Under New Management!

Why is this guy smiling?

Duh - because he's RETIRED!

March 15 was my last day toiling for my daily bread - after 44 years of full-time employment, I've joined the vast army of fixed-income senior citizens!

I rode to work this morning, before daylight, same as always.  On the way, I was entertained by three characters who were sharing the infrastructure:
- a bearded, beanie-cap wearing hipster, shivering and weaving jauntily up the bike path - on an E-scooter.  (That guy will be paying Social Security, so I can collect Social Security!  Like I've been paying for 50 years.)
- a SUV motorist playing tortoise-and-hare with me for a few blocks, from stoplight to stoplight.  It's so very satisfying to watch 'em go zooming ahead with a furious roar and a cloud of street dust... then slam on the brakes at the red light...  as I mosey up slowly behind, arriving just as the light turns green.  Repeat... Repeat... (I know the light timing patterns after riding the route thousands of times before, and paying attention.)
- One final smart-phone zombie, lurching across the street as I arrived at the bike room.

The awesome people at Boise Cascade have been signing my paycheck for the past 24+ years.  What a great place it was to work!  And I've always appreciated the delicate irony that I attended high school two blocks away (Boise High), at the very time my last work home was rising mightily out of the ground.  I've got many wonderful friends there who I will miss dearly.  The work?  Not so much.

So - what now?

I told my office colleagues:
- Judge Judy and Wheel of Fortune – every day!
- Putter around, get in the wife’s way.
- Yell “Get off my lawn!!” at the neighbor kids.
- Keep the checkout line waiting while I count out the exact change.
- FOX NEWS!!

But seriously...

I've got work to do, at first.  Sprucin' up the homestead.  Probably until early summer.  It'll be pretty sweet NOT having a fixed agenda every day; I'm confident I'll stay occupied.

I expect my bicycle mileage to increase, rather than drop, even though I'm no longer commuting to work.  I've got a "retirement bike" that needs to have some meaningful miles put on it.

Hoping to do a Coeur d'Alene Trail run in late summer, shortly after Labor Day.  At a leisurely pace, because I've got no place to be, or schedule to keep.

Life is great!  Stay thirsty and busy, mis amigos.