Time Marching On

Last night, the NZS's football team had their semi-final playoff game. Their opponent came into it undefeated and was ranked 2nd in the region. It was a close fought game that fit into a pretty easy narrative: The very athletic, but undisciplined squad against the team (them) that plays well together and executes well (the NZS team).

The NZS's team had a 7-point lead with about 5 seconds left in the first half. At this point, everyone's feeling pretty good. The other team throws a Hail Mary pass and the defensive back does exactly what he's supposed to: he knocked the ball down instead of trying to catch it. Well, he knocked it into another player, the ball popped-up and a guy on the other team ran it in for a touchdown. Very bad luck and a tie game.

The 2nd half opened with the NZS's team throwing an interception (their only turnover of the game). The other team converted and kept either a 7 or 14 point lead the rest of the game. Afterwards, the kids were dissapointed, but were able to realize that they had a great season. They have every reason to hold their heads up.

The second biggest reason to recognize today is that it is the anniversary of my dissertation defense. On this day I always call the chair of my committee to thank him, even though we still talk frequently. He gets a big kick out of that.

After last night's game, the wife and I watched The Savages. An interesting and well-acted movie that really hits home given my m-i-l's health. Philip Bosco is particularly good. He plays the father who has dementia setting in. There are several scenes he plays well where you're not quite sure whether he understands what is going on around him. When my dad was in the hospital after his heart attack, it would drive me batshit when people would talk about him like he wasn't even there when it was entirely possible that he was understanding everything.

Tamera Jenkins, the director, casts pretty much everyone and every place in harsh light. The bright and blurry postcard-like colors of Arizona are particularly damning.

The wife's family is coming over for dinner (I hope I can get in some football watching) in a bit, so I'll need to whip up something. Probably pizza and spaghetti.

Going Out in Style

While the wife and I have planned for retirement in a financial sense, we really haven't done much about the nuts and bolts of it. Are we going to live in this house? Get a condo on the beach or in the city? Will actually finally quit work or just putz around part-time? I know that she wants to retire as soon as possible and be done with work. At some point I would like to just slow down and take on fewer projects. But, when the HB's done with college (note the optimism) we'll probably have a better sense of these things.

I bring this up because we went to a retirement party last night for the husband of a good friend of mine from Rotary. Interesting guy in that he was truly a child of the 60s. He was an Eagle scout, surfer/stoner, joined the peace corps and did two tours and had a career as a teacher. He's one of those guys who comes off as cranky and cynical, where in reality he has a very big heart and is cynical. A guess working in a huge bureaucracy helps you keep the cynical part.

We ate and drank a bunch and met some cool people. I chatted with the guest of honor some and asked the inevitable question, "So, what are you going to do now?" He was pretty drunk, but the gist of things was that he's got a fat government job pension, so they have no money worries. His wife is 15 years younger and she make beautiful pottery, so their schedule is flexible enough so that they can travel. As he was in the peace corps and she's a Thai native, they LOVE to go places. He gardens (they frequently give us lemon grass, Thai peppers and Thai basis) and loves to read. So, I'd say they pretty much have a good head start on spending the next several years.

I look at how my parents spend their retirement and it seems OK. They do a big trip every year or so (they're going to cruise around the Baltic Sea later this month) and they are involved in their temple. My mom reads once a week at a local school and my dad plays a lot of computer solitaire and babysits his investments online. On the weekends they frequently have dinner with friends and they have a great social network.

Boredom in retirement is a bigger fear to me than poor health or lack of money. Perhaps that's why I figure I'll keep working some even after my wife calls it quits. I really enjoy what I do and it's not physically difficult work. I keep telling myself that I'll get more involved in philanthropic work and travel more, but who knows. Do I have enough hobbies that I'll be able to do when I'm older? Are there enough things that my wife and I will want to do together and separately?

Apparently, a little more planning is in order.

Signs of Age

I'm not one of those people who gets hung up on getting older. Yeah, my hair's thinning a bit and some of my music is 30 years old, but that's how it goes.

One of my buddies, Chip, was the first of our group to get married (not that I got trashed, but I ended up putting gas in my car on the way home and not remembering it) and have kids. His son was born on my birthday when I was 24.

So, I'm talking to Chip the other day and asking about his son and how he's doing in school. He transferred at the beginning of the school year from a JC to a four-year university and he's on the swim team. So, I was asking Chip about his son's swimming (very good) and grades (eh, so-so) and adjustment to college (excellent). Chip mentions that with his son's 21st birthday coming up he was going to take him to a bar he had his first drink and a bunch of us used to hang frequently. After telling him I'd be there, it sunk in a little that my friends have adult children. This is not the first experience with this (Lynn's son recently turned 21), but it struck me more given that we share the same birthday.

The next day I get a call from Chip's son. He's got a class that's somewhat related to the work I do, so he asked for some help on an assignment. As a parent I'll get to this point eventually, but helping a kid whose diaper you changed on a college homework assignment is sobering. He'd better get a fucking A.

It was sunny today?

Shit, 5pm and I barely saw the sun today. It was too windy to ride my bike at lunch, so I mostly hung out with the dog (Nugget, the 1 y.o. pug) and did some product development work (yech). I shouldn't bitch since I made some good progress on it and I think there are some people who can sell it for me. I also got some paperwork done, including getting signed up for the Rotary Convention. I'm prez of my club come July 1, so I'm hoping to learn about some cool programs and make some contacts.

My wife seems pretty buried tonight, but I'll try to get her mind off of work at least for a little while;-) And, I got the UT-Florida game on the DVR.