T-27 Days Until the End of an Era

As my time at my current job winds down, my forced early retirement currently has no shape or focus beyond some future welding class that I haven't even signed up for yet.

It was a nice day so I drove a Buick to work.  I won't have too many more times to do that.

Of the 27 days left, 19 are normal workdays but I'm still using up vacation at the rate of 2-3 per week plus a full week off.

That leaves only 8 days in the office over the next 4 weeks.

I've been cleaning out my area. All pictures and most personal items are home already. I've got 6 hot chocolate K-cups, some Trader Joe's dried pineapple, half a bag of Hershey's kisses and 3 Rice Krispies treats in my pantry drawer.  There are a couple of G2 Gatorades in the dorm fridge.

It might not be enough to weather a Corona virus quarantine but for 8 days of work, I should be fine.

T-60 Days Until Retirement

BoomBozz Elizabethtown, KY

At the end of today, I will have only 60, six-zero, days until retirement or something other than working here. Of that, I only have 25 actual days in the office. All of my vacation time is scheduled and will be taken barring any unforeseen problems.

Retiring at 57 sounds good to me. That doesn't mean I will sit on the couch, eating bacon and pizza all day long though that does have an appeal.

I intend to take a welding class but will probably find something else to do while waiting for the next semester to start. I helped my father and aunt with new computers and phones last weekend. I used to do that a lot. I could probably help a few folks out and make a few bucks on the side.

One of the other things I'm intent on doing is getting rid of a bunch of collected stuff (I don't like calling it junk) that I probably won't be using in the future. I tend to save boxes from big-ticket items like TVs and laptops in case I decide to sell them. It makes them bring more and shows how well they were taken care of. Kind of like having maintenance records of my vehicles.

Over the weekend we went to Louisville to drop a bed off at our daughter's. No more sleeping on air mattresses!

On the way home, we stopped in Elizabethtown to get gas and have lunch at a place called BoomBozz. It was pretty good pizza though it was an 8" instead of a 10" like many places serve. It hit the spot. They have a lot of TVs in that place. They even had a cluster hanging in the middle, arena-style, for those not facing a wall, which is a problem I've often lamented though I'm not really a sports fan.

T-68 Days: Burning Vacation Days and the Census!

With only 68 days left in my working career at the job I've held for 32+ years, I earn vacation days January 1st and must use them by December 31st in a normal year. This year, my last day is March 31st.

The company policy on vacation days is to prorate. If I take none, I will be paid for 1/4, or five days, when I leave. Therefore, I'm taking all 20 if at all possible. I submitted the requests. Basically, I'm taking every Friday off to make it a three day weekend and the odd other day plus three trips. I've already taken the Scottsdale trip. So far, so good.

About the census. What is up with a 46-page book to be filled out? Seriously! It takes a wedding ring to get that much information about me. If they want to know how much my mortgage payment is and what my house is valued at, they need to buy that info off of one of the credit bureaus like all the telemarketers do now.

I filled out the name, age, sex, date of birth and race. That's all they need to represent me in congress. But they didn't ask if I was a legal American! Unbelievable.

Bucket List Check Off Item

I've steadily been checking off bucket list items for most of my life. Sometimes I remove an item, sometimes I add items. This is about adding one I hadn't really thought about until a good friend suggested we give it a go.

I'm talking about attending a Barrett-Jackson classic car auction. Jan wanted to know what was so great about a Barrett-Jackson auto auction only slightly ahead of barring me from bringing home another car.

I've just returned from Scottsdale, AZ where I had a VIP badge! Now, the January 2020 B-J event is over. It was like a state fair for car guys. I've never seen so many Superbirds in one place before!

Some pictures from it below and an in-car video of drifting a Supra!


A few of my already checked off bucket list items are listed below:

1. Dive the Great Barrier Reef and visit Australia
2. Visit all 50 US states 
3. Eat a pizza in the Pisa piazza in the shadow of the leaning tower
4. Fly a plane
5. Fly in a helicopter (I'd like to fly one but the training may be a deal-breaker)
6. See a glacier
7. See a volcano
8. View the Mona Lisa
9. See the Eiffel Tower
10. See the Rome Colosseum
11. Visit the Vatican
12. Visit the Acropolis
13. Drive a Ferrari 
14. Drive a NASCAR
15. Visit the Grand Canyon

Retiring Early? 77 Days To Go

Life is never static. If it were, we'd be dead. Things are always changing. This is a post about another life altering event, also unexpected.



In May I found out my job was being outsourced and my services would no longer be required after March 31st, 2020. I'm going to take my generous severance package and retire early. I'm leaving little more than a week before my 58th birthday. It seems like a good place to stop to me. Jan is still working for now. Perhaps we will relocate. More on that later.

I have been reading about FIRE, which stands for Finacial Independent, Retire Early. I'm certainly not on the early side of retiring early but I still have my original equipment knees!

When the news came down that all of IT was being outsourced, I offered to exchange my late leaving position with someone that had a house payment and was being terminated sooner but they said I needed to stay because I had vital knowledge. Here I am, 11 weeks left to go and I am one of the three remaining people that will be leaving at the end of March. Interestingly enough, I was sent to the UK to help with a data center move after Thanksgiving. It was good to see some folks I've worked with for years but never met.

I've been learning Spanish for all of 2019 with Rosetta Stone. My access expired just shy of finishing the course at 97.5%.  I have continued into 2020 with a year of DuoLingo under my belt. I've resigned myself to the fact that I won't be fluent without immersion in a Spanish-speaking environment. However, I got a joke while on a dive boat in Cozumel and I can pick out some discrepancies in the subtitles and spoken Spanish on the Amazon series Jack Ryan. Season two takes place largely in Venezuela and there is a lot of Spanish.

This brings me back around to relocating. Most of the least expensive places to retire with a high quality of life and good healthcare are in Spanish speaking countries. Costa Rica, Panama, Spain and Mexico. Portugal and France also made the list. I was surprised by France but supposedly, if you don't want to live in Paris, you can get by for $1,500 US a month.

Here's a few pics from a recent trip to Mexico and my last business trip to the UK. 

Stingray in Cozumel

Cozumel Reef

Beach Swing at Iberostar Cozumel

Morning Mist in Telford, UK

Derry City Wall, Northern Ireland

A Decade Later

Life is good in many ways. It has been 11 years since the accident that started this blog.

Jan has fully recovered from that experience and had reconstructive surgery on the pin scars on her forehead to minimize them. It turned out well.

I haven't owned a convertible since the accident and haven't had any accidents since. I sold my motorcycle a few years ago with the intentions of replacing it though I haven't yet.

Here's to keeping my fingers crossed and continuing the good life!

Here's a pic of Jan and her healed forehead.

Is This Thing On?

Edit: This post was from eight years ago that I never published.

Back on the web after a three-year hiatus. The legal things are all settled, lawyers are out of the picture and I've sanitized the names to protect the guilty.

Hopefully, this is a whole new chapter to the blog. Things that I originally intended to blog about from the beginning, people asking me if I'm that redneck guy.

So, we just returned from a trip to Seattle and Alaska. We got to see family in Redmond before we set out on the Norwegian Pearl for a cruise up to Alaska.

Day 392 - NORMAL AT LAST!

Jan finally said she feels like she is back to normal. Thank goodness!

However, the hospital sent a bill and insurance hasn't paid them yet so I'm not giving them a cent yet. I called and asked for an itemized bill. Mistake! Ticked me off royally. They charge $835 for 24 hours in the hospital. Despite the fact that she sat in the waiting room for an hour, they say she was in the hospital for over 24 hours, which amounted to an additional $507 for the alleged one to two hours! I've instigated an audit because she was out at around 5:30PM when the doctor left.

We went to visit a friend in the same ward that was having heart issues. He didn't have a heart attack but it was chest pain, numbness and shortness of breath.

Luckily, Jan has not had any more episodes.

Day 364 - One Year Later: Deja Vu

As Yogi Berra is reported to have once said, "This is like deja vu all over again."

Later today we are going to my aunt's, the same one we were returning from when the accident happened last year. It has now been one year since the accident and over a year since the ER visit for her PSVT episode, give or take a day. There will NOT be a repeat of the events of last year, despite the recurring theme that has already started.

Part of the recurring theme is Jan was admitted to the hospital for the second PSVT episode that would not go away. Since she now has a cardiologist, she called the office. We went there to get an EKG of the PSVT rhythm. Her regular doctor wasn't in and the other doctor in the office admitted her to the hospital for observation.

From there, people didn't have a clue. We thought they would just get her heart rate down and send her home like the last time. Instead, they kept her overnight when we were told the doctor would make rounds in the morning. Wrong again. The nurse came in and gave her a non-related medication that Jan told her she didn't need. She didn't want to take it but the nurse said it was ordered. As she took the pill, the nurse told her she could refuse it. Ah, a little too late!

And trust me, this pill is as related to a heart problem as eye drops are to a hangnail.

The next morning the cardiac nurse practitioner order her an antibiotic and said the doctor would be in at 3-4PM. Great, I went to work but we texted a few times throughout the day.

I returned at a little after 3PM, by 4PM there was still no doctor. Almost a full day in the hospital without a doctor. I started to get a bad attitude because too many people in the medical field answer questions they should not, their answers are so optimistic as to be fairy tales.

The second problem with medical treatment is patients, in general, are too timid or in such compromised situations that they will not speak up for themselves. I think doctors and nurses have gotten away with being subtle bullies for far too long. As I age, I need to keep this in mind.

I had Jan page her nurse and I wanted REAL answers. I told her in no uncertain terms that she was not staying another night. She couldn't rest, which is what she needs most, and they had to stick her four times for an IV! They brought her a dinner meal just as the doctor was arriving, which she did not eat. I'm obviously going to fight that one.

The doctor finally showed up around 5:15PM and stayed about 30 minutes. He said he would not have kept her overnight and would have sent her to the ER to get the heart rate down. GREAT! Another lesson learned the hard way. At least I can be the jerk and let Jan remain mostly unscathed by my dip into vitriolic behavior.

As soon as the doctor left, Jan was discharged. I think the nurse wanted me out of there because I was not satisfied with having to wait 4 hours for an ice pack or 2 hours to be told she can take her nightly meds when the doctor had already told her that several hours before. They wanted to dispense all of her meds, which I had retrieved so they could have the dosages, from pharmacy. It isn't about money, except to the hospital. Why would she pay $40 for a pill from the hospital when the whole prescription for 30 days was $10 and she already has it and takes it normally? Communication is the problem with medicine today. They talk and seldom listen.

Life has, more or less, returned to normal. She's very tired, bruised where the IVs were botched, blew a vein and she still has some neck pain if she sleeps funny, but don't we all? I'm not pushing the plastic surgery for scar revision. It is her decision on the incision for revision.

On a funnier note, we went out to eat at a Japanese place last weekend. It was one of those sit-down-at-the-grill places and it was very good and I ate too much. Several people commented out of the blue that I looked like that guy that does Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader. That is usually a signal that I need a haircut.

Day 350 - 50 Weeks, Second Surgeon

We visited the second plastic surgeon about scar revision last Monday. She liked him better but still is unsure if she wants the revision. I can't say I blame her but I would want the daily reminder of seeing the scars removed. I don't have to be cut and heal though. I can't do it for her either so there's not much else I can do but offer encouragement.

We are still trying to find out where our escrow money went from our refinancing last month. They did send us a check for something but we can't figure out the difference between the pay-off (lower) and the amount being refinanced (higher). It is about one house payment so it is definitely worth looking for. As a matter of fact, it is halo scar revision money if you want to look at it that way!

If she decides to have the surgery, I will take before and after pictures.

Day 343 - Scalpel!

Last Monday we went to a plastic surgeon to see about scar revision on her forehead. He was nice enough and he indicated it was a simple procedure to be done in his office, but Jan is a little leery of being cut intentionally. As part of our new rules of medicine, as prescribed by me, we have a second opinion with another surgeon this coming Monday. I do not expect much of a different treatment plan, possibly only the price, which was actually cheaper than any of the follows up at Bilkmore.

Day 329 - Kicked Out!

Jan has been kicked out of PT. The PT guy says he can't really do anything more for her. We thank him for his help and support!

Day 315 - Jan's 30 Year Reunion

It has been 315 days since the accident and Jan had her 30-year reunion in Owensboro last night. It was actually a gathering of several years, encompassing the 70's and 80's Ohio County High School grads. There were about 100 people there so it was a good turn out.

Day 308 - Legally Speaking

We have passed 10 months since the accident. Things are mostly back to normal as much as anything is ever normal. We are refinancing the house to get a better rate. We are going from 27 years remaining at 6.675% to 15 years at 4.375. So we are dropping 2.3 points, shaving 12 years off the time and keeping about the same payment!

Jan has started going to church again. I, not being an overly religious person, do not participate in organized religion. I used to think I was agnostic but now I think that while God exists, he doesn't interfere with the affairs of man any more than we interfere with the single-celled life forms. That's just me, though.

The lawyer sent a letter telling Jan that they have sent the request for her insurance claim off and that should be resolved within 45 days. Additionally, the medical claim is being studied. We will see if there is anything to be done there. Frankly, I just want them to not be able to do what they did to Jan to anyone else. No further word from the Tennessee Medical Board on the outcome of their investigations into the doctor and the nurse practitioner.

Day 294 - 42 Weeks And Life Moves On

It has been over 200 days since the halo came off and Jan is still in physical therapy. She says her neck pops and cracks when she turns her head to the right. The scars look about the same, white dimples in her forehead the size of pencil erasers.

We just had the driveway sealed and still can't drive on it. They called early Saturday morning and said they could do it later that day if we wanted. So they did.

We also went to Nolin Dam for a cookout with my Dad. He was attending a Cattleman's association cookout and invited us. To get there we had to drive on the road where the accident happened. Jan realized shortly after we turned on to it. She said it made her a little sick at her stomach. I have the same feeling about Bilkmore.

Day 280 - 40 Weeks Still in Physical Therapy

Here we are at just over nine months later and Jan is still going to PT. Her PT guy was out part of last week so she only went last Friday. She developed an issue with her lower back and was in quite a bit of pain. That was unfortunate as there was a family get-together at the old family farm.

She took some pain killers and managed to get through it pretty well with some heat thrown in for good measure. She was doing much better this morning.

Not really much else to report, still trying to get Bilkmore billing sorted. That is a pain. If I were really worried about it I'd just pay it off. As it is, I hope I'm causing them more trouble and costing them more money than it is worth to them.

They send a statement and I call because it isn't right. Someday they will get it right but I won't live that long.

Day 259 - 37 Weeks and Jan's Birthday

Yesterday was Jan's birthday. We didn't do a lot. She's not really thrilled with counting numbers. To me they are just numbers, one more doesn't mean that much as long as people don't treat me differently because they think I'm old!

For her birthday we did go to her church ice cream social with our daughter, her boyfriend, his two sisters and one of his cousins. The burgers were good and the ice cream was homemade. Lots of people and plenty of entertainment for the little ones.

In the last month, I've made three visits to funeral homes. My friend's father that was in an accident and put into a halo (the proper way) finally succumbed to his injuries. Next, my uncle of 91 went downhill quick and left us. Finally, Jan's second mother had become frail and passed away just before her birthday.

She is still going to physical therapy although I'm sure the insurance is about to kick her off. The physical therapist is a great guy and has never sent us a bill for any co-pay or anything. The lawyers want to wait until maximum medical improvement before they present the claim.

I just can't seem to put this behind me. I have blinding rage every single time I have to deal with anything related to Bilkmore. The reason is the bills, they keep coming in. Bilkmore does an even lousier job of managing their bills than they do with medical care. It turns out each visit is a new account number so the automatic payments I've been making are going to the wrong account. Not to mention the fact that we get four bills for each visit; one for the hospital/clinic, one for the doctor, one for the x-ray and one for the x-ray reader. Each of them gets a co-pay so we wind up paying nearly $100 each visit for the privilege of being frustrated to the point of screaming.

There can be only one solution: brainwashing to get it out of my head. While Jan was drugged and merely had to survive it, I was awake, sober and traumatized psychologically by the whole thing. I'm not squeamish in the least. I can dig into my own flesh to retrieve an impaled object but watching them treat her like that for 80 days is impossible to take without a lot of anger.

I called to find out why the account hasn't shown a posted payment in two months and I was informed the account had a hold on it while they attempted to move the funds to the proper account. Incredibly, the lady could not make the numbers she had match the ones displayed online. What were the odds? Based on previous experience, I was not surprised. She said she could send me a detailed statement but she would have to remove the hold and stop the money transfer. As a former computer programmer, that just goes all over me as being the dumbest thing I've ever heard.

We do not need socialized healthcare in this country or any form of single-payer. What we need in this country is a good system of billing and standardizing forms. Different accounts for each visit is BS. Paying a copay for four different things under the same roof is BS. Billing two different amounts, depending on the way it is paid is, you guessed it, BS. Maybe this should be an episode of Penn and Teller's BS show on Showtime.

Day 224 - 32 Weeks and a Cookout With Friends and Family

Jan continues therapy. We went to a cookout at a friend's house. This is the friend who's father was in a head-on crash and is also in a halo. He is making progress but at 82 years old, it will be difficult for him. Our prayers and thoughts remain with him.

Day 217 - 31 Weeks And Home Again

We are finally back home after a very long three flights. I have just about caught up with all the yard work and such. Things are pretty much back to normal. Jan resumed physical therapy.

One more picture from Hawaii, Tessa surfing.

Day 210 - 30 Weeks and Submerging

We are still in Hawaii for a few more days. I had a few scooter dives today and became certified for their use. We got Justin, Tessa's boyfriend, to take the introductory scuba lesson. He did well enough that he went on a shore dive with us and the instructor.

We have seen Waimea canyon and been to a Luau. Kauai is much more laid back than Oahu or Maui.