Thursday, February 20, 2003

The bookkeeper comes. She has braved the rain. It's lunch time so FFP wants friend catfish and salad. Gayle fries it. She's a better cook than the rest of us. Let's say in another league. We all eat.

I tell Gayle I need to figure out a basis for one of our stock sales for the taxes and I got a different number than she but mine was an estimate. I help her look for statements and we call the broker to see when he says the splits happened. (Of course, the tech boom brought all these splits and then you had piles of worthless stock.) I tell her she will probably come up with the same figure but she says she needs to make it all balance. I think I'm bothering her standing over her so I go downstairs. I fold laundry.

My mother-in-law calls. She had a bad dizzy spell in the night. The doctor has recommended some over-the-counter meds for decongestants and motion sickness and wants me to go to the drugstore. Time to brave the weather. The rain has let up some.

I get the OTC drugs from the pharmacist who has spoken with her and pay for them. At their house, FFP's dad tries to tell what his currency is.

"Is this a five?"

"No, that's a twenty. I'll give you eight dollars and you give me that." The bill was $12.68. They do cabs a lot and need change. My mother-in-law had wanted to know if I wanted to come get money first. No, I told her. I'll put it on my credit card. That gave her pause. They don't use credit cards.

I go to a shopping strip on 38th and deposit a FedEx package for FFP. I make sure it goes down the chute like FFP would. Checking, we call it.

Then I go to the gym and read my book while working up a sweat on the exercise bike. I'm gradually, very slowly, increasing the resistance for more of the time. I do my five lower body machines.

Then I go to the store. I have some stuff to buy for Dad's Senior's activity day at his church. They take turns providing food. (I call it 'dominoes at the church.' Gotta love those Methodists. Their church only has one big room so the Seniors take out some chairs, put in tables and play games. Not just dominoes. But it sounds good when I say, "He goes to church and plays dominoes.")

At the store I get the zuchinni, broccoli, carrots, yellow squash and potato chips for Dad. I also buy ripe olives, salsa, tortilla chips, green onions, a couple of baking potatoes, a quart of 2% milk and everything on a list FFP gave me. (Jalapenos, coffee beans, peppermints and Lemon Zinger Green Tea. Actually this last I couldn't get exactly...I think I ended up with Lemon Ginger Green Tea. Any green tea with lemon, I think he said. I also buy two kinds of peppermints because I'm not sure which he likes better.) Lastly, I buy some curry powder because someone said they use it in tuna salad and I couldn't find any at our house.

Home again, I put the coffee machine through a cleaning cycle. It demands this every 200 cups. I put away the dishes. The bookkeeper leaves. She says that, yes, she had the number right all along. That was the last piece of info I think I need for our taxes save a K1 that always comes at the last possible legal moment. So. Better make copies and get that info to the CPA soon.

When the evening's Who Wants to be a Millionaire show starts I am at my computer, doing something. I watch, marvelling that one of the questions is about a book I recently read (Richard Russo's Empire Falls). I think I bought that book on my trip to UK for business in May. When some Survivor reality show starts, I turn to a movie channel and watch part of some movie called Original Sin with Antonio Banderas. It isn't that bad really, but I don't finish it. When CSI comes on, I go to the kitchen. While I watch it, I bake a potato and I eat that with non-fat yogurt, green onions, cheese. Then I have some Total cereal and milk and I'm stuffed. While Without a Trace looks for a bride who disappeared on her wedding day, I boil some eggs. Then I make a bunch of deviled eggs for Dad's thing. They are a lot of trouble (mostly shelling them carefully), but people like them, usually. I mix up the stuff for stuffing with mustard, mayo, salt, white pepper, finely chopped green onions and ripe olives. While I'm stuffing them and watching the news, SuRu calls. She's come back from Vegas with a lighter pocketbook and tales of horror from the airport in Vegas. (The security at ABIA was much more sensibly arranged, she said. I haven't flown since the advent of x-raying all luggage.)

The retirement report and resolution update that you've been waiting for! Yes, it's been five months. Five months of sloth, five months of not going to work, five months of representing only myself. I've decided to combine the monthly retirement update with my resolution roundup just like last month.

Again, I'll start with the resolutions. I have clipped them below as written on the last day of 2002. My comments are just after the point.

• Lose five pounds. [This is a easy goal, it would seem. The spam e-mail says '32 pounds in three weeks' or '12.5 pounds in three days' but, no, my goal is to lose five more pounds and stay there.]I'm at about 171 now. My diet is still awful but exercising 45+ minutes with a light aerobic thing every day definitely works. I seem to be losing 2 pounds a month. This is good and it means that I've probably achieved this resolution in less than the first quarter of the year. That's a first. I do plan to keep watching my weight because I could certainly use to lose a bit more fat and replace it with muscle. However, no crash dieting, no giving up anything. Of course, I could still blow this by gaining it back. Yep, like that hasn't happened before.
• Drink more water. I'm doing pretty well on this but I drink too much coffee and soda. And alcohol, of course. All counterproductive. Carry around a bottle of water, maybe?
• Eat more healthy food. Fruit! Vegetables! Every day. I do pretty well at having a serving of two of vegies and/or fruit every day. We are trying to keep bananas, apples, salad stuff around. FFP is dieting so this means he buys and prepares things that help me. Still, I need to think of ways to improve the make-up of my diet. Staying away from McDonald's is easy...since I never go there.
• Write! Not just this journal. All the short stories I've outlined. All the essays. Start on the novels and non-fiction books. Let's see...I designed a logo for a series of articles I might write. Does that count? Actually, I worked on one article. Not enough, though. I am writing in this journal though for 'exercise.' Flexing my fingers on the keyboard, flexing my brain at description and style. Right?
• Find an appropriate volunteer activity. FFP and I are planning some more benefit deals. Some private dinners to promote Ballet Austin and a benefit for Austin Cabaret Theater. This kind of fund raising is fun, sociable and yet more under my control that being on some committee for a big ball. And I don't have to call people and ask them to do things.
• Travel and, when I do, take the time to prepare by reading books. I haven't read nearly enough New York stuff, I realize and we are going in one week...if they aren't hit by another blizzard that prevents it. And I don't have another trip planned although I have sort of committed to a car trip to Denver. I seem to like to have the time off and stay home quite a bit.
• Pay more attention to investments and our budget. Save money. I have taken on more of the tax stuff and actually watched our stock investments plunge. What fun! We are doing pretty well on our budget although hanging out at Four Seasons bar and going to New York and eating a bunch of expensive meals will put a dent in things. Still, we are on track to continue to save money, albeit far less than before, with me contributing nothing.
• Continue my workouts and start playing tennis and maybe racquetball. I've attended a racquetball clinic and hit a few tennis balls against the wall and signed up to be a sub for a league. But I have religiously exercised almost every day. At least walking or doing the bike. I want to improve slowly so that falling back isn't as easy.
• Take Bridge lessons and learn more about Bridge.I read a few Bridge columns. I just think a retired person should play Bridge, don't you?
• Cook more. Start making crêpes again. I think about cooking. I cleaned out the pots and pans shelf. But that's about it. Hey, I make a tuna salad or something occasionally. Deviled eggs. I cut some recipes out of some magazine.
• Get the closets, garage, drawers, shed, yard, storage room clean and keep them that way.I continue to clean out by fits and starts. I give stuff to the thrift store. I dust. I rearrange. I have miles to go, however. The garage and shed are disaster areas. The storage room not much better. My office closets beg for going through. Ditto the clothing drawers and closets. Still, I have cleaned out some things.
• Learn to make a movie.I thought about reading the XL1 manual. That isn't going to get it, is it?
• Learn more about photography.I've shot a few digital pictures.
• Geez, this list is too long...make shorter lists.I have quit making so many 'to do' lists. I kind of keep the 'to do' in my head now, mostly. But this was a joke anyway, wasn't it? Lists are good, yes? Even long ones?
• Ride the bus and write about it.I am saving quarters. I have to find an absolutely free day with no obligations and nice weather. Don't you feel sorry for the forlorn people at bus stops, especially in the rain? In Austin, I mean. Where the wait for a bus can be so long. I've been noticing people at bus stops. Last night there were two guys carrying walking sticks made from branches at the one on Congress. Both seemed a bit crippled and in need of a cane, too.
• Get my mother's things sold or given away or packed and sent to my relatives.I haven't done much. I got some drawers cleaned out by giving away some material scraps. I need to find a home for the weaving stuff.
• Read more books.I am definitely reading more. Books anyway. I'm not getting to the papers in real time or The New Yorker magazines piling up.
• Do some Windows programming and JavaScript and learn Linux.I keep thinking that I need something like a new computer and a bunch of software and, you know, to spend money. But this is completely not true to get started. It's just taking the time.
• Hmmm...it's the same every year, isn't it? Why don't I make one list for all time (work harder, read, write, exercise, eat better, learn stuff, save money, lose weight, be a better person).Nah, this is more fun! These more or less specific goals highlight my failures nicely. But, hey...I lost the five pounds more or less. I've read some books. I cleaned out one room.

As to how it feels to be retired for five months, well, it's great sometimes. As I write this it is pouring outside, there are road closures and I can wait for the storm to pass to go work out and get groceries. I mean I can unless it rains all day and into the evening. It's freedom at its best.

Sometimes I have a little panic still about how I'm spending my time. Whether I should be reading or out in the yard cleaning or cleaning out a closet or writing or studying something. These panics seem to be happening less and less. I'm comfortable being in charge of my time even if I'm not always ecstatic about the accomplishments.

Being around the house leads to lots of little chores...letting the dog out, picking up stuff, cleaning dishes, running the dishwasher. And then there are all these straightening up and cleaning out tasks that I think about a lot. Without doing much about them.

I still tell people that I do nothing. Sometimes it seems true even. Most of the time I'm just avoiding telling them what I'm doing...going to the gym, reading books, watching TV, planning trips, helping Forrest with any little thing he needs. Sometimes I mention the exercise when they ask what I'm doing. It is the thing that I seem to be doing most consistently.

Bed. Sleep. Without further ado.

dogs are wonderful friends...this is my friend Ann's Scout (the flowers are not on her head)

"I have a truly marvelous demonstration of this proposition which this margin is too narrow to contain. "

Pierre de Fermat

 

JUST TYPING
When you have the freedom.
To stay in while it rains.
It's a blessing.
But it gives the rain
More than its due.