I love seeing what everyone cooks and posts here, but most of you must be retired with the meals I see posted on a daily basis. Working full time puts a crimp in my creative cooking cause I'm usually too pooped to mess with a lot of prep or complicated dishes when I get home.

I do most of my cooking on the weekends and then have that through the week..
One of these days......maybe I'll be able to retire, but not yet.

envious of you guys.

"ImStillMags" > wrote in message
...
I love seeing what everyone cooks and posts here, but most of you must be
retired with the meals I see posted on a daily basis. Working full time
puts a crimp in my creative cooking cause I'm usually too pooped to mess
with a lot of prep or complicated dishes when I get home.

I do most of my cooking on the weekends and then have that through the week.
One of these days......maybe I'll be able to retire, but not yet.

envious of you guys.

=====

We have been retired for going on 4 years now, so we do have time. These
days I really don't care to spend a whole lot of time with it either, so I
do look for things that are fairly simple but tasty, but if I wanted to try
a really time consuming recipe, I would, most recently was the zwiebelkuchen
around Christmastime which turned out great. I do remember when I was
working outside the home that I did a lot of weekend cooking too, and some
of the weekday meals were pretty thrown together simply because I was
cooking all day at work and I was tired. :-)


Cheri

On 2014-02-07 15:47:00 +0000, Cheri said:

> "ImStillMags" > wrote in message
> ...
> I love seeing what everyone cooks and posts here, but most of you must
> be retired with the meals I see posted on a daily basis. Working full
> time puts a crimp in my creative cooking cause I'm usually too pooped
> to mess with a lot of prep or complicated dishes when I get home.
>
> I do most of my cooking on the weekends and then have that through the week.
> One of these days......maybe I'll be able to retire, but not yet.
>
> envious of you guys.
>
> =====
>
> We have been retired for going on 4 years now, so we do have time.
> These days I really don't care to spend a whole lot of time with it
> either, so I do look for things that are fairly simple but tasty, but
> if I wanted to try a really time consuming recipe, I would, most
> recently was the zwiebelkuchen around Christmastime which turned out
> great.

Same here--it's not a holiday staple. This alone would prove the value
of rfc for me, but there are a number of others.

> I do remember when I was working outside the home that I did a lot of
> weekend cooking too, and some of the weekday meals were pretty thrown
> together simply because I was cooking all day at work and I was tired.
> :-)

I feel quite certain that with the wife's impending retirement we'll do
a lot more cooking, and likely a lot more eating-out. There are so many
great restaurants/bars in our area but the density in OC is such that
any really nice place gets too popular in a matter of a couple of
months. Then Fridays and Saturdays are a mad house and we prefer to
stop by places on a whim, rather than making reservations in advance.
As such our Tuesdays and Thursdays will become our old Fridays and
Saturdays and we figure we can get into any hip new popular place in OC
or LA with impunity!

On Fri, 7 Feb 2014 10:52:56 -0800, gtr > wrote:

> I feel quite certain that with the wife's impending retirement we'll do
> a lot more cooking, and likely a lot more eating-out. There are so many
> great restaurants/bars in our area but the density in OC is such that
> any really nice place gets too popular in a matter of a couple of
> months. Then Fridays and Saturdays are a mad house and we prefer to
> stop by places on a whim, rather than making reservations in advance.
> As such our Tuesdays and Thursdays will become our old Fridays and
> Saturdays and we figure we can get into any hip new popular place in OC
> or LA with impunity!

That's the beauty of retirement. When we want to try a place, we can
avoid the lunch and dinner crowds by going mid-afternoon. If it's
only open for dinner, we're SOL - but so are they, because there are
lots of other places to try that DO fit our time frame.


--

Good Food.
Good Friends.
Good Memories.

"gtr" > wrote in message news:2014020710525638728-xxx@yyyzzz...

> I feel quite certain that with the wife's impending retirement we'll do a
> lot more cooking, and likely a lot more eating-out. There are so many
> great restaurants/bars in our area but the density in OC is such that any
> really nice place gets too popular in a matter of a couple of months.
> Then Fridays and Saturdays are a mad house and we prefer to stop by places
> on a whim, rather than making reservations in advance. As such our
> Tuesdays and Thursdays will become our old Fridays and Saturdays and we
> figure we can get into any hip new popular place in OC or LA with
> impunity!

Good for you both. I hope you truly enjoy your retirements, and sounds like
you will.

Cheri

In article >,
ImStillMags > wrote:
>I love seeing what everyone cooks and posts here, but most of you must be r=
>etired with the meals I see posted on a daily basis. Working full time pu=
>ts a crimp in my creative cooking cause I'm usually too pooped to mess with=
> a lot of prep or complicated dishes when I get home.
>
>I do most of my cooking on the weekends and then have that through the week=
>.
>One of these days......maybe I'll be able to retire, but not yet.
>
>envious of you guys.

No, I'm not retired. Weekday meals are like this (last night's menu):

Make salad
Defrost and heat frozen chili from the big batch we made last month
Boil spaghetti for Mr. Cincinnati (usually a tortilla or tortilla chips for me)
Eat

In the summer we rely a lot on grilled meat. Sometimes I'll marinate it
at lunchtime (I work close enough to come home for lunch).

Cindy Hamilton
--

ImStillMags wrote:
> I love seeing what everyone cooks and posts here, but most of you
> must be retired with the meals I see posted on a daily basis.
> Working full time puts a crimp in my creative cooking cause I'm
> usually too pooped to mess with a lot of prep or complicated dishes
> when I get home.
>
> I do most of my cooking on the weekends and then have that through
> the week.
> One of these days......maybe I'll be able to retire, but not yet.
>
> envious of you guys.

I'm not one of those who posts complicated recipes. I think the last
recipe I posted here was two-ingredient biscuits, which are right up my
alley.

Last night, my wife and I were in a benefit performance (see
http://rhsjamboree.org) in the evening and I was teaching in the late
afternoon, so during a 30 minute break from 4:15 to 4:45, I made, then
and ate half of, a 6-egg ham and cheese omlette. Eggs (from TJ), a bit
of half and half (organic), adobo seasoning from a bottle (WF), and into
a pan with some coconut (WF) and olive (TJ) oils, added grated sharp
cheddar (TJ, grass-fed), deli black forest ham (from WF), fold in half,
done - sprinkled a little grated cheese and black pepper on the top -
used the stainless 12" skillet pan I mentioned in the cast iron pan
thread.

I found leftover, homemade tomatoe sauce in the 'fridge so I heated
some of that in a small bowl in the microwave and put it over my omlette
on my plate.

I ate standing up at the kitchen counter.

When I got home at about 10:30 PM, the kids (ages 21 and 17) had ordered
a pizza. I took one slice of that (black olive was the topping), put
grated cheddar cheese on it, plus some garlic power, black peper, and
oregano, warmed it in the microwave, and had the second half of my
dinner, on the family room sofa, sharing a glass of prosecco (Italian
sparkling white wine, like champagne) with my wife.

-S-

"ImStillMags" > wrote in message
...
> I love seeing what everyone cooks and posts here, but most of you must be
> retired with the meals I see posted on a daily basis. Working full time
> puts a crimp in my creative cooking cause I'm usually too pooped to mess
> with a lot of prep or complicated dishes when I get home.

I am now, but I was here while I was working too so I do understand what you
are saying

>
> I do most of my cooking on the weekends and then have that through the
> week.
> One of these days......maybe I'll be able to retire, but not yet.

I did do most cooking at weekends too

> envious of you guys.

All in good time <g>

--
http://www.helpforheroes.org.uk/shop/

On 2/7/14, 11:29 AM, Ophelia wrote:

> I am now, but I was here while I was working too so I do understand what
> you are saying

Same here -- for two years now. But my wife hasn't quit yet.

But my cooking was exactly the same when I was working -- we just ate
later, since my prep got a later start.

Nowadays, since we play so much tennis (three weeknights at 6:30 pm,
plus Saturday and Sunday from 11am-3pm), my cooking is limited to
weekends and the non-tennis nights (Tuesdays and Fridays).

-- Larry

"pltrgyst" > wrote in message
...
> On 2/7/14, 11:29 AM, Ophelia wrote:
>
>> I am now, but I was here while I was working too so I do understand what
>> you are saying
>
> Same here -- for two years now. But my wife hasn't quit yet.
>
> But my cooking was exactly the same when I was working -- we just ate
> later, since my prep got a later start.
>
> Nowadays, since we play so much tennis (three weeknights at 6:30 pm, plus
> Saturday and Sunday from 11am-3pm), my cooking is limited to weekends and
> the non-tennis nights (Tuesdays and Fridays).

Sounds like you are having a great time Enjoy))

--
http://www.helpforheroes.org.uk/shop/

On 2/7/14, 4:31 PM, Ophelia wrote:

>> Same here -- for two years now. But my wife hasn't quit yet.
>>
>> But my cooking was exactly the same when I was working -- we just ate
>> later, since my prep got a later start.
>>
>> Nowadays, since we play so much tennis (three weeknights at 6:30 pm, plus
>> Saturday and Sunday from 11am-3pm), my cooking is limited to weekends and
>> the non-tennis nights (Tuesdays and Fridays).
>
> Sounds like you are having a great time Enjoy))

Thanks -- we're working on it!

-- Larry

On 2/7/2014 4:21 PM, pltrgyst wrote:

> Nowadays, since we play so much tennis (three weeknights at 6:30 pm,
> plus Saturday and Sunday from 11am-3pm), my cooking is limited to
> weekends and the non-tennis nights (Tuesdays and Fridays).

Wow, are you on the senior tour or what? That's a lot of tennis.
Impressive.

nancy

On 2/7/14, 4:52 PM, Nancy Young wrote:
> On 2/7/2014 4:21 PM, pltrgyst wrote:
>
>> Nowadays, since we play so much tennis (three weeknights at 6:30 pm,
>> plus Saturday and Sunday from 11am-3pm), my cooking is limited to
>> weekends and the non-tennis nights (Tuesdays and Fridays).
>
> Wow, are you on the senior tour or what? That's a lot of tennis.
> Impressive.

Not really -- I'm just the competitive type, and tennis beats working
out in a gym. I know people down here who play a lot more than I do --
and then add golf into the mix.

-- Larry

On 2/7/14 10:17 PM, pltrgyst wrote:
> On 2/7/14, 4:52 PM, Nancy Young wrote:
>> On 2/7/2014 4:21 PM, pltrgyst wrote:
>>
>>> Nowadays, since we play so much tennis (three weeknights at 6:30 pm,
>>> plus Saturday and Sunday from 11am-3pm), my cooking is limited to
>>> weekends and the non-tennis nights (Tuesdays and Fridays).
>>
>> Wow, are you on the senior tour or what? That's a lot of tennis.
>> Impressive.
>
> Not really -- I'm just the competitive type, and tennis beats working
> out in a gym. I know people down here who play a lot more than I do --
> and then add golf into the mix.
>
> -- Larry

3 months after my 80 year old stepmama had knee surgery, she was back to
her twice a week tennis matches and once a week golf schedule down in
The Villages. I envy her having developed these passions when she was
younger.

Goomba

On 2/7/2014 9:15 AM, ImStillMags wrote:
> I love seeing what everyone cooks and posts here, but most of you must be retired with the meals I see posted on a daily basis. Working full time puts a crimp in my creative cooking cause I'm usually too pooped to mess with a lot of prep or complicated dishes when I get home.
>
> I do most of my cooking on the weekends and then have that through the week.
> One of these days......maybe I'll be able to retire, but not yet.
>
> envious of you guys.
>

Not retired, but we work from a home office. Most of my job is done
through emails or on the phone. I keep my email window open all the
time and read newsgroups or Facebook, etc if I have a few minutes to
spare. Most days it is just a few minutes here and there.

Cooking is easy when you work from home, but we do most of our cooking
in large batches and portion and freeze so that many dinners are the
"heat and eat" kind of thing. Tonight's supper is Thai Chicken Soup
that Becca made a few weeks ago. Defrost, heat and eat. Last night I
had Huevos Rancheros with beans made earlier this week and Mexican rice
made last week. Our freezer always has some beans, rice, spaghetti
sauce, soup, smoked meats, etc so coming up with a fast meal is pretty
easy f we don't feel like cooking.

The nice part about working at home is the flexibility. We are usually
at our computers by 7 AM every morning and we try to "close" the office
for business at 6 PM but we take phone calls after that. Occasionally,
we will have a really dead day and will go to an early movie and lunch
which is a nice break.

We are lucky in that we really love what we do so it doesn't seem like
work. We will probably never "retire".

George L

On Friday, February 7, 2014 9:15:43 AM UTC-6, ImStillMags wrote:
>
> I love seeing what everyone cooks and posts here, but most of you must be >retired with the meals I see posted on a daily basis. Working full time puts >a crimp in my creative cooking cause I'm usually too pooped to mess with a lot >of prep or complicated dishes when I get home.
>
> I do most of my cooking on the weekends and then have that through the week.
> One of these days......maybe I'll be able to retire, but not yet.
> envious of you guys.
>
>
Not retired yet but getting close! I do a lot of cooking on my days off and munch on what's been tossed together.

ImStillMags > wrote in
:

> I love seeing what everyone cooks and posts here, but most of you must
> be retired with the meals I see posted on a daily basis. Working
> full time puts a crimp in my creative cooking cause I'm usually too
> pooped to mess with a lot of prep or complicated dishes when I get
> home.
>
> I do most of my cooking on the weekends and then have that through the
> week. One of these days......maybe I'll be able to retire, but not
> yet.
>
> envious of you guys.

Yes. 17 years so far.


--
"Where there's smoke there's toast!" Anon

On 2014-02-07 15:15:43 +0000, ImStillMags said:

> I love seeing what everyone cooks and posts here, but most of you must
> be retired with the meals I see posted on a daily basis. Working full
> time puts a crimp in my creative cooking cause I'm usually too pooped
> to mess with a lot of prep or complicated dishes when I get home.
>
> I do most of my cooking on the weekends and then have that through the week.
> One of these days......maybe I'll be able to retire, but not yet.
>
> envious of you guys.

I'm retired, and when the wife retires (2.5 weeks), I'm hoping I'll be
kept more busy with less desk-bound activities. Having a number of
desk-bound activities has me checking usenet, though not always this
group, pretty frequently because of periodic idleness.

On Fri, 7 Feb 2014 07:15:43 -0800 (PST), ImStillMags
> wrote:

> I love seeing what everyone cooks and posts here, but most of you must be retired with the meals I see posted on a daily basis. Working full time puts a crimp in my creative cooking cause I'm usually too pooped to mess with a lot of prep or complicated dishes when I get home.
>
> I do most of my cooking on the weekends and then have that through the week.
> One of these days......maybe I'll be able to retire, but not yet.
>
> envious of you guys.

I often worked 14 hour days and worked weekends too, so we ate out a
lot. Hubby learned how to follow recipes after he got bored with
eating breakfast (the only thing he knew how to make) around the
clock. I love being retired and enjoy cooking. It's my favorite form
of relaxation. Not everything I cook is fancy or needs a lot of prep
work. I made pasta fazool this week - it was just a matter of
browning some sausage, chopping half an onion + a couple cloves of
garlic, opening a few cans + a bag of baby spinach and boiling some
noodles.

I read somewhere about cooking pasta in whatever it is that you want
it in, but I don't like to have pasta in leftover soup because they
get flabby overnight, so I keep them separate and combine everything
in the bowl.


--

Good Food.
Good Friends.
Good Memories.

On 2/7/2014 10:15 AM, ImStillMags wrote:
> I love seeing what everyone cooks and posts here, but most of you must be retired with the meals I see posted on a daily basis. Working full time puts a crimp in my creative cooking cause I'm usually too pooped to mess with a lot of prep or complicated dishes when I get home.
>
> I do most of my cooking on the weekends and then have that through the week.
> One of these days......maybe I'll be able to retire, but not yet.
>
> envious of you guys.
>

Not retired yet, but come and go as I please so I leave early a few days
a week and take the occasional day off as I see fit.

My wife is home and does much of the Mon-Fri cooking and I may help out.
Most elaborate meals are weekend ventures when we take the time do do
all the fussing required. Nice to do on days when the weather is crappy
and no good reason to go out.

We eat out at least once a week during the week and maybe a late
lunch/early dinner some Saturdays.

On 2014-02-07 10:15 AM, ImStillMags wrote:
> I love seeing what everyone cooks and posts here, but most of you
> must be retired with the meals I see posted on a daily basis.
> Working full time puts a crimp in my creative cooking cause I'm
> usually too pooped to mess with a lot of prep or complicated dishes
> when I get home.
>
> I do most of my cooking on the weekends and then have that through
> the week. One of these days......maybe I'll be able to retire, but
> not yet.


I have been retired for almost 1o years, but I was posting here long
before I retired, and probably did a lot more cooking then. Sorry, but
I have trouble sympathizing with people not having time to cook when
working. We always managed to have a proper sit down dinner from
scratch. It was very rare to have a prepared food dinner.... very rare.




> envious of you guys.

You should be. It beats the hell out of working.

On 2/7/2014 5:45 PM, Dave Smith wrote:
> On 2014-02-07 10:15 AM, ImStillMags wrote:

>> envious of you guys.
>
> You should be. It beats the hell out of working.

People were concerned when Ron decided to retire early.
They said But what will you do??!

You're kidding, right? I know what I won't be doing,
driving out here every day, holding status meetings etc etc.

nancy

On 2014-02-07 19:07, Nancy Young wrote:
> On 2/7/2014 5:45 PM, Dave Smith wrote:
>> On 2014-02-07 10:15 AM, ImStillMags wrote:
>
>>> envious of you guys.
>>
>> You should be. It beats the hell out of working.
>
> People were concerned when Ron decided to retire early.
> They said But what will you do??!
>
> You're kidding, right? I know what I won't be doing,
> driving out here every day, holding status meetings etc etc.
>


It has been almost 10 years and I have never been bored. I made a deal
with myself that if I ever found myself watching Jerry Springer in the
afternoon I would go out and get a job. I don't even watch daytime TV,
except for the news. There have been the occasional snow days when we
watched movies. Between bicycling, hiking, dog walking, kayaking, going
to the gym, my days are pretty full.

"Dave Smith" > wrote in message
...
> On 2014-02-07 19:07, Nancy Young wrote:
>> On 2/7/2014 5:45 PM, Dave Smith wrote:
>>> On 2014-02-07 10:15 AM, ImStillMags wrote:
>>
>>>> envious of you guys.
>>>
>>> You should be. It beats the hell out of working.
>>
>> People were concerned when Ron decided to retire early.
>> They said But what will you do??!
>>
>> You're kidding, right? I know what I won't be doing,
>> driving out here every day, holding status meetings etc etc.
>>
>
>
> It has been almost 10 years and I have never been bored. I made a deal
> with myself that if I ever found myself watching Jerry Springer in the
> afternoon I would go out and get a job. I don't even watch daytime TV,
> except for the news. There have been the occasional snow days when we
> watched movies. Between bicycling, hiking, dog walking, kayaking, going
> to the gym, my days are pretty full.

.... and cooking!
--
http://www.helpforheroes.org.uk/shop/

"Nancy Young" > wrote in message
...
> On 2/7/2014 5:45 PM, Dave Smith wrote:
>> On 2014-02-07 10:15 AM, ImStillMags wrote:
>
>>> envious of you guys.
>>
>> You should be. It beats the hell out of working.
>
> People were concerned when Ron decided to retire early.
> They said But what will you do??!
>
> You're kidding, right? I know what I won't be doing,
> driving out here every day, holding status meetings etc etc.

Amen to that)

--
http://www.helpforheroes.org.uk/shop/

On 2/8/2014 4:57 AM, Ophelia wrote:
>
>
> "Nancy Young" > wrote in message
> ...
>> On 2/7/2014 5:45 PM, Dave Smith wrote:
>>> On 2014-02-07 10:15 AM, ImStillMags wrote:
>>
>>>> envious of you guys.
>>>
>>> You should be. It beats the hell out of working.
>>
>> People were concerned when Ron decided to retire early.
>> They said But what will you do??!
>>
>> You're kidding, right? I know what I won't be doing,
>> driving out here every day, holding status meetings etc etc.
>
> Amen to that)
>
Right? They think all that stress and aggravation is Something
to do? It's not that kind of job, that you love and want to
keep doing.

nancy

"Nancy Young" > wrote in message
...
> On 2/8/2014 4:57 AM, Ophelia wrote:
>>
>>
>> "Nancy Young" > wrote in message
>> ...
>>> On 2/7/2014 5:45 PM, Dave Smith wrote:
>>>> On 2014-02-07 10:15 AM, ImStillMags wrote:
>>>
>>>>> envious of you guys.
>>>>
>>>> You should be. It beats the hell out of working.
>>>
>>> People were concerned when Ron decided to retire early.
>>> They said But what will you do??!
>>>
>>> You're kidding, right? I know what I won't be doing,
>>> driving out here every day, holding status meetings etc etc.
>>
>> Amen to that)
>>
> Right? They think all that stress and aggravation is Something
> to do? It's not that kind of job, that you love and want to
> keep doing.

Ahhh! I have to say I did love my job and was sorry to retire but I
wouldn't go back now. I didn't have to retire (they didn't care about age)
but I wanted to travel with my husband so I did. I did miss it for a while
but as I said, I wouldn't change anything now


--
http://www.helpforheroes.org.uk/shop/

On 2/7/2014 7:07 PM, Nancy Young wrote:
> On 2/7/2014 5:45 PM, Dave Smith wrote:
>> On 2014-02-07 10:15 AM, ImStillMags wrote:
>
>>> envious of you guys.
>>
>> You should be. It beats the hell out of working.
>
> People were concerned when Ron decided to retire early.
> They said But what will you do??!
>
> You're kidding, right? I know what I won't be doing,
> driving out here every day, holding status meetings etc etc.
>
> nancy
>
I was RIF'd (Reduction in Force) years ago along with a bunch of other
people in IT. It turned out to be a good thing in the long run. I
loved my job. But towards the end it became meeting after meeting.
Management sure liked to listen to themselves talk! Talk about how we
could do our jobs better. How about you let us go back to our desks and
*do* our jobs?

Don't get me started on the stupid "teambuilding" exercises...

Jill

On 2014-02-08, jmcquown > wrote:

> Management sure liked to listen to themselves talk! Talk about how we
> could do our jobs better. How about you let us go back to our desks and
> *do* our jobs?
>
> Don't get me started on the stupid "teambuilding" exercises...

LOL!!..... oh, the memories.

Wasn't it all so stupid? Middle mgt is the biggest waste/drain on
corporate structure of all time. Astonishingly, it was identified as
such way back in the 1970 in the brilliant book, Up the Organization
by Peter Townsend.

It was another 20 yrs before I actually experienced the fact that it
was still alive and well and flourishing, Even in enlightened and
progressive Silicon Valley, we had that nonsense. I can remember all
the incredibly lame mid/mgt nonsense that went on. Team building,
monthly meetings (the whole division!), PowerPoint presentations,
weekly dept meetings, sig-sigma, mission statements*, etc. What
hogwash!

I didn't hafta retire and I tried not to, but after the third
retraining effort and subsequent crash, I jes gave up and retired at
53. I shoulda retrained in investments, cuz I eventually lost my nest
egg. But, a higher calling, my mom, prevailed and I'm now where I am.
In fact, I'm currently picking around for a supplementary income, so
am not above working, again.

Life .....one step at a time.


*Scott Adams, author of Dilbert, pulled the ultimate "mission
statement" expose:

http://articles.latimes.com/1997/nov/16/news/mn-54489

There's now mulitple "mission statement" generators on the web. I
can't look!


nb

On 2014-02-08 5:13 PM, notbob wrote:
> On 2014-02-08, jmcquown > wrote:
>
>> Management sure liked to listen to themselves talk! Talk about how we
>> could do our jobs better. How about you let us go back to our desks and
>> *do* our jobs?
>>
>> Don't get me started on the stupid "teambuilding" exercises...
>
> LOL!!..... oh, the memories.
>
> Wasn't it all so stupid? Middle mgt is the biggest waste/drain on
> corporate structure of all time. Astonishingly, it was identified as
> such way back in the 1970 in the brilliant book, Up the Organization
> by Peter Townsend.

We went through a major restructuring at work that saw every second
level of management removed. We were in a branch office and had an area
supervisor. There was another area supervisor in the district office
for the crew there. He reported to the district supervisor who reported
to the district manager... all in the same building. The district
manager reported to the regional manager. They stripped out the area
supervisors and district managers.

Later on they converted us to self directed work teams. Theory was that
middle management was waste space, that they did more to impede
productivity than to improve it. We went to a number of sessions to
learn about the new system and how it was to be implemented. It was
working great... we thought... but the middle management that was left
fought it tooth and nail. They saw themselves loosing power.

Over the next few years front line staff numbers fell through attrition,
but more management jobs opened up in the head office.





>
>
> I didn't hafta retire and I tried not to, but after the third
> retraining effort and subsequent crash, I jes gave up and retired at
> 53. I shoulda retrained in investments, cuz I eventually lost my nest
> egg. But, a higher calling, my mom, prevailed and I'm now where I am.
> In fact, I'm currently picking around for a supplementary income, so
> am not above working, again.

Working for the government has some advantages. It also helps to have a
good union. The current mindset seems to think that all civil servants
are inherently lazy and useless and the government wanted to get rid of
a bunch of us and privatize the work. We were save in the enforcement
branch because that is too hard to contract out, but the deal for others
to retire early applied to us. I opted to take the early retirement
package at 53. I liked my job and my son was still in university but I
had a 6 month window to take it. If I didn't go I would not have the
opportunity for another 5 years.... so I took it. I never looked back.

On 2/8/2014 5:13 PM, notbob wrote:
> On 2014-02-08, jmcquown > wrote:
>
>>
>> Don't get me started on the stupid "teambuilding" exercises...
>
> LOL!!..... oh, the memories.
>
> Wasn't it all so stupid? Middle mgt is the biggest waste/drain on
> corporate structure of all time. Astonishingly, it was identified as
> such way back in the 1970 in the brilliant book, Up the Organization
> by Peter Townsend.
>
> It was another 20 yrs before I actually experienced the fact that it
> was still alive and well and flourishing, Even in enlightened and
> progressive Silicon Valley, we had that nonsense. I can remember all
> the incredibly lame mid/mgt nonsense that went on. Team building,
> monthly meetings (the whole division!), PowerPoint presentations,
> weekly dept meetings, sig-sigma, mission statements*, etc. What
> hogwash!
>
It was all a major waste of time. And yes, they hired "consultants" to
plan the teambuilding exercises. Of course this was supposed to make us
work better together and be more productive. They never saw the irony:
you can't be productive if the entire "team" is stuck doing
"teambuilding" exercises rather than working.

I remember one departmental teambuilding thing: popcorn and a movie in
one of the conference rooms. Really? How's that supposed to help? (Of
course the movie *was* fun - 'Office Space'.)

When we had any kind of meeting someone had to carry the department
pager in case there was a critical software problem. Guess who
volunteered most often to have the pager? I'd much rather deal with a
database crash than sit and listen to the managers spouting nonsense.

> *Scott Adams, author of Dilbert, pulled the ultimate "mission
> statement" expose:
>
> http://articles.latimes.com/1997/nov/16/news/mn-54489
>
> nb
>
That's more fun than 'Undercover Boss'.

Jill

> On 2014-02-07 10:15 AM, ImStillMags wrote:
> I love seeing what everyone cooks and posts here, but most of you
> must be retired with the meals I see posted on a daily basis.
> Working full time puts a crimp in my creative cooking cause I'm
> usually too pooped to mess with a lot of prep or complicated dishes
> when I get home.
>
> I do most of my cooking on the weekends and then have that through
> the week. One of these days......maybe I'll be able to retire, but
> not yet.

I'm retired, reaping the benefits of having put away for it.


--
Janet Wilder
Way-the-heck-south Texas
Spelling doesn't count. Cooking does.

---
This email is free from viruses and malware because avast! Antivirus protection is active.
http://www.avast.com

"Janet Wilder" > wrote in message
eb.com...
>
>> On 2014-02-07 10:15 AM, ImStillMags wrote:
>> I love seeing what everyone cooks and posts here, but most of you
>> must be retired with the meals I see posted on a daily basis.
>> Working full time puts a crimp in my creative cooking cause I'm
>> usually too pooped to mess with a lot of prep or complicated dishes
>> when I get home.
>>
>> I do most of my cooking on the weekends and then have that through
>> the week. One of these days......maybe I'll be able to retire, but
>> not yet.
>
> I'm retired, reaping the benefits of having put away for it.

Oh yes! It would be a miserable existence if we hadn't done that!

--
http://www.helpforheroes.org.uk/shop/

"Dave Smith" > wrote in message
...
> On 2014-02-07 10:15 AM, ImStillMags wrote:
>
>> envious of you guys.
>
> You should be. It beats the hell out of working.
>
But it depends on your occupation. I'm still working years after the normal
retirement age, in fact yesterday I signed a 2-year contract with a major
company. The projects are interesting and the interaction with the clients
is always stimulating.
I really don't see any point in retiring yet. Most of my uncles retired at
~80!
Graham

On 2014-02-08, graham > wrote:

> retirement age, in fact yesterday I signed a 2-year contract with a major
> company. The projects are interesting and the interaction with the clients
> is always stimulating.

Seems to me there are two kindsa ppl. Those that gain benefit from
someone else and those who don't.

I have never derived any benefit from working for someone else, other
than plain ol' survival grade "mo-nay!". If I never work another
day (as in "job") in my life, fine by me. I'm not against doing it if
need be, but given a choice...... sheeeeei.....!

nb

"graham" > wrote in message
...
>
> "Dave Smith" > wrote in message
> ...
>> On 2014-02-07 10:15 AM, ImStillMags wrote:
>>
>>> envious of you guys.
>>
>> You should be. It beats the hell out of working.
>>
> But it depends on your occupation. I'm still working years after the
> normal retirement age, in fact yesterday I signed a 2-year contract with a
> major company. The projects are interesting and the interaction with the
> clients is always stimulating.
> I really don't see any point in retiring yet. Most of my uncles retired at
> ~80!

You are just a workaholic

--
http://www.helpforheroes.org.uk/shop/

On 2014-02-08 6:39 PM, graham wrote:

>> You should be. It beats the hell out of working.
>>
> But it depends on your occupation. I'm still working years after the normal
> retirement age, in fact yesterday I signed a 2-year contract with a major
> company. The projects are interesting and the interaction with the clients
> is always stimulating.
> I really don't see any point in retiring yet. Most of my uncles retired at
>

In my case, I liked my job. It was interesting, challenging and I was
out on the road without a boss breathing my back. We had been working
with a sword over our heads for years as the government kept cutting
back and privatizing our jobs. There were a number of unpleasant changes
and I didn't like the way things were going. When that window opened for
an early retirement I grabbed it. I promised myself that if I ever
found myself sitting around watching Jerry Springer I would go out and
get a job. It has been almost 10 years now and I still don't watch
daytime tv.

"Dave Smith" > wrote in message
...
> On 2014-02-08 6:39 PM, graham wrote:
>
>>> You should be. It beats the hell out of working.
>>>
>> But it depends on your occupation. I'm still working years after the
>> normal
>> retirement age, in fact yesterday I signed a 2-year contract with a major
>> company. The projects are interesting and the interaction with the
>> clients
>> is always stimulating.
>> I really don't see any point in retiring yet. Most of my uncles retired
>> at
>>
>
> In my case, I liked my job. It was interesting, challenging and I was out
> on the road without a boss breathing my back. We had been working with a
> sword over our heads for years as the government kept cutting back and
> privatizing our jobs. There were a number of unpleasant changes and I
> didn't like the way things were going. When that window opened for an
> early retirement I grabbed it. I promised myself that if I ever found
> myself sitting around watching Jerry Springer I would go out and get a
> job. It has been almost 10 years now and I still don't watch daytime tv.

But has usenet substituted for Springer? {;-)

I see Tony Clement is trying to put controls on accumulated sick leave in
the public service. I know of people who have accumulated so much that they
use it up by retiring a year early!! I think they stopped that in Ontario
and possibly the Federal service but it's still happening in some public
sectors.
Graham
Graham

On 2014-02-09 3:06 PM, graham wrote:

>> In my case, I liked my job. It was interesting, challenging and I was out
>> on the road without a boss breathing my back. We had been working with a
>> sword over our heads for years as the government kept cutting back and
>> privatizing our jobs. There were a number of unpleasant changes and I
>> didn't like the way things were going. When that window opened for an
>> early retirement I grabbed it. I promised myself that if I ever found
>> myself sitting around watching Jerry Springer I would go out and get a
>> job. It has been almost 10 years now and I still don't watch daytime tv.
>
> But has usenet substituted for Springer? {;-)


It could. but I filter the worst offenders.

> I see Tony Clement is trying to put controls on accumulated sick leave in
> the public service. I know of people who have accumulated so much that they
> use it up by retiring a year early!! I think they stopped that in Ontario
> and possibly the Federal service but it's still happening in some public
> sectors.


That is the federal public service. I worked for the province and FWIW
we switched from bankable sick days to short term and long term sick
leave plans about two months after I started. We got to vote on it and
it passed easily. It worked for me. A friend of mine had had a heart
attack before the age of 30.

Sick leave monitoring was another reason for me being fed up with the
way things were heading. I don't dispute that there are some slackers
who abuse sick leave. I never did. The year before I retired I broke my
collar bone in a riding accident. I was off work for two months. There
was no way I could do my job. I was taking Oxycontin and was not even
supposed to drive. It wasn't enough to have a doctor's note. I had to
have a special form filled out.

After I returned to work I had to attend an attendance review meeting
with my supervisor. He said he thought it was silly because I had rarely
taken any sick time.... but... because of the program we had to go
through the process.

That wasn't so bad but six months later, and with a new supervisor I had
to go for another one to monitor my progress. I had not taken any time
off since my return after the injury. I was sent a notice and it said I
could have a union rep with me.

I didn't think I needed a rep but when I showed up for the meeting the
supervisor wanted me to sign a waiver about the representation. I
wouldn't sign it so we had to reschedule so a union rep could attend. If
they were going to make me jump through all those hoops for their silly
program that should not even apply to me, then they could jump through
some hoops themselves.

I retired the next year.... and I called in sick often enough to use up
all my sick days before I left. That is how motivating their attendance
improvement program was.

"ImStillMags" > wrote in message
...
I love seeing what everyone cooks and posts here, but most of you must be
retired with the meals I see posted on a daily basis. Working full time
puts a crimp in my creative cooking cause I'm usually too pooped to mess
with a lot of prep or complicated dishes when I get home.

I do most of my cooking on the weekends and then have that through the week.
One of these days......maybe I'll be able to retire, but not yet.

envious of you guys.

---

I am disabled so don't work. Did retire from one company and had intended
to go back to work after that. Did work at a golf course but then after I
had a baby, things went downhill in the health department and now, this is
it.

When I did work, I would often stay up all night one day of the week and do
nothing but cooking and baking. I like to make time consuming things like
hominy croquettes so I would make a huge batch and portion them out for the
freezer.

But... I also dined out a lot when I was working because of course I had
more money than I do now. And I worked a schedule that usually differed
daily. I would often meet up with friends around 9:30 when I was working
nights and I'd have my dinner then.

Fridays were often my shopping days so I'd get salad bar to take home.
Unless it was during my clubbing years. Then I'd go to a club that night
and depending on where we went, I might eat my dinner there.

My meals sure have changed from when I was single. Although I loved to
cook, much of what I ate wasn't overly complicated. I was a vegetarian for
the most part then. I would eat meat occasionally but usually not. So...
Beans and rice, beans and pasta, popcorn, big salads, cottage cheese, boiled
eggs.

Now with three people to cook for, differing tastes and differing needs due
to food intolerances and other medical stuff, things can get complicated!
Now I find that most weeks I have to sit down and plan my meals so we always
have something to eat.