Daily News: February 2008 Archives

I don't know why I have not written lately, I guess I have been pretty busy with other things. I have finished with the cottage meetings at our house for the New Beginnings program for our church. I attended a weekend retreat to learn communication, team building, and problem solving skills. I have also been going to a Chiropractor this week to see if he can help with my neck popping and sore shoulder. I am still reserving judgment on the Chiropractor for now. But I guess by far the biggest thing to report is that I will be retiring from civil service after 28 years. I will retire on April 3rd from my job with the U.S. Army at Fort Monroe. The finances look pretty good and I got a $25,000 VSIP bonus with the retirement package. So after working full-time for 41 years I am joining the ranks of the retired. I am still pinching myself to see if it is all really happening. To further reinforce the reality of my pending retirement my boss of 3 years at TRADOC retired today after 31 years of federal service. We had a retirement ceremony for him and he actually choked up near the end and could not speak. I fear the same might happen to me when my turn comes. We have many plans for our joint retirement, foremost among them being moving from Virginia to either Texas, New Mexico, Kentucky, or Tennessee. After living my entire adult life in Virginia I am ready for new horizons. Much more to report soon.

There is more crazy weather to report. Yesterday it was 78 degrees, 2 degrees short of a record high. The rest of February looks like it is going to have temperatures well above average. Looks like winter never came this year, we are going to go from Fall to Spring with no winter in between. I have been very busy at work and my spare time has been occupied with our New Beginnings cottage meetings at church. I have been hosting the meetings at our house. There is going to be a church retreat in a couple of weeks which I am going to attend. I went to one last year and it was a very rewarding experience. It looks like I will really be retiring this year and there may ever be some VSIP money ($25,000) available this time. The VSIP money would help a great deal with buying our new house wherever we decide to move. I have got to make Hungarian goulash tonight for our office specialty potluck dinner. Enough said.