Congratulations, Dave.

That's a great way to start a new year , has already been said but it couldn't be more true !

The day I retired is right up there with meeting the right woman .   No more doing what you don't want to just to get by !  

I am not retiring completely - but moving to a part time job......I anticipate my full time retirement is still 5 years away.  In this part time job I will have 20 regular office hours - and I will need to check emails and respond to unusual situations that may arise when I am not in the office.  I need to be a 30 hour a week employee to be eligible for the health care plan - so the other 10 hours will come from evening meetings, responding to phone calls and email, inspections, etc.  While a 30 hour week doesn't sound like retirement - it will be half the hours I used to work!

I will also be able to take vacations - previously I had too many projects going on when the weather was good, and it was impossible for me to leave.  By working for only 1 City I won't have multiple projects going on, and the Public Works Director can cover for me if anything come up while I am gone.  This City doesn't own the water and sewer system - so I won't be designing those kind of projects and I will only be doing street and the related storm sewer projects.

I am excited about the job change and new found freedom!

I have enough stuff moved out of my old office and into my new office that I can start work on Tuesday - but it is hard to get 32 years of stuff out of my desk and file cabinets in just a few days!  They aren't in a big hurry for my office - and we do have an upstairs office that isn't rented and I could store stuff for a bit if I need to.

Even though today was a Saturday - it was somehow more relaxing than usual - I didn't feel the need to rush while I was getting the new dog door installed in the garage.....I knew I had plenty of time in the coming weeks to attend to needed home projects.

Congratulations & best wishes for your new "chapter!"

Today is my 3rd day at my new "part time" job.  While I get settled in the hours have been the same 12 hours days as my previous job - but that will change as I get things set up and it will become a 20 hour a week job.

With a new office, computer, desk and surroundings it takes a little while to adapt.  Setting up the computer to store files, learning how to send things to the printer, printing envelopes, scanning documents and recovering the files, etc.....it all takes time.

My previous office had 4 walls and a door and I have had a private office for more than 30 years - this new office has me in the corner of a large room in the Public Works department/garage.  The public works director has his desk about 6 feet from mine, there is a large table a few feet from that where folks eat their breakfast/lunch/breaks.  There is a TV on the wall by my desk where the employees watch the news while they eat their lunch, and the room has the fridge, microwave, toaster oven, sink, etc.  There is a large table and equipment for making the street signs on the other side of the room.  As public works garages go  - this one is clean and tidy.......the garage area is kept clean enough that they can pull out the trucks and have public events inside - like Easter and Christmas events for the local kids.  I like everyone here and it is going to work out very well - but it is a huge change in office environment!

stewmills wrote on 01/04/18 at 06:54:47:


There may come a day when I learn how to make the signs.....then I can pretty well guarantee I will have a "DAVE'S MAN CAVE" sign on my garage!