OT - doing anything productive this summer

[ctfjr]

Now that we are really into summer, I wonder what the yarders are doing to keep themselves productive. I retired just over a year ago but am still doing contract work for my old employer - not enough to interfere with my hobbies tho
I have been doing a fair amount of planting around the house - mainly roses and hydrangeas. That leads me into another hobby photography.

I also wanted to upgrade my 8 year old computer as I felt it was too slow today for photo editing. So. . . I built this

It should last me another 8 years

So what is everyone else doing to keep busy? I'm sure there are many members here who have interesting hobbies / interests!

 

[MooseJaw]

Now that we are really into summer, I wonder what the yarders are doing to keep themselves productive. I retired just over a year ago but am still doing contract work for my old employer - not enough to interfere with my hobbies tho
I have been doing a fair amount of planting around the house - mainly roses and hydrangeas. That leads me into another hobby photography.
View attachment 110625

I also wanted to upgrade my 8 year old computer as I felt it was too slow today for photo editing. So. . . I built this

View attachment 110626

It should last me another 8 years

So what is everyone else doing to keep busy? I'm sure there are many members here who have interesting hobbies / interests!

Looking for someone like you to upgrade my beat-up old slow computer. Plus, I have a hydrangea plant in a large container, large heads, however I never get more than about 20% filled out mops. Any ideas why?

 

[Bigboote]

Like the OP I retired a little over a year ago. Summer activity this year has been hitherto hampered by getting a new knee. I'm recently able to spend an hour at a time on my feet, which I'm spending working on wooden pennywhistles, fipple flutes used extensively in Irish traditional music, African kwela, and various other types of music. This pic is from a couple of years ago:

 

[Veteran]

I'm retired. The best way I know how to explain retirement to people who aren't as blessed is to refer back to an old B.C. comic strip that has been hanging on every refrigerator I've owned for about 50 years. It's a two-pane strip. In the first pane, one caveman is sitting on the ground with his back against a rock. Another caveman is walking past and asks, "Watcha doin' today", and the sitting caveman says, "Nothing". In the second pane, the walking caveman turns to him and says, "You did that yesterday". And the sitting caveman replies, "I wasn't finished". And that's how I explain retirement.

So, you can guess my feelings on being productive this summer.

 

[Bone Dog]

I was going to retire last year in May. But my college offered me a sabbatical if I’d return for another two years. So this past year has been a lot of doing nuthin. But the semester I go back to work is fast approaching: College full speed ahead.

I actually did one important thing: I worked on my latest novel. It’s #9 in the series and I’m about 58k words in. I’d really like to finish a draft before September.

Oh, yeah, and I installed a new drip irrigation system.

Once the semester begins, I’ll be teaching a class on Sophocles’ Antigone. The class will spend the fall reading it in Greek. I may take the opportunity to write something on Antigone, and maybe about tragedy more broadly. Maybe throw in a little Nietzsche too. He loved tragedy, even if I think he misread it sometimes.

 

[slug25]

Shot my age last week.

 

[Steelerone]

Retirement is great. My blood pressure went down as did my weight because I stopped eating junk foot and got addicted to smoothies with yogurt and berries. Work outside while listening to fifties music (the very best of all) or Louis L'Amour westerns. Monday thru Friday is the same as Saturday or Sunday. Hope everyone who reaches the retirement age has the opportunity to take advantage of it.

 

[Scud49]

I've been working on my photography:

 

[oldhusky]

The problem with retirement is you never get to take a day off!

 

[veivoli]

Now this reeks of Northern Hemisphere chauvinism! Cool because it's winter down here...

After coming up 50 years in IT (started in '76) I'm reminded of an actors' saying: when between roles they say they're "resting". I'm doing the consultant's equivalent, with occasional bursts of activity. It's mostly too cold to take my camera out and I keep looking at the four estates' worth of stuff, including lots of photos, to go through and catalogue. Depressing to think that someone will have to do the same with mine some day.

So, when summer comes around it'll be out with the camera, continue to spend time with the grandkids, visit the extended family in the Islands, and watch as many of the Huskies' games that reach our shores - or YouTube. I still haven't watched the championship replays too many times, and there's always the back catalogue to dip in to...

 

[Boreifs]

10 Weeks in Europe (two more to go).

 

[Skeets]

Shot my age last week.

Me too, but it was bowling.

 

[FairView]

Shot my age last week.

Wow, you don't look 104!

 

[uconnfan68]

Shot my age last week.

You do that every week!

 

[DemonDeac22]

Now that we are really into summer, I wonder what the yarders are doing to keep themselves productive. I retired just over a year ago but am still doing contract work for my old employer - not enough to interfere with my hobbies tho
I have been doing a fair amount of planting around the house - mainly roses and hydrangeas. That leads me into another hobby photography.
View attachment 110625

I also wanted to upgrade my 8 year old computer as I felt it was too slow today for photo editing. So. . . I built this

View attachment 110626

It should last me another 8 years

So what is everyone else doing to keep busy? I'm sure there are many members here who have interesting hobbies / interests!

What computer did you upgrade to? I’m retiring on December 31 this year and need a good laptop computer for photo and video editing as well as for personal finance stuff.

 

[Centerstream]

I retired, totally unexpected, in January of 2016. I never expected to "enjoy" it for this long. Living on a farm with horses and goaties meant that I really didn't retire but due to all of us aging, the time spent with the animals dwindled greatly, to the point where I wasn't hardly helping very much at all. Now to the point of the OP. The main productive thing that I get to do this summer is watch as many available replays of last season that I can, averaging watching at least one game a night, due to my insomnia issue, four or five nights a week. I particularly enjoy watching the SoCar games back to back!!! That's turned into a weekly event.

 

[meyers7]

The problem with retirement is you never get to take a day off!

Yep and nothing to look forward to. No days off, no vacations, no weekends. Sound terrible to me. But I'll probably have to retire someday, unless I can die before then.

 

[ctfjr]

What computer did you upgrade to? I’m retiring on December 31 this year and need a good laptop computer for photo and video editing as well as for personal finance stuff.

Hi Demon,

I built this one. It's about the 12th desktop I've done in the last several years. I replaced an AMD 2950X Threadripper that I built 8 years ago. It was a screamer at the time but that time is gone. Lightroom and Photoshop take a lot more resources than they did back then.

For this build I used an AMD 9950X3D cpu, a Gigabyte RTX5090 gpu with 32GB of ram, 96GB of system ram, a 4TB NVMe, an 8TB sata ssd and an ASUS ROG Crosshair X870E Hero motherboard. Its all packaged in a Hyte Y70 Touch case with a 1500 watt Corsair power supply. The water cooler is an Artic AIO and the 6 extra case fans are by Lian Li.

It's definitely not a laptop but a build that should last me a number of years.

 

[DemonDeac22]

Hi Demon,

I built this one. It's about the 12th desktop I've done in the last several years. I replaced an AMD 2950X Threadripper that I built 8 years ago. It was a screamer at the time but that time is gone. Lightroom and Photoshop take a lot more resources than they did back then.

For this build I used an AMD 9950X3D cpu, a Gigabyte RTX5090 gpu with 16GB of ram, 96GB of system ram, a 4TB NVMe, an 8TB sata ssd and an ASUS ROG Crosshair X870E Hero motherboard. Its all packaged in a Hyte Y70 Touch case with a 1500 watt Corsair power supply. The water cooler is an Artic AIO and the 6 extra case fans are by Lian Li.

It's definitely not a laptop but a build that should last me a number of years.

Very nice! And way above my technical capabilities!

 

[OldSchooler]

I'm retired. The best way I know how to explain retirement to people who aren't as blessed is to refer back to an old B.C. comic strip that has been hanging on every refrigerator I've owned for about 50 years. It's a two-pane strip. In the first pane, one caveman is sitting on the ground with his back against a rock. Another caveman is walking past and asks, "Watcha doin' today", and the sitting caveman says, "Nothing". In the second pane, the walking caveman turns to him and says, "You did that yesterday". And the sitting caveman replies, "I wasn't finished". And that's how I explain retirement.

So, you can guess my feelings on being productive this summer.

The line I use, whenever someone on the phone asks if they can put me on hold, is "Take your time. I'm retired. Every day is Sunday."

 

[OldSchooler]

I have been doing a fair amount of planting around the house - mainly roses and hydrangeas. That leads me into another hobby photography.

View attachment 110625

I also wanted to upgrade my 8 year old computer as I felt it was too slow today for photo editing. So. . . I built this

View attachment 110626

It should last me another 8 years

So what is everyone else doing to keep busy? I'm sure there are many members here who have interesting hobbies / interests!

Gave two public readings of the Declaration of Independence a couple of weeks ago (been doing that since 2000).

Spent a couple of days in the Berkshires last week, with a fantastic all-Beethoven BSO concert at Tanglewood.

Taking the family to a Yankee game in two weeks.

Looking forward to our annual three days at Cape Cod next month.

Looking forward to becoming grandparents in September.

Marking off the days on the calendar 'til the start of this season. (In the Air Force, we called that a FIGMO chart.) Would love to catch the opener at Ramstein and the game at USF . . . but those are going to be hard sells to the boss.

 

[Lafayette]

Productive is me taking continuing education courses online to keep up Enrolled Agent (tax dude) status with the IRS. Rinse and rewind but 1/2 way there with 12 credits banked so I can finish by July and take some vaca in August.

 

[CL82]

I was going to retire last year in May. But my college offered me a sabbatical if I’d return for another two years. So this past year has been a lot of doing nuthin. But the semester I go back to work is fast approaching: College full speed ahead.

I actually did one important thing: I worked on my latest novel. It’s #9 in the series and I’m about 58k words in. I’d really like to finish a draft before September.

Oh, yeah, and I installed a new drip irrigation system.

Once the semester begins, I’ll be teaching a class on Sophocles’ Antigone. The class will spend the fall reading it in Greek. I may take the opportunity to write something on Antigone, and maybe about tragedy more broadly. Maybe throw in a little Nietzsche too. He loved tragedy, even if I think he misread it sometimes.

What is your novel series about?

 

[Bone Dog]

What is your novel series about?

Thanks for asking.

The main series is a martial arts fantasy following a young woman through high school, the USNA and into the USMC, until she retires and is hired by a military contracting firm (read "mercs") and is currently negotiating an arms deal between Taiwan and a Japanese defense contractor. There is much hand-to-hand fighting with yakuza, with Japanese officials, Chinese operatives and even with US operatives.

 

[CL82]

Thanks for asking.

The main series is a martial arts fantasy following a young woman through high school, the USNA and into the USMC, until she retires and is hired by a military contracting firm (read "mercs") and is currently negotiating an arms deal between Taiwan and a Japanese defense contractor. There is much hand-to-hand fighting with yakuza, with Japanese officials, Chinese operatives and even with US operatives.

I'll definitely give this a try. Send me a PM with the series name if you don't want post it in this thread. Beginning in October, I'm going to be looking for new things to read