Archive of posts from 2026
July 1, 2026 was my last day of work. I have finally retired! I’ve been off for about a month now and it’s finally sinking in. For the first month, I just felt like I was being a big slacker. I went on a week-long trip to Michigan with my family and then a week-long road trip in the southeast US with my niece. Now I’m home and starting to do some projects for me. There are lots of things to do on my house, which I haven’t started. Instead I’m making a small nightstand for a spare room at my Mom’s house. She wanted something that “didn’t have to be nice”. That’s about my skillset, so I’m trying to make something out of all the old wood in my basement. And it’s not that nice, but I think it will be ok. Hopefully, my skills will improve as I do more woodworking.
Feb 1, 2026 February Check-InI’ve been very good about doing exercises for my knee and it’s definitely paying off. The shooting pain in myleft knee that I had toward the end of last year is gone. It’s not pain-free, but it’s much, much better. Here are pictures comparing them to last month. Lots of progress on the left knee. The right one hasn’t changed much. But I’ll keep going and we’ll see how it goes after another month.
Jan 1, 2026 Hello 2026!Hello 2026! The big news of this year is that I am planning on retiring. If I don’t go through with it, I will be very disappointed in myself. Right now, my plan is to have my last day working be July 1, 2026. I’m tempted to go sooner than that, but hopefully, this date will make for a smooth transition, which is my goal.