Dave Carlson tells his tale of retirement

Dave Carlson
Originally uploaded by Brite light photos.

By Dave Carlson

At the risk of turning some of you green with envy (who cares),
let me tell you I'm already retired! I left IBM at 55 with a tidy
investment and a modest pension.

How did I do it? The Swedish way: My wife and I had good jobs with IBM, we lived beneath our means, saved a lot, and invested it. Oh, and a little luck in the stock market, too.

All is not entirely roses, however as my ex-wife ran off with her college sweetheart (maybe that's a plus). But we had already accumulated enough to comfortably split our assets w.o. letting divorce lawyers taking half!

I'm now looking for someone to explore the world with and am "interviewing" lots of interesting ladies (one at a time, line forms to the left, please, and puh-lease, I'm kidding, maybe...). I'm not living large, that's not my style, but I get on the water most weeks and take a couple of interesting vacations every year (planning to kayak in British Columbia or Belize, next year, and Africa is on the near horizon). And that trip this summer paddling down the Colorado River was a hoot!

MIke, I like your idea of living on a boat. No room for inlaws. LOL!

But how do you take a dog for a constitutional in the middle of the ocean? My Akita is too big to be a deckhand! I’m not buying any coastal property, either, cause I don't want to leave it to a marine sanctuary in my will!



I've got a "happy" job, now, as a literacy instructor in grade school to keep me busy and to repay the community for the blessings I've received. Pay is great, more high fives and gap-toothed smiles than you can count! The hours are great and no hassles, either.

And now that I'm retired, what would I change? Well, I wish this rich nation would make health care available to all and would stop killing so many innocent people. How does anyone expect the world to love us when we're bombing the crap out of them??? BTW, what have the rest of you done to help fulfill JFK's, RFK's, and MLK's dreams? Your accomplishments and endeavors would be a wonderful topic for another day/blog!

Peace, y'all,

Dave Carlson
Holly Springs, NC

Allan Winger has joined the blogosphere...

Allan Winger, 1966
Originally uploaded by Brite Lights photos.

CYBERSPACE - Allan Winger joined the ranks of those of us who labor (this is labor?) in the blogsphere with his new blog, announced to most you via email in the last day or so.

This blogging is contagious, no doubt about it.

I listed Allan's blog on my list of links, so you don't even need to bookmark the url - but I still would advise it.

The more hits he gets from people reading, the more likely he will keep writing. It's a vicious, and fun, circle.

I'm sitting at my keyboard, alternately working, answering emails and then jumping back on the blogging bandwagon just for fun.

In my electronic travels through cyberspace, I ran across this poster, with which I can realllly relate.

Tom Priester at Class of '66 40th reunion

Tom Priester at Class of '66 40th reunion
Originally uploaded by Brite light photos.

MAYVILLE, New York - Tom Priester responded to my call right away, for stories about people from the Class of '66 era who have retired.

I saw Tom a month or so before our reunion and, just like at the reunion in Mayville, he was tan, fit and rested. We had him over to our house in Sacramento for lunch and my wife, ever curious, asked Tom what I was like when I was in high school.

He told her, too. I think he used the phrase 'a little squirrelly,' several times in the conversation.

He still gets to wear a whistle a lot in retirement, officiating at track meets, et al. Here's what he passed along...

====================

Tom in 1966

Dear Class of 66

Retirement is AWESOME! You get to play with grandchildren, do some traveling, and especially VOLUNTEERING TO HELP OTHERS. That is very gratifying. You can even visit class reunions like I do.
Give it some thought, first. Be sure you have enough $$$$ for health insurance. It is VERY EXPENSIVE.
Whatever you decide, have FUN doing it. We only live once.
Tom

=====================

So, as a natural leader, Tom Priester went first with his retirement story.

Send me yours, with or without a photo, and I'll post it here...

Cheers, amigos

Fitz

When you know that it's time for retirement

Arecibo beach
Originally uploaded by Brite light photos.

A SANDY BEACH, Earth - The shorter days seem to leave me time for reflection about what the next years will bring. Or it could be the case of wine I started working on this weekend.

Will there be more work? More stress? Less money (due to inflation)?

I try not to dwell on that stuff and instead to look at pictures like the one with this blog. Click on it. Please click on it. Good Gawd. Is that a real place?

Yup.

I've been to beaches like that. In fact I have anchored my sailboat in front of little resorts like that, gone in and had a couple of drinks - the kind they stick a little umbrella in. (NOTE TO TOURISTS: If you actually do get a drink with a little umbrella in it, well, chances are you are paying way too much for it. Move down the beach to the saloon that's short on umbrellas but has bigger glasses with more rum or tequila.)

When I started out as a journalist, the farthest thing from my mind was ever leaving that profession and when I started teaching - nearly 25 years ago - same deal. Retire? Never.

And in way, that's kind of true.

What I look forward to doing is having the time to do rockumentaries, finish book projects, learn the play the guitar better (provided the tendinitis is cured) and sit in the sun. OK, because my dermatologist now reads this blog, what I really meant to say, was sit in the shade with sun all around me.

When I hear the word retire used in the same sentence as my name, I always wince a little, because I expect to be even more busy, retired from the university than I am now, working fullltime+ with teaching and writing for three outfits.

There was certainly a lot of conversation at our class reunion about retirement. I know at least a dozen of our Class of '66 classmates said they are retired - or about to be.

Maybe a fun thing for this blog would be for people to let us know what it's like to be 'retired.' And, if it's not too much self-disclosure, to let the rest of the class know how you swung it in your 50s. Land investments,? Wealthy spouses? Patents? Ponzi schemes?

I know some of the folks I talked with at the reunion were talking about working until the very day they dropped in their tracks; others were buying coastal vacation homes.

I'm not buying a coastal home, mine floats.

But what kind of retirement plans do you have? Enquiring Class of '66 minds would like to know...