I’ve come the full circle

The other day a young former coworker asked me if I missed being at work. Looking at his grin, I knew it was a rhetorical question, but I played along, and said, " hell no." As I'm preparing for a two-day seminar in Corpus Christi (tomorrow and Friday) I know I should've said “I missed the seminars, we went to."

I worked for a company who had "money up to the Yazoo" and wasn't afraid of spending it on its employees, goodwill, or experimentation with the latest techniques. I remember being chosen to go on a seminar for the mere reason that it would be my first. I went to the library and checked out a big book, bought some pens, pencils, and a notebook to take notes. To my surprise, I didn't read a page out of the book and the writing tools, and the notebook became part of my children's school supplies. I remember feeling guilty because the company was paying for what I thought was a vacation because we were staying in a four star hotel,eating some great food,getting away from the workplace,touring a big city ,all on the company’s American Express card. As we were approaching the Victoria city limits, the guys handed me some notes to be part of the presentation I was going to write. I knew there was a catch. I should've put so much work into the presentation because the only parts that perked up my fellow coworker’s ears were the parts about where the cheapest cold beer and best breakfast establishments were. The rest of the presentation fell on deaf ears and was filed away.

I acquired what little computer skills I have, on the company's dime, by going to seminars that taught Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, but I was expected to help my fellow coworkers every time they needed to use those software applications. It was a wonderful tradeoff. Seminars soon became tiresome, so I went for years without volunteering to go on one, but I did enjoy my last two seminars on " Cohesion in the workplace" and another called " A matter of Respect" the latter was mandatory. Women were just coming into the workforce as a matter of standard practice, and we did need this seminar because I was dumbfounded when I heard some of the questions from some of my old prehistoric coworkers. One question was” what should we call 'em,"Ms Jones, Mrs. Jones, or ma'am?" The lecturer said, " how about Linda?"Then an old war horse stood up and said, "If they want to come into a man's world, how much are we expected to help them?" The lecturer was ready for that question; he promptly said" as much as you expected your fellow coworkers to help your favorite nephew." At the first break, I over herd the speaker say that the old coots were more afraid of what their wives thoughts than the made-up problems they were asking about.

Come to think about it, I'm fortunate enough to witness some major changes in the workplace. We've come a long way from that initial meeting when I was working for the Texas Highway Department where the foreman said," we were forced to hire our first black man; we don't have to socialize with him. I choose not to myself, but he is to be treated with respect, and I won't be easy on you if you're caught being disrespectful to this man." That wasn't exactly a ringing endorsement but in the late 1960s, that's about as good as it was going to get, especially in the south. We never had any racial tension, but it wasn't because we were warned; it was because we weren't racist to begin with.

I'm looking forward to tomorrow's seminar because it breaks up the monotony of retirement. I enjoy listening to the lecturers as they put some clarity about the subject that I'm interested in. I especially enjoy mingling with people from San Antonio, Houston Austin, Kingsville, and places in between. I enjoy getting their perspective about all sorts of topics.

I've learned that you don't have to overindulge in coffee, cookies and sodas merely because it's there. However, as always, come Friday afternoon around 4:15 P.M., my books will be stored away, and I'll be looking at that clock more than I will be listening, because it's a great feeling, knowing that in a few minutes, I will be on my way back to good ole Victoria, Texas.

Saturday morning I'll hear the usual complaints  ,when I take my wife's Prius ( I gave up on dual ownership a long time ago)  "I had to readjust the seat,mirrors, and change the radio stations back to where they were."

It’s not so bad

Today is a better day even thou my wife is smiling from ear to ear thinking, she has bailed me out once again. When I got home and told a story about my free iPhone that didn't happen; all she heard was $100. She stated the obvious," I would've ask to speak to the manager" but little did she know, I would've had to wait in line another hour to see him. She finally found a buyer for my Blackberry for $100,as one of her friend's nephew wants to buy it. In a little bit I will go to Sam’s and exchange the 8 GB iPhone I paid for yesterday, for a 16 GB iPhone, A pretty good deal, or as my wife says," What would you do without me?" I can see where this “chicken or the egg" incident could go back and forth.I left wondering  as to how Sam’s Club can be that much cheaper than the ATT store.I can understand a little bit more but $100 more!

My day of relaxation will start with the Texas vs. Oklahoma State at 2:30 this afternoon, and when it ends, the Texas Rangers vs. Detroit Tigers will start shortly after. We are supposed to squeeze in the movie “Money Ball" with Brad Pitt sometime this weekend. It's one of those all sports weekends because tomorrow it's the Cowboys vs. the Patriots at 3:00. My wife loves baseball, but I wonder why she picked “Money Ball." Was it Brad Pitt or was it because the movie is about baseball? We got dinner tickets and a movie pass as one of our August wedding anniversary gifts this year and my wife decided that this was the movie to use them on. In between that, I'm going to have to find time to synch my iPad to my new iPhone the and learn the in and outs of this new gadget. The life of the retiree can have its pleasant staying busy moments.

It has been relatively quiet at the forum this past week, except for the thread about the Advocate staff blogs. As usual, the topic turned around to be about all blogs in general. I enjoy the staff blogs because they are factual and informative, but I didn't know that they were required to write one. Perhaps it's their way to keeping the young staff writers aware of current events, sharpening their writing skills, and getting a general feel for the readers they are trying to reach. In his response to Geni's blog, I saw where BOstinks said that the best journalists are the ones that people vilify and the worst journalists are the ones everyone love. Really, it's not about the writing style, substantiated material, and persuasive style? I live on a different planet from the one BOstinks currently resides on. Then again, he likes the combative radio talk-show format.Another poster thought that others were the cause of people leaving(not him) but if you followed his advice the forum would be lively again.The forum does what the forum does.

It's funny how that works because one of the last things I did before retiring for the night was, respond to Legion's post, but I think that led to me having a dream about my old job. Things would be different today because I would win every argument about politics because my opposition wouldn't have time to keep up. Then again, I wouldn't have time to blog so it all evens out. I do miss that verbal exchange, the laughter, and the tongue tied answers that you don't get with the textual exchanges. You don't know if the person you're having a discussion with left of his own accord, or, because you angered him.

I would like to think that the recent rain cooled everyone off for a while, so they can enjoy this Texas version of the fall season.

The routine of one retiree

The Sam Houston construction project has finally hit my neck of  the woods,so now I'm going to have to use alternate routes. Using the routes is not so bad; it's remembering that's usually more difficult, after so many years of taking the same route.  The Palmwood to Sam Houston inlet will be a one car at a time lane, most of the day.  I'll get used to it because I haven't used the Red River to Citizens Hospital in a long time.  Progress, sometimes you love it, sometimes it's not so good.

Now that my wife is retired, she's gotten into this kick of using everything in the freezer and the cupboards before we buy more groceries ,except for the perishables.  I guess that's a pretty good plan but when she was working, her mind was elsewhere, now there's a to- do list, a grocery list, and a cleaning list on the refrigerator.  I Hope this is just a retirement phase she is going through and things will eventually get back to normal. I wonder if she'll notice if I throw out three boxes of hamburger helper,that I have hidden in the back of the cupboards?

Right now I'm getting tired of Rim, the makers of  my Blackberry cell phone, having so many problems.  Their stock prices are dropping quickly and the company might not be able to stay alive.  They've already taken a backseat to the iPhone.  This concerns me because I may have to go exchange my Blackberry for an iPhone( probably at a discounted price) before my  will be rendered useless.  My wife is no help, she says why do you need all those fancy applications; then she takes out her basic phone and emphasizes that she gets over 90% of the calls in our plan, with no need for the other features.  That might be a good thing because I believe there's a app for organizing and another one for making casseroles from leftovers...:-)

Retirement is great but one should always keep their mind occupied, unless sitting on the porch and watching cars go by is good therapy for you.  I will never succumb to staying home and watching television all day but my wife asked a question, I didn't have an immediate answer for.  She asked " what's the difference between writing a blog or surfing the web and watching television?" I'll have to work on that and get back to her. -And she'll hold me to it.  I've always thought traveling would be ideal but as you get older,being behind the wheel for 12 hours is much harder.  I think we can adjust to it by driving 8 hours, resting, and continuing on but we'll see next year.I wonder who will take my grown married children’s car to get inspected,do an errand they forgot, or tend to the two spoiled furry cats we have?

I met an old friend

I met an old dear friend that I had retired with, way back in December of 2002. He was a couple of years younger than me, but he had more tenure, and worked a lot of overtime. He retired with a better pension and a hefty converted ROTH IRA. It was the younger age that got the best of him because he really needed to work. At age 55, he had a lot of things he wanted to do because he just couldn't sit around the house. He was a typical workaholic, but it paid off for him. I had been dreaming and making plans to retire five years before the company made us an offer. We would be stupid to refuse. Some refused and were eventually laid off without the same severance package. They said that they had to pay off their mortgage or their children's college tuition but we had one that wanted the company's 40 year award and another who didn't want to share his pension with his ex-wife. I believe wives have caught onto that trick by now; I believe they receive their share upfront in the divorce proceedings. We had guys who took a lesser paying job assignment and refused over time to keep their child-support payments low. After my retirement I heard of an old supervisor who had to return to work shortly after he retired. Our company mailed a letter to the retiree’s first spouse informing her of her legal obligations. The story that was told was that she took him for ½ of his retirement and a portion of his future pension. She had a good divorce lawyer but some spouses didn’t. I remember hearing a story where the wife was in a bind for money, didn’t want to pay a lawyer, so she settled for about $25,000 but no calculated future earnings.

I was in Sam's Wholesale the other day for just a few minutes before I ran across my friend. I'm sure the other customers complained because two old geezers were tying up to shopping lanes with their empty baskets, reminiscing, laughing and joking. When I finally asked him what he was doing these days; I couldn't help seeing how anxious he was to tell me about his small construction business. He just got a contract to renovate an office building, one house and two apartments with his eight-man crew. He said that he pays them pretty good, but he laughed when I asked him if he takes taxes out of their check. He invited me to drop by, but I bet he thought I was going to be a no show. I'm retired, what else do I have to do? I waited a few minutes while he was telling his employee what to do, and then I had to walk sideways because he was laying down some tile and only left a narrow pathway. He gave me the grand tour and talked like he had the situation well in hand. My friend is a jack of all trades, but he's a master of all of them. Have you ever met someone who succeeds at everything they do? When we were workmates, he never aspired to be a supervisor, but when things got hectic; he was the go- to person. I'm sure he felt stressed at times, but he never showed it. He had a reputation for being "Cool Hand Luke." After I retired, I asked a couple of supervisors why my friend never got promoted. They both said that the first time his name came up; he was turned down for lack of social skills. He didn't attend company functions, and he didn't always toe the line. They reminded me that in the latter years, applicants had to put in for a supervisor's job. He never did.

My old friend reminds me of some classmates who made it through school effortlessly but I had to study all night just to come up with a C. When our company was making the transition to computerize everything; he was right there keeping up, while we were hunting and pecking, backspacing and starting all over. The man was an aura of self -confidence. He told me that a couple of years after he retired, he sold his home and downsized to a smaller one, so he could afford to start his business. He had his pension and savings, but he was so confident he was going to succeed. He didn't use his savings or even think about getting a business loan. That's confidence; I can't imagine telling my wife that we were going to sell our home, so I could have enough money to start a business. I think that he should have borrowed the money to start his business and if it didn't work out he could've cut his losses and paid off the loan with his savings. It worked out for him, and even though he is 62 years old, he's thinking about building another home. He once told me something that I will never forget. Our severance package included about $5000 for continuing education or retraining. I was 57 at the time of my retirement, so I said “I’m too old to go back to school" and he replied “how old will you be in four years?" It took me awhile to realize he was saying that age should not be impairment. That's easy for him to say.

She finally retired

My wife and I have been looking forward to the day when we both could turn off the alarm clock forever, and do whatever. I made the first move eight years ago when my company decided to make me an offer I couldn't refuse. The one year severance pay, payment for my vacation accumulated, a pension, and a program called income leveling allowed me to receive the equivalent of future Social Security benefits until I reached the age of 62, was too attractive to turn down. My wife turned in her resignation about a month ago but yesterday, retirement became a reality for her.

My wife thought that she was going to leave her job without much fanfare but as she punched out her timecard for the last time, she was asked to meet her boss in the break room. As she opened the door she was surprised by a lot of her old friends who showed up with gifts, a giant card signed by everyone and a cake, to enjoy a good cry and share well wishes. Of course they all promised to keep in touch and do lunch sometime but sometimes that is just the customary sendoff. I hope not because I always look forward to reconnecting with my old workmates.

When she came home I thought something that happened because her eyes were still all puffed up. We finally completed the full circle with a planned family dinner last night at La Tejanita. As our grown children were making suggestions as to what my wife could do with all of her free time, she looked at me and winked because that's the same thing that they did when I retired. My wife has been working since she was 16 years old, so I'm sure  her decision to finally retire has not fully set in. That's why I will give her the space and approval, as she tries different things to keep herself occupied. That's what she did for me.

Some of my my younger friends( who would ever thought I would be calling someone 55 years old,my younger friend) have their goals set to retire at age 65 , so they can receive the maximum benefit. That's their prerogative and a worthy goal but maximum never entered into my thinking. Being able to attend my grandchildren's events, being out of the rat race, and keeping the stress levels down may not appear on a financial printout but they should.