Just great days in Florida
Wow, today was a good day - even if it has not been a day that is not out of the ordinary.
I had a very enjoyable morning just relaxing around while having my morning coffee and peanut butter on toast and reading the Daily Sun. Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays are the most fun with the paper because that is when they have the letters to the editor in the paper. The Villages is a very Republican (kind of on the nut fringe) place but the letters are fun to read. Mrs. Ex-Fed and I laugh over their ridiculous comments about how great the Republican candidates are now and how the federal employees get free health insurance. I wish I did get free health insurance but it still is a bargain.
I had a golf game with Larry, Mel, and Bob today over at Redfish Run golf course. I did not do great at all and came out with a 39. I did manage to get 2 pars so that was not bad. Larry is not a good player at all but thinks he is. What really ticks me off about Larry and golf is that he insists on taking all putts even when they are a few inches from the hole. I say to him it is a GIMME but he says there is no such word in his vocabulary. I would bet his recorded score did not match his real score, either.
Old Agency Friends (and others)
I received a call the other day that the Agency was having a HR Conference in Orlando and wanted to meet with a former co-worker, Deborah, for dinner. I Facebook connected with another former co-worker, Caren, who I always thought was mighty fine and invited her to have dinner with us since she was now retired and instructing at the conference. Deborah could not make it so Caren, Mrs. Ex-Fed, and myself went to dinner in Orlando.
However, I strolled around the conference before meeting Caren. I saw my former supervisor, Carol, who is retired and sucking at the public teat as a contractor. Carol gave me a hug but was very uncomfortable seeing me for some reason. I also saw Brian, still working, but now and SES - and very FAT. Bureauocrats all scurrying around like little ants whose mound was kicked over.
Anyhow, dinner with Caren was great at Johnny's Hideaway. Great happy hour and dinner was super. Mrs. Ex-Fed let it slip that I told her once I had a lttle thing for Caren. It made Caren happy and I turned different shades of red.
Well, as always, retire now. You will not be missed for more than one day.
Summertime in The Villages
June has arrived in Florida and it is getting kind of hot. When I telephone friends from Washington DC area, they all "know" about the Florida summer weather being hot and ask why anyone would want to live in Florida in summer. Well, folks, the Florida summer is hot but not hotter than the Washington DC weather and is less humid. The air quality in Central Florida is a lot better than the Code Orange or Code Red air qualities of Washington DC.The Villages is a mighty good place to live. No crime to speak of, friendly people for the most part, able to ride golf carts anywhere and a great life style.
Ouch, that hurts!
How many of us have thought of a former girlfriend and where they are now? No, I am not interested in stalking or re-establishing a connection.
Not too long ago, I was browsing through a website of my high school and came across pictures of former classmates - as they now look. I saw one of my first girlfriend - and I would not have recognized her. She has gotten FAT. Anyhow, it had her married name so I went to Twitter and located her on Twitter.
I added her name on my list of persons I follow and gave a general "tweet" with the name of the high school. She replied that she graduated there back in the 60's. I then private messaged her with my name and just said I was married, retired, and living in Florida. I figured this would get a little dialogue going and maybe even a few emails about what we had been doing for the past 46 years we have not seen each other.
I got the message back, "Sorry, I don't remember you. What classes were we in together or school plays together?" I Tweeted back (privately) that we had gone on a few dates and written letters for about a year after I moved. Her reply was to block me from further Twitter contacts.
Ouch, that hurts!
It is probably all for the best that we did not get to exchange emails. I would have hated to tell her that she is now FAT and show her that I married someone who is definitely the most beautiful lady in the world.
New Things for Ex-Fed
I cannot believe it has been just about 1 year since I last posted on this site. Well, lots of things have gone on in that time!
Mrs. Ex-Fed and I decided to move to Florida. The DC area was just not fun anymore with traffic congestion everywhere and all the time. I also did not feel safe in the neighborhood anymore. Even though our immediate area was "not bad", the adjoining areas were becoming more and more unsafe.
We moved to a wonderful place in Central Florida called The Villages. It is a town of around 65,000 and is a golf cart community. We can get anywhere in The Villages in our golf cart and that sure beats Rockville Pike or The Beltway. We live in a very nice house that is on a golf course and I play golf at least once a week. Maybe some day my golf game will get to be good.
Basically, we love it here and wonder why we did not move sooner.
Now, my mantra has changed from "Retire Now" to "Retire Now and Move".
Ex-Fed Is Out Of Work!
A mere 7 days after posting my last entry, my contract suddenly ended and was not picked right back up. Out of work!
I actually do not know what happened. I do not know if the HR Officer got upset with me for saying some "career promotions" would have to be done through competitive procedures or if the HR Office just ran out of money for the contract - like they said was the reason.
Well, I really do not mind. I took a very nice trip to Arizona with Mrs. Ex-Fed and we stayed at a great Marriott called Canyon Villas. Phoenix is a great city to be in while the rest of the country is cold. However, you do not want to be there in the summer when the average temperature is around 108 degrees. The Phoenix natives insist it is a dry heat - then so is an oven and I am not going to climb into an oven. We drove to Sedona one day for the red rocks views and they are just spectacular. I went on a Pink Jeep Tour on a 100% off-road tour called the Broken Arrow Trail. I could not believe that a mountain goat could go up and down some of the grades but that jeep had no problem doing it. Lots of art galleries and New Age places in Sedona but the views are the reason for going there.
Will I be going back to work this year? I have no idea right now. If something else comes along with just Federal classification, I will take it for a short time. However, the Springtime is coming very soon and that is my time to do volunteer things at the Butterfly show. I think I will also try to spend more time improving my golf this spring and summer.
Again, my ending words are the same: Retire Now! You will be missed for only a few days - if that long- and then the agency will get along just fine without you just as it got along fine with you. No change.
Can You Believe Ex-Fed is Back at Work?
Can you actually believe it? Ex-Fed is back at work!
Even after my May of 2008 posting stating that my time in the barrel was over and it was time for someone else to enjoy the experience – I climbed back in the barrel for at least one more go round.
Mrs. Ex-Fed and I had been doing just fine enjoying our retirements – and then I got a phone call from a staffing company saying that my last “boss” had called to see if I was still available for classification work. I was told it was going to be a short term assignment and besides it is winter time and the Brookside butterflies are not flying at this time of the year. I agreed to go back for 2 days a week.
The money is still excellent; the HR Chief is still a wonderful person to work with; the HR staff is a nice bunch of people;
and the place is still screwed up seven ways to Sunday.
I am doing basic position classification duties which should be performed by someone at the GS-11 level and I am getting paid on an hourly basis way more than that! I am not complaining about anything except that the position classification program – which is extremely important to any HR program – is now about non-existent in the Federal government. When I was working in my career, I was never excited about being in classification. Now, I am very happy that was my given field.
It also makes me extremely happy to know I am a person in demand and can pick and choose what and where I want to work.
How long will Ex-Fed stay on this time? Chances are until the end of January or sometime in February. However long it is, it will be my choice.
Even though I work a few months (part time) during a year, my mantra still is “Retire Now”.
Merry Christmas.
How Many Times Can I Retire?
I recently decided that 6 months was enough time to be working so I quit my consulting job. It was a day before my birthday and the HR Manager was sorry to see me leave but that was my decision. The job paid real good money but some things like the quality of life are more important than money. I do not know if you even could call it a quality of life issue but rather just to really realize that I have worked long enough and it is now time to let someone else have their time in the barrel.
I guess one more thing that made me decide to quit was the lack of knowledge of the HR staff and of the HR Manager. The staff nor the manager knew nothing about position classification and that made it more difficult to get a quality work product completed. The manager and staff were all very nice folks and it really makes me upset to see the Agency go downhill with such an incompetent staff and that goes for all of the Agency HR offices. The people who knew HR are mainly gone now and there are so few of the really good ones left anymore - like Mary, Jim, John, and a couple others I cannot think of now.
I was telling one of the old co-workers of my decision to quit and he asked me for how long this "retirement" would last. I actually got 2 job offers in the 2 weeks after I quit the consulting job - and turned both of them down. If I do decide to go back, it is good to know my skills are in demand in the Federal community.
In the meantime, I will continue with my mantra of "Retire Now". When you retire, you will be replaced or forgotten within a few weeks. Do not worry about your old job or old Agency or who will do the work now that you are gone. The Federal government work went on before you were hired and it will go on after you leave. Have fun and live life to the fullest - in retirement.
