Jeff’s Retirement Musings: Driving Miss Cathie

Jeff’s Retirement Musings Jan 2024 – Driving Miss Cathie, Dutch Ovens, and New Year Plans

It’s been a while since I posted a retirement update, so I figured it was about time to update everyone on my latest adventures and musings.

The timing of my retirement has yet again proved timely as Cathie ended up having major surgery on December 20th. As part of her six-week recovery process, she has not been allowed to drive or lift anything greater than 5-10 pounds. Thus, I have been driving around Miss Cathie and lifting various things for her. If you have a need to know what various household items weigh, I probably know as I have weighed various things in and around our house in my efforts to keep her compliant with doctor’s orders. Apparently, Cathie was storing bricks in the bottom of her purse as it weighed in at a whopping 17.3 pounds.

We have a Fitbit scale I have been using to weigh items. However, if you put an item on it, the scale will not register its weight. So, I have developed a work around where I weigh myself and then weigh myself holding the item of which we want to know the weight. This apparently is too much for the Fitbit to comprehend as it registers me holding the item as a “Guest” or non-registered person weighing in the scale. If Fitbit engineers are monitoring the weight of our “Guest” those engineers are probably worried as this “Guest” is experiencing dramatic and rapid fluctuations in weight.

Given that Cathie has been recovering from surgery, my driving duties have been less than my lifting duties, but we have made a few outings and trips. We have had some follow up medical appointments, ventured out for a couple of meals, and made a few trips to the store.

Last week she had a hair appointment that she had scheduled some time ago and was going to cancel, but I told her that I would drive her to the appointment. Little did I know that for some reason she gets her hair cut two counties away and that I would be waiting on her for 2-3 hours. We traveled 50 minutes to a beautiful ridge on a farm in Robertson County which amazingly has a full-on hair salon right by the entrance to a farm.

I have taken to shaving my head since retirement, so I am out of the loop with respect to the various nuances and approaches to hair care, cutting, and styling. I have tried to understand, but the concepts of highlights and lowlights are still beyond my comprehension. Multiple people have tried to explain the concepts to me but the neural circuits that allow one to understand these concepts are apparently missing in my brain.

So, while Cathie spent 2.5 hours in an outbuilding on a farm in Robertson County subjecting her hair to magic, I worked on one of my new hobbies, crossword puzzles. I received an Amazon gift card recently and decided I was going to spend some of it towards a daily tear off calendar of some sort. I debated among several choices (e.g. The Far Side, Dad Jokes, Trivia) but decided that I would try something that would both entertain and stimulate my mind.

I was a little reluctant but went with a Mensa branded daily crossword calendar. Thus far, I have been able to complete the puzzles without too much hardship. I have solved one completely, and the others I have just missed a couple of clues. I have even solved a couple with all the words only to find that what I came up with, while they fit and were real words relevant to the clues, were not what Mensa said the answers were. I’m not sure if coming up with alternative answers that also fit are a sign of brilliance or concern. Mensa is not responding to my emails.

Another purchase I recently made was a 7-quart Dutch Oven. I would be embarrassed to admit to how many YouTube videos I watched and how many reviews I read about picking the right Dutch Oven, but after my diligent research I asked Amazon to do its magic and deliver a Dutch Oven to my doorstep. I bought my first whole chicken and proceeded to experiment with Dutch Oven Chicken (pictures attached). I am still figuring out cooking times (our oven tends to cook things quicker than recipe instructions). If you have a good Dutch Oven recipe, feel free to send it on to me.

I have also started experimenting with Artificial Intelligence (AI) graphics programs. If you know me at all, you too probably wish I would use such technology for good or the betterment of society, but I turn into an adolescent boy when presented with such tools. Essentially, you type a narrative description of an image you want to create, and AI does it magic. My initial instructions were Abe Lincoln in various modern-day activities, (eating pizza, waiting in line at Starbucks, eating fried chicken with Colonel Sanders in a car, eating tacos in various video game settings {Fallout, Skyrim, Fortnite, Call of Duty, Red Dead Redemption}. I’ve included some of them with this post. Hit me up if you need an AI image created.

I don’t typically make resolutions for the new year, but I do set some targets or goals each year. I use Goodreads to track what I read, and I set a target of reading 15 books in 2024. I tend to read in spurts, but I have already read 3 books in the first 7 days of 2024. If you look at the first two books I read in 2024, you might wonder if I am going through something but I promise I am okay (Midlife: A Philosophical Guide and The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can’t Stand Positive Thinking). I use a couple of services that provide electronic books and these are ones that happened to become available (the services are Libby, Everand, and NetGalley).

I try to get at least a set number of steps each day (6,000 on my watch, 7,000 on my Fitbit). I know these numbers are not the same, but the two devices do not seem to record steps in the same manner. As I write this my watch says 3,057 steps while my Fitbit says 3,898 steps. Yes, I wear both a smart watch and a Fitbit. Cathie makes fun of me and shakes her head at me for wearing both, but I earned the Fitbit through my virtual health coach, and I have free year of Fitbit Premium which tracks various health indicators (sleep score, readiness scores, stress score, weight, heart rate). I am invested in knowing these numbers for myself each day.

I have also decided that I am going to watch all the Star Wars movies and shows in chronological order. Disney Plus has already set this up for you on their site but as I was researching this, I learned that there are several methods out there for watching the Star Wars movies and shows. In addition to watching them by their original release order or chronological order, there are also alternative orders such as the “Machete Order” or the “Ernest Rister Order”. There are pros and cons to each approach, but I am going to go with chronological order.

Finally, I am taking this opportunity to share that I will be rejoining the workforce in a limited capacity. I have recently agreed to rejoin my former employer providing some clinical supervision and consultation. Additionally, I have agreed to serve on a couple of advisory committees as well as doing some teaching and consultation. Rest assured that I will still have time for my retiree adventures and look forward to reporting on what I happen to get into. Happy New Year everyone!