RET-ADD.com

If the calculators online are correct, it is 224 days until December 20, 2019 ends. That is my final day (presumably) with my last IT job. After being in the field for 49 years, I will “retire” on that day.

Actually, they are "retiring” me. I was notified on 5/8/19 that my position is be transitioned to the growing service center in Pune, India. I, and about 60 of my fellow IT team members, out of the 240 or so still employed, will be part of a Train and Transition team to interview and bring aboard new FTEs in Pune. Then get them up to speed to take over all of support processing.

Many of us were not in “support” positions, but were project/new development. But, with the Pune team handling all support duties, the remaining members in IT will be able to devote their full time to project work.

For their sake, I really do want this to work. I certainly want it for my present co-worker. I was the one that convinced him to come aboard a year ago to assist me. He left a good contracting firm to do this. And, having him working with me made my life much better. It allowed me to put a little life in that work-life balance.

Anyway, I will soon have much more time for life. Those scales will be tipping the other way.

This does leave me in the position of deciding sooner what I will do post-working. At this moment, I am quite sure that I will sell this South Florida house, even though I truly love it and have finally gotten the outside and yard the way I want. And missing my private pool is a guarantee..

I will likely move north. Looking at the north-east Georgia area right now. No hurricanes, super little snow, but still has seasons, and flooding from that non-existent global warming won’t be an issue for a long time.

My next abode is pretty certain to be a rental. I want to drop all of the responsibilities of home ownership. Down here, real estate taxes are high, and most every part of home ownership is expensive. With “wind” insurance, flood insurance, regular home owner’s insurance, and “insurance” to cover multiple types of termites, and house bugs, and one for yard bugs, and lawn service, and tree service, and pool service, and all the other home/yard/fence fixes, it adds up. And then, being in an HOA adds more expenses..

If I drop all of that, travel becomes a possibility, and no worries about home ownership issues popping up while away.

I do want a place with a garage for my electric trike and some of my tools. Won’t need a lot of them if somebody else has to fix things. Disposing (selling) the tools and other no longer needed items will be a pain.

I plan on upgrading my 2006 Ford F150 to a 2017/18 model this summer so transportation will be good for years to come.

And wherever I end up, I want to be real close to areas I can walk and take photos. I miss that.

That’s about it for day -224.

Enjoy Life!