It's all about the Dog

In her book, “Simplify Your Life,” Elaine St. James reminded us that “…pets don’t simplify your life.”  She goes on to say, however, that “…a well-trained dog, while not simple, can be a true joy to have in your life.”  We have Ty, an eight-year old black (well, mostly grey) pug.  And Ty is coming with us for the summer adventure.  

He’s already had his first trip in the fifth wheel – when we took our “Maiden Voyage.”  He’s figured out that his kennel will be outside, his bed will be inside, he will sit on whichever rocker doesn’t have a towel on it, and he will sleep on our bed.  What he hasn’t figured out yet is that he’ll need to be restrained while he’s outside.  Campground rule – all dogs must be on leashes – and the campground host has to set the example.  We’re scheming on a system of ropes rather than chains.  When we figure it out I’ll take a picture and post it. 

Ty has always liked camping.  He’ll get several walks a day, since we can’t just send him out into the back yard.  He likes other people and really likes other dogs, so he should be a great addition to the Hoop Lake welcoming committee.

We’ll be traveling into several towns on our days off, so I researched which hotel chains allow pets.  Turns out that Choice Hotels – which includes brands such as Comfort Suites, Comfort Inn, Quality Inn, Sleep Inn, and Clarion Hotels – are all pet-friendly.  At least, that’s what I read on their web sites.  We’ll be sure to sign up for their rewards program.

Of Bags and Baggage

Over the past several weeks I’ve been cleaning out my cubicle.  No small task – I’ve been in the same cube for over 10 years.  I’m getting there – one bag at a time.

On Wednesday I got to the bottom desk drawer, and under a pile of three ring binders I found four books belonging to a former co-worker.  I haven’t spoken with her in years – not since a particularly ugly incident outside of work seriously strained our relationship.  Yet, when I found the books, I brought them to work with the intent that I would send them to her – interoffice mail – once things became a little less raw.

So now the books are on the top of my desk – the desk I will be vacating in 12 business days.  I have to do something.  The right thing to do, of course, is to pick up the phone and call her.  But I soooooo don’t want to do it.

For all these years I have been sure she blamed me, and I’ve been afraid of her reaction to my reaching out to her.  I’ve stewed about it for two days, all the while hearing the wise words of eight-year old Kevin in “Home Alone.”  “Call her.  If she won’t talk to you, at least you’ll know and you won’t have to be afraid anymore.”

I looked up her phone number this morning.  I see that she’s on our Instant Messaging system.  Chickened out on the phone call and sent her an IM.  “Please ping me when you have a moment.”  One hour passes.  Then two.  Then three.  And finally, I get a response.  “I’m available now.  Please give me a call.”

The story has a happy ending.  I called.  I explained.  I apologized.  She was delighted to hear that I had the books; she had feared they were lost forever.  We caught up.  She is well and wishes me well in retirement.  Who knows when our paths will cross again, but when they do it will be on good terms.

I carried the heavy box of her books down to the mail room with a light heart.

Ready to Retire - Really!

My name is Cheryl – but everyone who has known me for longer than 5 minutes calls me Cheri.  Today I turned 56.  One year ago today I began blogging about my journey in getting ready to retire.  Today I can say with certainty that I am in fact ready to take the leap into retirement.

I have seventeen business days to complete at work.  I expect them to be action-packed.  I wondered aloud to a former manager if I would really be able to get everything done before I left.  She gave me the sage advice that I would not – and not to let that bother me. 

It will take nine people to replace me.  That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. J  In reality, my position is not being replaced.  No surprise there – many businesses are scaling back and my employer is no exception.  I sincerely hope that my retirement will make it so someone else stays employed. 

I see retirement as both an ending and a beginning:  A new job and lifestyle as a campground host.  A new career as a writer.  And a new look for this blog.  I AM ready to retire – really!

The journey begins…

Health Insurance 103

I thought about opting out. 

My medical insurance premiums will cost me 4 times as much as a retiree as they do as an employee.  This was expected.  We planned for this; we budgeted for this.  But now that I’m seeing the numbers face to face and realizing that for the next 10 years I’ll be paying this bill directly – no more having it deducted from my paycheck before I had a chance to miss it – it’s given me cause to reflect on the state of health care in our country.

Reflection #1:  Health insurance is truly a benefit.  A benefit that, according to 2010 Census Bureau data, 1 in 6 Americans does not have.  

Reflection #2:  I am fortunate to have access to health insurance as a retiree.  Many corporations are not offering coverage to their retirees, no matter the cost. 

Reflection #3:  From May 31 to June 1, the only thing about me that will change is that I will be a retiree instead of an employee.  Why are retiree health benefits so much more expensive?  It’s all about risk, and the numbers don’t lie.  People my age and older have more illness and tend to recover from accidents more slowly.  Insurance companies have to mitigate their risk by charging more to everyone in the “pool.”  Once again, I did the math, and it would be a lot cheaper to skip the hefty insurance premiums and just pay for the preventative services that I use every year.  But I won’t opt out.  I’ll buy health insurance – for the same reason that I insure my cars and my house – to protect myself and my family from catastrophic loss.

Reflection #4:  As I ponder the debates over the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, I realize that “affordable” is a relative term.  I am choosing to afford health insurance, and I refuse to feel guilty because I can make this choice.  But wouldn’t it be wonderful if nobody had to choose to go without health insurance because they couldn’t afford it.

So aas I hear about the indiviual mandate and why the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act won't work without it, I think I see what all the fuss is about.

Easy Being Green?

Our “summer home” site at Hoop Lake will have no electricity except for what we bring with us.   We’re on our own to power all the creature comforts we’ve come to know and love.  The fifth wheel is set up to run lights on battery power and to run the refrigerator on propane, but it depends on plugging in to a power source to run the television, the stereo and the microwave.

Laptops and cell phones and iPods – oh, my!  How are we going to keep these charged?  There’s an app for that!  It’s called an inverter.  An inverter takes battery power and converts it to the 120v power we’re used to plugging into.  Quite literally, it’s DC-AC.    Paul installed an inverter the week we brought the fifth wheel home, and wired two powers strips – one to the inside and one to the outside. 

Later, in May, we’ll install solar panels on the roof.  The solar panels will keep the batteries charged – keeping that DC flowing into the inverter and powering my small appliances.  The inverter will power the coffeemaker, the satellite radio, and the curling iron – in addition to charging our electronics.  

Running the television, the microwave, and of course, my hair dryer will take more power than the inverter can provide.  If we want to use these, we’ll have to start the generator.   We don’t anticipate using the generator very often.  It is gasoline powered and it’s very noisy, and we’d hate to pollute the pristine environment at Hoop Lake.  If we get a streak of bad weather we’ll have to use the generator to charge the batteries, but otherwise we’re hoping our solar panels will generate enough power to keep the batteries charged.  

This is a great opportunity to prove our ability to use green energy and minimize our carbon footprint in our high mountain home.

Facebook 101

Facebook was founded in 2004 by Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg and his college roommates.  It was probably founded in their dorm room since I doubt there are many garages on the Harvard campus.  Why I am telling you this?  You’ve probably already seen the movie. 

I haven’t yet seen the movie, but I’ve finally gone onto facebook.com and set up an account.  Before I did so, I took the time to read all the privacy information and learned how I can control what is on my Facebook site.  This was a good thing.  The security geeks that I‘ve worked with for so many years worried (and continue to worry) about how easy it was for hackers to get personally-identifiable information (PII) from Facebook pages.  Turns out I didn’t have to put too much PII in at all, and I don’t have to display any of it – even to my “friends.”

And friends – wow!  The algorithms that Zuckerberg and company created are just amazing.  I had found 19 friends in the half-hour it took me to set up my profile!  As of today, I have 74.  In contrast, it took me weeks to get 16 followers on Twitter. 

I didn’t even have to consult the kids.  My daughter signed up right away to be my Facebook friend.  I don’t expect to hear from my son, though.  What self-respecting 25 year old man wants his mother as a Facebook friend? 

This could be scary time consuming.  In fact, one of my new “friends” warned me not to become obsessed.  I’ll do my best.

Being Social

My good friend Charlie once wrote, “Be social or be irrelevant.”  While I was busy working for Corporate America, being irrelevant didn’t seem too bad, but now that I’m about to reinvent my life, I’m thinking relevance may be a good thing.  

While I’ve always enjoyed being “found” in LinkedIn, I haven’t really focused on promoting myself.  It’s time to change that.  I updated my LinkedIn profile a few days ago.   Finally completed my profile, added a photo, and joined a couple of groups focusing on writing.   I’ve even posted the links to both my blogs!

Back to Charlie, who taught me the ins and outs of Twitter over margaritas in St. Paul.  Of course, after the salt and lime wore off I realized that I wasn’t ready for any of my friends to know just how close I was to retiring – yet, so the Twitter account I’d created for this blog was out.  No problem – I’d just create another one.  I sent my first Tweet using the new account from the Minneapolis/St. Paul airport.

 

I’ve been maintaining two Twitter accounts for nearly a year.  I say maintaining because in reality I didn’t do either of them justice.  Compartmentalizing myself made me seem shallow – dare I say boring – in both places.  It’s time to pull myself together and consolidate my Twitter accounts.  I’ll be inviting all my followers @cherylrtrr to follow me @cheri0429.  

Sigh – I guess I’m going to have to join Facebook next.  Good thing I have children to show me the ropes!