http://blogs.fingerlakes1.com/road-to-retirement/ Counting the days... en-us Tue, 16 Mar 2010 03:07:07 GMT CakePHP http://blogs.fingerlakes1.com/road-to-retirement/t-minus-29-days-and-counting/ I haven't written in awhile. Guess the death of my friend sort of threw me so needed some time to sort things out. It is 29 days until I retire. One would think I would be excited and I am but..... Friday I received a letter from the State Retirement System telling me things I had never heard one of which is that I would be receiving a check in some amount but it would not be the full amount. Did they tell me how much? Remember I am dealing with the State of New York here...so the answer would of course they didnt. So i freaked out and got on the phone to Albany on Monday and they immediately made sure that someone would call me for a phone interview within 2 days. Someone actually did and they explained things to me like no one else had, so my retirement is back on. I think the thing that I need to remember is that I have to have faith however I have been acting on the basis of fear and that never is good. On a lighter note we found a canoe. I had pretty much given up on the canoe. I said to Norm..."Norm I am giving up on looking for a canoe, if God wants us to have a canoe one will appear" So off I went to the grocery store and on my way back viola (not the stringed instrument) there was a canoe sitting in the front yard for sale, It had not been there when I left for the store. So we walked down the street and Norm negotiated an excellent price and we carried the canoe home. Apparently it was kind of a spectacle as people came to talk to us as we walked down the street. It is aGuman aluminum canoe. Oh i should mention here that I asked the guy when he put the canoe for sale and he said he put it in front of his house in the morning. God is sneaky, but I like that about him. So now the canoe is on top of the truck with jet ski in tow waiting to go to Canada for the weekend. Now I am excited about that. We get to camp in a tent, ride on the jet ski and paddle the canoe. And so life goes.... Wed, Aug 27th 2008, 10:45 GMT http://blogs.fingerlakes1.com/road-to-retirement/rest-in-peace-mary-lou-41/ It is really inconsequential that I have 41 days left to retire....My best friend from High School Mary Lou died yesterday. Mary Lou was 54 years old and struggled with cancer for 18 years. She was a couragious woman who never once complained and always went about living her life in the shadow of cancer. I spoke with Mary Lou 2 weeks ago. She had been having a difficult time the past year and she seemed to be coming the realization that maybe the end was near. Never did we think it was that near. I know several months ago she said she was tired and that she had been going through all the treatments and side effects and uncertainty so that her children would have a mother. She was a great mother, a great friend and a great person. I had been thinking about her all week and was intending to call her and ask if Norm and I could come visit and go out to dinner on Saturday. Well I never called and I will be making the trip to Binghamton but for an entirely different reason. Intensions are wonderful but are good only if you follow through.I woke up this morning and the realization that she died struck me...actually an odd thing occured I couldn't get the Waterloo Alma Mater out of my head. So I guess this takes me back to 1971 the year in which we gradtuated from High School. I will have to say that Mary Lou and I had a great time in High School we did a lot of zany things and we laughed hysterically a lot. I guess we laughed until we cried and as the years went on we also cried until we laughed. I sit at my computer wondering why it is that my blogs always return to when I was 18. Is there something that I am missing? Mary Lou and I were standing at the threshhold of our lives....and here we are now standing at the thresh hold of our lives. I know that Mary Lou had tremendous faith so I am sure she is at peace now and that she can live without being in the shadow of cancer. You know what i regret right now? Is that I didn't call this week. If anyone reads this please never put off a phone call or a visit cause you just never know. Tell the people that you love how you feel even if it feels stupid. Do the next right thing. Please say a prayer for her family.....thanks. Fri, Aug 15th 2008, 10:57 GMT http://blogs.fingerlakes1.com/road-to-retirement/nifty-fifty/ I just noticed that I have not posted a blog since last week. Last weekend we went camping at Sampson State Park and I cannot believe that I forgot to put up the tacky light up palm tree. Ah well... we had fun. We went on walks, went to Walmart, what would a camping trip be without a trip to Walmart? We danced under the awning. At the end we would have loved to just keep on trucking down the road. This weekend I am camping with my college room mates at Watkins Glen Race Track. It proves to be interesting. My sister in law and I went today to find a spot and put up the tent. It took us roughly 1.5 hours to do so. Last year we went camping and it took us 5 hours, but it was a different tent. Next year I think we take the trailer. Well Iofficially sent in my papers for retirement. It is now official. The days they are a going fast. I spoke with my daughter today and gave her some sage advise about planning for retirement.Mistakes I made along the way etc. She is only 23 but hey time flys. We both work in Mental Health and so we talk about the ups and downs of our jobs. Well life goes on...see ya next time. Wed, Aug 6th 2008, 17:12 GMT http://blogs.fingerlakes1.com/road-to-retirement/egads-56/ I haven't blogged for a long time. My daughter called me yesterday and told me that I had better get blogging as she liked to read what I had to say. Well let's see what has happened since last I wrote. They posted my job at work. It felt kind of funny seeing it there in the job postings list. I started to panic a little bit. I thought to myselt....self you can always change your mind. However a co worker set me straight and said i couldn't for whatever reason. A bunch of us went to Janice-on-haitus house yesterday. If you ever want to go visit a cool place go visit the fish hatchery in Bath. She lives at the fish hatchery although she has nothing to do with the fish. I spoke with my best friend from High School this week. She has had cancer for the past 20 years. She is having a difficult time. She has been in the hospital. She says that they are running out of meds that will work. She has struggled with this for so long. It was one of those moments when I once again looked back and we were 18. We had such fun and kind of had life by the tail. Life has a way of flicking it's tail though. I was wondering if any of you read this if you could say a prayer for my friend. This weekend I am going camping and taking my light up Palm Tree with me. I am excited by that prospect. Next weekend going to camp with my old college roommates at the races in Watkins Glen. This proves to be a very interesting experience. No electricity or water and surrounded by a bunch of crazy drunks. I am referring to the other race goers not my old college roommates. So not much exciting has occured. I hope not to go so long without blogging. See ya all later...oh wait...if ever you happen to be driving down by Cincinnatti Ohio and go across the border to Florence Kentucky look up at the water tower..It says FLORENCE Y'ALL. Thu, Jul 31st 2008, 20:01 GMT http://blogs.fingerlakes1.com/road-to-retirement/blogging-my-way-toward-63/ It has sort of been an eventful day. I placed an add in my agencies intranet swap sheet asking if anyone wants to sell me a canoe. The response I got was rather surprising. Some employee wrote that no she didnt have a canoe but understood I was retiring and basically wanted my job. Very interesting. It is a desireable job but I think a person can have more tact than that...this of course coming from the tact queen! I then had someone ask me what I was going to do on the next day of my retirement. It's a saturday so I am not real sure I will feel retired. But it is food for thought. I cleaned out my mailbox in one agencies where I have a desk. I know this does not sound too exciting but everyone knows not to put important things in my mailbox cause I don't look in my mailbox too often. Some people don't follow directions to well. So I went about the business of shredding and recycling. Saves me from doing it later. It is shocking to see an empty mailbox. And so time marches on. I have discovered yahtzee online. I don't think this a good thing. It is very addictive. I could play for hours but then I realize I have to go to work. Ah but what will happen when I retire? Will I spend the whole day playing yahtzee and super bounce out? I am not feeling too introspective tonight.The biggest thing on my mind is the tax man and the fact that I get to use my plastic light up palm trees next weekend when I go camping. I will also get to use my jet ski for the first time. I guess I will sign off with this thought DOES ANYONE HAVE A CANOE THAT THEY WOULD LIKE TO SELL? Thu, Jul 24th 2008, 18:16 GMT