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Thoughts on Retiring

Early this morning while lying awake in bed, I did some mental math and realized I will be retiring from my career in IT almost exactly 30 years from the day I started my first job out of college.  It is a bittersweet experience.  While I’m excited about the next chapter in my life and our big adventure moving to Idaho, I’m also sad to bring my IT career to a close and leave my work family.  I have spent 40+ hours per week for the last 30 years solving problems, writing code, implementing systems, learning new technologies, meeting with customers, counseling staff, reading email, and attending way too many meetings. To help me through this change, I started thinking about all the things I won’t miss, like those meetings.  People compliment me on my copious note-taking in meetings.  Here’s the truth, I started taking notes in boring meetings to keep from falling asleep and then it just became a habit.  I started with legal pads and saved the loose l...
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Boulders, A Castle, and a Bunch of Churches and Fancy Buildings

I was probably a little harsh about the B&B last night.  We got up this morning and Norman and Stephanie had prepared a lovely "Kiwi Lite" breakfast for us.  It is their take on the continental breakfast, but Norman said he can't call it that if they're not on a continent.  The table was laden with fresh raspberries, rhubarb, fruit salad, granola, toast, yogurt, cheese, butter, cream, custard, and jams.  Then they passed around hot cross buns.  We shared the tiny dining room with two couple from China.  One couple from Hong Kong spoke English and told us about their trip.  They left their one year old son with the grandparents so they could take a 2 week holiday. On the way from Oamaru we stopped to view the Moeraki Boulders on Norman's recommendation.  The boulders jut out from the beach.   Scientists explain the boulders as calcite concretions formed about 65 million years ago. Crystallization of calcium and carbonates around charg...
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Day 1 – House Hunting in Washington

We are in search of the perfect home for retirement and have decided to look in eastern Washington and northern Idaho.  We’re looking for some land, about 20 acres, with a combination of timber and flat land for a bit of farming.  Of course I’d like a house with views of this lovely land and a nice kitchen.  Should be simple, right? We flew into Spokane this morning and met up with our Washington realtor Chris.  We have spent months on Zillow looking for just the right place and we sent Chris a list of our favorites.  Unfortunately, our number one pick is no longer on the market, but we did visit four houses today.  It’s funny we have been dogging the pictures people post on Zillow thinking they could do better.  After today, I thought “damn, those pictures made the house look at lot better than it really is.”  Of course most of the photos were taken in the spring when everything is green and lush.  Today it is raining, foggy and there is a...
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