Officially Retired

[Nor Cal Mike]

Well, I got my first pension check in the mail today. I guess I can now call myself officially retired. Time to head out to the man cave to celebrate.
Mike

[Scatman1]

Congrats. Welcome to the club. Now weekends are just another day.

[waaytoomuchintothis]

Yep. I had to retire ten years ago, whether I wanted to or not (bad heart surgery, scarred lungs), and I''m just beginning to get used to it. The first thing to master is giving yourself permission to sleep late any time you want. After that its all fun.

[pzooc]

Congrats NorCal

1. Retired
2. Living in Northern CA
3. Billionaire

That's pretty much the Trifecta!

I'm jealous.

[ChallengerGuy]

Congrats. I hope there is some money left when I get to retire! Enjoy the new year!!!

[HRWJim]

Congrats man that is very cool. Enjoy. Jim

[2FER SLOTS]

Good goin'...Enjoy!
Dreaming of the day......sigh

[Ember]

It would seem congratulations are in order.

Though many say retirement doesn't mean that the work stops, just the pay packet.

Enjoy yourself doing whatever it is you want most to do.

Embs

[RazorJon]

good going, keep yourself busy

[Florida_Slotter]

Nor Cal Mike,

Welcome to the Senior Men's Leisure Club!

I do not know about you, but I find that I am busier now then when I was working full time. Of course I am busy with things that are things I want to be doing rather then things someone else feels are things I should be doing. It's a completely different kind of busy.

Hopefully you will be able to handle the transistion quickly and efficiently.

You will soon learn nhow to get all those projects under control that you have been putting off for years. It's a great thing. Enjoy it to the maximum.

[Nor Cal Mike]

Thanks guys for the well wishes. I made the adjustment long ago as I was forced out of my trade as a carpenter in the hydroelectric end of a utility company due to a spinal disc injury in my neck. After recovery, my doctor would not release me to my old job so I was pretty much SOL but I did have a vested pension for the 20 years I had with the company. I waited to apply for that pension until the math made sense since applying too early would have hit my retirement pay too hard. This year the math made sense. My school teacher wife has been the primary breadwinner for all of this time while I have been a house husband. I healed up enough to do some of what I did before physically but doing that 40 + hours a week wasn't in the cards any more. I did manage to build up a small client list of folks who called on me to do remodeling jobs are repair on their property on a regular basis. This paid for my hobbies and helped with the big costs that come up from time to time. I may still do some of that work but I can now be more selective about what I do. I have also done quite a lot o volunteer work in the community and anticipate continuing that. So you don't have to worry about me getting bored no-sir-ee.
Mike

[DAVE]

Nor Cal; Glad to hear you made retirement but sad to hear it was health driven. Fortunately, I am
in reasonably good health, aside from some arthritis. My decision to retire was driven by a backlog
of projects, and the fact that the industry has been in the tank for ten years and shows no real
signs of recovering to the level it should be. I need to restore the big cars and sell them so someone
else can have fun with them. I have plenty to keep me busy.

[Quickcars]

Hey Mike,

that's awesome news buddy and good for you!

Enjoy it to the fullest my friend.

Paul

[FootScoot]

I've been retired since March 2003. Almost 10 years now, and I'm still lovin' it. The good thing about it is I make more now than I did when I was working, that's one of the reasons I retired, it was costing me money to go to work. Enjoy your retirement, you've earned it. :D

[dreinecke]

Congrats, Sir! I'm with Challenger Guy - I hope there's money left when I get to retire...if I make it that long at this job!