, I think I am retired,
Answer to the second question:
What free time? Most days, I spend several hours sitting at a desk*, surfing the internet or writing fabulous prose or playing World of Warcraft. I read – or at least glance through - two papers every morning, Several days a week are scheduled with social contacts with adult humans for lunch or afternoon coffee/tea. Since my wife is still working 4 days a week, I do the shopping and daily meal preparation. I also have an extensive list of things to do around the house – drilling holes, painting, re-staining the outdoor furniture, repairing the snow blower, etc. Then there are the increasingly frequent visits to healthcare providers for oil change and lubrication. Also the cars need maintenance**. On good weather days, I take a long walks; on nasty days I work out for two hours in the home gym***.
On Mondays, I am day care provider for my 5 month old grand daughter, so that the parents can keep working to pay their credit card interest charges. Twice a month on Tuesdays, I have a writing group that I attend. Thursdays, I have a standing lunch with Maury who is 83 and still in remarkably good health. Fridays, my wife stays home and watches the above referenced grand daughter, while managing my progress on her never-ending “Honey-do” list. I also have the same chores I have always had (going to the dump, yard work, straightening-up the mess so the cleaners can vacuum, that sort of thing).
Many of these activities are the same things working people do, except that I no longer need to cram them all into the weekend. I can do them at my own pace, often enjoying them much more than you workerbees, who see these mundane activities as a mere checklist item to be dispensed with as efficiently as possible.
The big difference is that I am in no hurry, I have plenty of time to dawdle and to consider universal and eternal verities. (he looks out the window and watches a squirrel digging furiously in the lawn. He wonders: is it burying something or digging something up? He certainly seems busy. Where does he go during blizzards? Effing rodents; Where the hell is my BB gun? The beastslayer jumps up from his computer to rummage through the garage looking for something...)
[Time passes]
OK let us return to the question about why I do not have time (or inclination) to update the blog with more frequency. (Phone rings.) Ah, gentle reader, you must excuse the interruption, I need to take this call.
And I need more time to ponder this question properly….come back tomorrow...
==========================================================
* Much like when I was working and getting paid for it.
** These were tasks that I would tend to do “on company time” when I was working.
*** this last part was a fib - I don't actually have any exercise equipment. I thought it sounded more noble than the inconvenient truth: taking a thoroughly undeserved nap on the sofa. (This I was unable to do during my working years).
If you were my “boss” who was paying for me be somewhere at a scheduled time and produce some “work” I might feel obligated to explain to you. But why should I account for my time to some internet freeloader – who is very likely sitting in an office pretending to be doing “work”?
Since I have been NCE for more than a year now, People often ask me “Are you retired?”
And,
“What do you do with all that free time?”
Answer number one:
I think so; I am not looking for a full-time job. I don’t think I could squeeze a full-time job into my schedule, right now. I am pretty busy. This is not to say that I would not pursue a great opportunity to make a lot of money and do something interesting at the same time. The truth is that the likelihood of such an opportunity materializing is remote. So, yes, I think I am retired,
Answer to the second question:
What free time? Most days, I spend several hours sitting at a desk*, surfing the internet or writing fabulous prose or playing World of Warcraft. I read – or at least glance through - two papers every morning, Several days a week are scheduled with social contacts with adult humans for lunch or afternoon coffee/tea. Since my wife is still working 4 days a week, I do the shopping and daily meal preparation. I also have an extensive list of things to do around the house – drilling holes, painting, re-staining the outdoor furniture, repairing the snow blower, etc. Then there are the increasingly frequent visits to healthcare providers for oil change and lubrication. Also the cars need maintenance**. On good weather days, I take a long walks; on nasty days I work out for two hours in the home gym***.
On Mondays, I am day care provider for my 5 month old grand daughter, so that the parents can keep working to pay their credit card interest charges. Twice a month on Tuesdays, I have a writing group that I attend. Thursdays, I have a standing lunch with Maury who is 83 and still in remarkably good health. Fridays, my wife stays home and watches the above referenced grand daughter, while managing my progress on her never-ending “Honey-do” list. I also have the same chores I have always had (going to the dump, yard work, straightening-up the mess so the cleaners can vacuum, that sort of thing).
Many of these activities are the same things working people do, except that I no longer need to cram them all into the weekend. I can do them at my own pace, often enjoying them much more than you workerbees, who see these mundane activities as a mere checklist item to be dispensed with as efficiently as possible.
The big difference is that I am in no hurry, I have plenty of time to dawdle and to consider universal and eternal verities. (he looks out the window and watches a squirrel digging furiously in the lawn. He wonders: is it burying something or digging something up? He certainly seems busy. Where does he go during blizzards? Effing rodents; Where the hell is my BB gun? The beastslayer jumps up from his computer to rummage through the garage looking for something...)
[Time passes]
OK let us return to the question about why I do not have time (or inclination) to update the blog with more frequency. (Phone rings.) Ah, gentle reader, you must excuse the interruption, I need to take this call.
And I need more time to ponder this question properly….come back tomorrow...
==========================================================
* Much like when I was working and getting paid for it.
** These were tasks that I would tend to do “on company time” when I was working.
*** this last part was a fib - I don't actually have any exercise equipment. I thought it sounded more noble than the inconvenient truth: taking a thoroughly undeserved nap on the sofa. (This I was unable to do during my working years).
3/01/2007
Unintended Truths
I did not stay up late enough last Sunday night to watch the Acadamy Awards (or was it the People's Choice?) I don't think I missed anything remotely entertaining or interesting. One missable moment was reported in the papers, where a heavy-set version of Al Gore accepted an award for the so-called documentary titled 'An Inconvenient Truth.'
It's on my Netflix list. By all accounts, he presents a totally one-sided version of politically-smirched scientific opinion, interspersed with some outlandish predictions of Oceans inundating occupied land.
If you were not up late watching South Park re-runs last night, you missed a classic episode, where former Vice President Al Gore shows up in Colorado to warn the South Park community about the dangers of some mythological beast that lives in a Rocky Mountain cave and was about to emerge and wreak unspeakable horrors on innocent civilians.
Of course, none of the adults in South Park will pay any attention to him, despite his arm-waving dire warnings. As they do often, the south park writers nailed it again.
It's on my Netflix list. By all accounts, he presents a totally one-sided version of politically-smirched scientific opinion, interspersed with some outlandish predictions of Oceans inundating occupied land.
If you were not up late watching South Park re-runs last night, you missed a classic episode, where former Vice President Al Gore shows up in Colorado to warn the South Park community about the dangers of some mythological beast that lives in a Rocky Mountain cave and was about to emerge and wreak unspeakable horrors on innocent civilians.
Of course, none of the adults in South Park will pay any attention to him, despite his arm-waving dire warnings. As they do often, the south park writers nailed it again.
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