~Saturday~ Bob and I watched Love in the Time of Cholera, which he graciously rented from NetFlix on my behalf. My Mostly Social Book Club is currently reading the book, and I’d already read it in February of 1995, as a member of another book club, The Nematomes. I checked it out from the library, … Read more
~Saturday~ “They” say that in order to be a writer, you have to—well—write. For a long while, ten years to be exact, I did that by writing a blog entry for every day—from January 12, 2004 through January 12, 2014. In addition to that, those of you who know me well know that I track … Read more
~Tuesday~ I was at Bob’s to watch two episodes of Scandal, and when we finished, he asked, “Do you want to watch The Cosmic Man?” I’m pretty sure he was kidding when he asked me, knowing full well that science fiction is not a favorite genre of mine. So, I think he was as surprised … Read more
~Sunday~ Today I worked on the last item in the “Around the house” section of my my retirement to-do list, which was to “clean out and organize my storage shed.” Mea culpa CYA: If anyone reading this entry gave me any of the items in this blog entry that I mention having totally forgotten I … Read more
~Thursday!~ Well, it was day 3 of retirement, and so far I just keep thinking it’s the weekend. I had quite the “productive” morning, as I did a load of laundry and wrote out 5 sympathy cards and 12 thank-you cards to put in the U.S. mail. It actually took me a couple of hours … Read more
~Tuesday~ Well, I can’t speak for all retirees, but this is how my day went. It’s rather unremarkable, but I’m happy to report that I wasn’t bored for a single minute. Overall assessment: It’s not a bad gig. Here’s the high-level summary of my day: Got up after 8 complete hours of sleep. Checked my … Read more
~Friday~ Today after work, some of the wonderful Red Hat people I work with met at Busy Bee Cafe for a farewell celebration of my imminent retirement, on Monday, October 13. The calendar invitation read: John Martin is retiring | Let's celebrate/commiserate Reserving this time to celebrate John Martin's retirement. (His actual retirement date is … Read more
~Sunday~ Tonight I participated in an open mic event for the second time. This open mic is for poets and musicians, and there's usually quite an eclectic mix of each. John Martin blazes through 12 haiku on grammar, sea turtles, men in kilts, and cafeteria divider trays. It was a lot of fun, and … Read more
~Saturday~ Last night I did something I haven't done in a very long time. I read a printed magazine. And I must say (to put it rather mildly), it was not an optimal experience—it was not even a good experience. In fact, I can't imagine doing it again—for another very long while. It was Wired … Read more
~Saturday~ I'm close enough to retiring now, that I'm tracking the days—37 calendars days, 26 business days. It'll all culminate on my 57th birthday, on October 13, 2014. It's kind of mind-boggling to be self-aware of so few actual working days left in a career that has spanned 34.5 years. Well, that actually included a … Read more