In March I turned 55. A wonderful age to be because you can retire with medical bennies! I was working with Lou Kahn, a resident at Chaparral House, who wanted his own web site. Researching his led me to making this one. Thanks, Lou! I also had my official retirement party. What a kick. To those who were there, thanks. Also,
April 1 (April Fool's Day, again how appropriate) I officially retired. The time going back to January was all accumulated vacation.
Sometime in May (I think) I went golfing with some friends from work - Chuck Eder, Wayne Shepard and Leslie Davis. How embarassing. I decided to take the game up in ernest. In Late August I managed to break 100 for the first time. I only managed that feat twice after that, but it's still fun.
Definietly in May I went up to Eugene Oregon to visit Gary Parks and family. Gary was my best bud back in junior high and high school and we've been friends ever since. While there, we took a day to go up to Bend and met up with Dave Latimer, a longtime friend of ours.
August saw the reunion of Void Where Prohibited (see my music page) in Durango, Colorado. Now THAT was fun. We played 2 nights at Scoot 'n Blues, a club there and had a great time. We were asked back and may just take them up on it.
I took a 2 week vacation in October. Now, being retired is like one long vacation anyway, but I wanted to really GO somewhere. I chose the east coast and took a tour which was pretty much a history theme. We started in Washington D.C., and went through Virginia, West Virginia and Pennsylvania. We passed through Maryland but didn't stop there, so that doesn't count.
There were other cool things about 2006. I've found that retirement is great. I tried numerous things that didn't work out, and that's okay. This is all a chance to try new stuff and that's just what I did and plan to continue. How will I do that? New Years resolutions! (The first of which is to write some!)
I put the snowmen up top because I don't really have a picture for this new-year page. Visuals are good things and I don't want y'all to have to do without.
For Christmas, 4 friends sent letters summarizing what they did, so I figured that this would be a good place for me to put such a letter of my own. I don't have a fancy collage or anything, but I'm going to add some resolutions to mine which nobody else did.
January started off with a most memorable event. I retired. This was unofficial, but Friday the 13th (how appropriate) was my last day at work. Don't get me wrong, PG&E was good to me and I like to think it was a mutually beneficial relationship, but it was time to go. Of course, if I'd have retired two days later I'd have been paid for the weekend, but that just shows how anxious I was to leave!
Fearful of wasting any of my precious golden years, I started almost immediately doing volunteer work at Chaparral House, generally two half days a week. I signed up for 4-6 months, but stayed through the year. I figured I'd stay while I felt I was learning new stuff. Learning never stops. I learned mostly that people aren't necessarily what they seem. Many who seemed pretty much out of it really weren't at all. Delightful people given half a chance.
In January I also started regular exercise at 24-Hour Fitness. I was real good for awhile. I lost quite a bit of weight and all, but I managed to let things get in the way. I suppose most of you know how that is. I ended the year back over 200 pounds when I should be no more than about 185. See resolutions for 2007!
I also poked my head into Baker's Martial Arts. If you're tuning in late, I made black belt there a few years ago. It looked exciting and I started back. It lasted about a month or so. I came to realize that it just wasn't
