MeltedMarbles

Name:
Location: Lake Panasoffkee, FL, United States

Tuesday, February 04, 2014

I'm Lovin' Retirement!!

It's been over 2 years now!  The first year I devoted to home improvement projects.  Just small things.  Having the outside of house pressure-washed and repainted.  I also got involved with a couple of community organizations, and volunteered for the boards of each organizations, serving as secretary on each, among other duties. Two bedrooms were also repainted and re-floored.

The second year was devoted to prepper activities, continued community organization activities, and setting up an Aquaponics greenhouse.  I got tired of the board responsibilities of the two organizations so I finished those duties by the end of 2013.

Now my focus is on watching old, classic movies on Turner Classic movies, reading books, assisting my Mom whose health is ailing and I even joined a gym! working out 3 times a week.

With the economy continuing to decline, my concern is stretching the retirement pension out.  In addition to electric bills skyrocketing, I've just learned my mortgage payment/escrow is going up by over $200/month due to new Flood Insurance regulations.  Food prices and gas prices are always going up.  Everything is going up but the pension income.  I still have a little wiggle room if I reduce or cancel my DISH satellite service, phone service, cell phone service, internet cable modem service, and miscellaneous internet subscriptions, including NetFlix.

I don't want to have to go back to work so I will take these type of measures first.  Oh how I wish the economy would reverse it's decline but do not believe that will happen.

Monday, December 12, 2011

I'm Free!! I'm Retired!! at least for now...

Wow! 2nd Monday in retirement. It is very strange... Going from having too much to do to having too little to do. I'm not necessarily complaining, but just trying to get adjusted. I don't know where to begin with all my projects that need to be done...primarily cleaning and decluttering the house. But mainly I just play around on my new IPad my colleagues got me for retirement. I actually made a list of daily tasks to try to organize my thoughts. Too many random thoughts with all this time....Strange....

Tuesday, November 08, 2011

13 More Days Yea

After a long year of counting down, I am finally at 13 more working days until retirement!!! More blogging thereafter........

Friday, September 03, 2010

Fifteen Months to Go

I can see the light at the end of the tunnel!! Ahhhh ... Retirement from my Hazardous Duty position... 20 years in, age 50 or above...out with a pension, about a third of my salary! Hey, I can learn to live with that if I can get this monkey off my back and the world off my shoulders! It's gonna happen...I'm sprinting, or maybe crawling, to the finish line....I can do it...one month at a time....only 15 and counting !! I'll have a whole lot more to say after that...... stay tuned.......

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Sunday, October 12, 2008

College Memories

Gainesville, Florida

The University of Florida !!

Brown Derby Grogs
Skeeter's Big Asher & Little Asher Specials
Lake Waughberg
Joe's Deli
Hogan's Hero's #5
Leonardo's thick crust Pizza
Alan's Cubana
Sizzlin' Steakhouse

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

The Working Years: Random Thoughts

Uninspired life....

duty, duty, duty....

where did all of my dreams go....

is there any end to all of this....

will I ever be free?

Sunday, June 22, 2008

The Rathskeller, on the University of Florida campus ....anyone remember??

On the University of Florida campus in the early 1980's was a bar known as The Rathskeller. Does anyone out there remembers this place?? It has since burned to the ground, unfortunately, but many memories were made there during my several years as a student there.

My most found memory was on 05/02/81, when U2 played there for approximately $4/head. during their first world itour for their first album, Boy. The small bar was packed, but not packed enough that I wasn't able to pat each of the band members, yes including Bono, on their backs as they walked into and through the audience to get on stage. If you had ever been in The Rathskeller, you know exactly what I'm talking about. It was a very small bar on the campus of the University of Florida, right off of West University Boulevard, in Gainesville, Florida. There was nothing fancy about it. And the stage was makeshift, no major lighting effects, etc. "Backstage" was actually downstairs in the basement near the bathrooms.

Back to Bono, I remember, even tho' I wasn't really sure about their music yet, I loved the way Bono danced barefoot on the stage as he sang. I can still see it in my mind. All of the punk rockers of Gainesville who I hung out with said they were "a really cool band" from Ireland. I thought Bono was really cute.

Through the years, I followed their music and long career. On 04/10/85, my sister and I were on the Unforgettable Fire tour at the Hampton Collesium, in Hampton, Virginia, next door to Virginia Beach. Bono's version of Bob Dylan's "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" was fantastic! I can still hear him singing now. As far as I know, it is not recorded anywhere, but it was beautiful the way Bono sang it, with his usual high level of passion and drama. He had beautiful, sweaty medium long hair back then that he would continuously flip down and then back in a seductive way.

On 12/05/87, I was there at the Tampa Stadium, during their Joshua Tree tour. Later, on 11/12/97, in Jacksonville, Florida, I was a patron on the PopMart tour.