A recent blog entry by The Peever (http://thepeever.blogstream.com/) entitled “Baby Boomer Babble” brought up the subject of retirement. He, being still wet behind the ears, is just starting to face the age 62 decision. Born in 1936, I was over 30 and in coat and tie, part of the establishment, middle management, family man, when Peever and all the other “boomers” were having their time of glory. I was in the Cold War Navy. Too young for Korea and too old for VietNam.

I reached the age 62 decsion in 1998 while I was teaching in a day school. The fickle finger of fate probed my situation and pointed the way I must go. Teaching had changed, more dealing with HDAD and parents than real learning. We rented and our landlord was moving so we would have had to move. A headmaster I admired was let go in an unhappy political upset. It was before the market declined so my 403b was in OK shape. Nothing that we had not dealt with before, not earthshaking. I ran the math and looked at the plusses and minuses. Also considered the fact that retirement can be cut short at any time. With my luck, if I had postponed it to get more Social Security, I would have been run over by a truck on my 65th birthday. The kicker was when we sort of looked around and ran across a beautiful Tidewater Victorian in great condition, right out of Better Homes, in a nice neighborhood on Virginia's Eastern Shore (my family all lives in Virgina) for $90K.

Retirement, like every other part of your life, is what you make of it. I enjoy mine. In retirement, time is your friend. I waste time doing the things I want to do when I feel like doing them and take my good old time. There is still not enough to get everything done. It is like traffic. I notice the yuppies in their Beemers, full of vinegar, weaving in and out trying to get ahead in the lane. But, at the next light, there they are, sitting and waiting. And the '93 Grand Marquis and I get to our destination the same time they get to theirs. Confident in my masculinity, I do not have to compete.

It takes a definite period of adjustment, a couple of years, to settle into a pleasant retirement. I always liked hobbies and computers. Had a lot of plans about things to do. Most of them did not come to fruition. If you look for doors to open, even kick in a few, opportunities present themselves. And you have the time to do stuff. A school in Provence right above the Riviera needed a teacher for three months (go to http://teachersonthemove.com/) and we could go. How is that for an opportunity? Our kids need a baby or dog sitter and we can go. If I feel like Spider Solitaire, I can do it. Conquer the world (Civ IV). Fuss in the garden for hours without accomplishing anything.

And then there is blogging. It is time consuming. But I really enjoy writing in mine and reading others. There are a neat bunch of folks out there.

I ran across online tutoring (http://www.tutor.com/) which is enjoyable and brings in a few bucks. Probably are a bunch of part time things to do that can be fun if you do not have to support the family doing them. Found that, despite all the books I read and planning I did, the money did not work out nearly as well as I expected. In ten years, there is a lot of inflation. And stock market crashes become a lot more than just something on the news. And more yielding to temptation than was wise. OK but should have done that part better.

As a teacher, I felt I was making a contribution to mankind. In retirement? Just a parasite? Of course, there are a million things to do if one feels that way. The thought passes my mind every so often but not for long.

So, for all you boomers that the news is talking about, make your plans and major decisions. But it is not arriving at your goal but the planning and the journey. And retirement is neat.

Today's thoughts are incited by a blog post by Cracker (http://twittledee.blogstream.com/) which included a video of Willie Nelson's “Whiskey For My Men, Beer For My Horses.” One of my favorite songs including one of my favorite country and western characters. Actually, two of my favorite characters – Willie and Toby Keith who wrote this gem.

In the song is the toast “Let's all lift our glasses against evil forces.” Always like that one. And there are usually several who know the next line (whiskey for my men, beer for my horses). The rules of toasting (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toast_(honor)) that I remember from somewhere started with the Royal Navy's where they toasted The Queen, the ladies, absent comrades, and a whole chain of command including the Admiral (of the white, that was Nelson) and the Captain, and all thos brave and gallant gentlemen there present. And they charged and discharged their glasses with each toast, often draining more than a bottle per each toaster. It was a social blunder to not touch glasses, drain them, and to look each toaster full in the eye. No one had to drive home then and the wine was safer than the water.

Toasts can be pretty much an art form.(http://cocktails.about.com/od/toastsjokes/tp/uni_toasts.htm) Like Toastmasters International ( http://www.toastmasters.org/) which promotes public speaking. And in 21st Century U.S. Of A., do we start the first toast with The President? The office can be respected if the temporary resident is not. Should we start at the very top with God? These days, you can get in trouble even for that. The ladies, bless their hearts, is always good. As is absent comrades, God rest their souls. Our Armed Forces and heroes of any sort, against evil forces and thanks for watching our six. Our parents, definitely, for all they have given us and done for us.

Toasting is fun. We all ought to work on it and do it more often. Without draining an alcoholic beverage with each separate one, of course.

In my retirement, I try to do some things to help around the house. I get to retire but my wife does not. One of the things I do is to do the vacuuming. A mindless sort of activity that is not unpleasant or difficult.

We had some complaint about an old vacuum – might very well have been twenty years old – that we had up until a few months ago. No matter what we did, it smelled up the house more than it picked up anything.

The yellow pages had an ad about a local Electrolux shop that repairs vacuums. I should have known better. A call to them brought a guy to our door within five minutes. Long dissertation about those cheap vacuums with all of the plastic parts and no warranty. I knew what was coming. And it did. The short ending to a long, long story is that a new Electrolux costs $1500. Go ahead and ask me if I am about to spend $1500 on a vacuum. Might on a car – about my price range – but on a vacuum! Of course, he left empty handed. We got all of our carpets, five rooms of them, steam cleaned for a total of $100 out of it. And he did a good job of it. The guy said he has been selling Electroluxes very successfully for a couple of years and that I was the first person to refuse his sales pitch. Who are all these folks who spend $1500 on a vacuum cleaner? There are lots of things to think about in this world and that is one of them. No further comment.

How about $500 for a vacuum? One of our daughters got a new Dyson vacuum which she really liked. She has a dog (see my 5 January, 2007 entry) and needs the big one. Well, bless my soul, she bought us one. The slim line one. (We do not make a lot of dirt. Does that mean we are not having much fun?) It does a great job and it is fun to watch the tornado inside it. $500 is too much for a vacuum but we really do like it and appreciate it. The next test for it is to see if it will still do a good job in twenty years. Of course, the real question is whether in twenty years I will still be able to or remember how to do it. And the it can have a lot of meanings.

Reading my book on Einstein (Einstein, His Life and Universe by Walter Isaacsen) renewed some thoughts about scientists.

The definition of science must include something about experiments. Experimentalists gather information. The only bad information is stuff that is dishonest. After the political campaign, there is a lot of that. A lot of information is honest but useless but that is different. And some information is flawed but honest and still valuable. But information is good and the more is better. If it does not agree with your bias and predispositions, you can not change the information. Have you read the Koran? Sorry to admit I have not. You do not have to change your religion but it is valuable information.

Scientists also look for the explanation for why and how things happen. That is called theorizing. The Scientific Method involves observation, hypothesis, experimentation, law, theory. Other critters can come up with laws but only us human beans can dream up explanations, theories. Both laws and theories are for us to predict what might happen if...

Think how valuable the Atomic Theory is. Comes from John Dalton in the beginning of the 19th Century. It took over a hundred years for it to finally become universally accepted. But without it, we would have no molecules or plastics or fuels or DNA or medicines or ...... And the Theory of Evolution. Without it we would not have our bread or steaks or medicines or .....

Or the Theory of Relativity. It says that two people can do the same experiment getting completely different results, and neither of them are wrong. The results of an experiment are relative to the experimentor. A light can be dark and lit at the same time! Apply to everyday life? There is a wealth of situations where there is a difference but neither should say “you are wrong”. Just gather the information from the other and make your own judgement about its usefulness.

Uncertainty, that will take some more thought.

Be a scientist. Think before you label someone or something as wrong, gather information without bias, and form your own laws and theories based on the data. In a sense, we can all be Einsteins.

There, Peever. I can be extremely cute and brilliantly pithy at the same time.

This might be a day for two blog entries. I was determined to avoid a fluffy blog after reading the Peever's entry “Blogging Baloney” (http://thepeever.blogstream.com/). And then I went to “Becoming a Butterfly” (http://butterfly52.blogstream.com/) and watched this video. I may have to do my penitence by writing something deep and pithy. At my age, too many things are pithy. But for now, watch, listen, and weep:

I loved “The Notebook”, both as a book and a movie.