Some time back I made some changes and decided to 'ease' into retirement. I don't go to my office anymore, even though it's still there. My colleagues tell me they don't mind the empty chair and apparently don't need the space. The only time I go there is to collect the mail and grab some old jobs off the backup drives.
I have maintained a couple of clients that I felt would be 'fun' to continue the work, good money for the little time spent and it keeps my interest. It sounded like a good plan...but I have failed miserably. I have found myself hovering over emails from people asking questions about past jobs and spending time researching stuff for free. I've got a butt-load of things around the house I was planning on getting done....but I keep 'surveying'.
Today however was a red letter day. I woke up late, knew it was Friday and decided I would get after that 'to-do list'. So I removed and replaced some storm-windows (they've been needing it for 3 years), repaired and cleaned up the sashes and re-puttied the glazing on my "vintage" weighted double hung windows. I didn't hurry and didn't check my email until I was finished about 4 PM. Mission accomplished.
I may try it again next week...;)
We have "people" who do those things for us.
Sounds sort of uppity, doesn't it? But, it's the truth. I'm not a Mr. Fix-it, never have been and never intend to be. I derive no positive feelings about accomplishing such things. That's what makes this world so interesting. What works for one person doesn't work for another. I'm glad you enjoy such diversions. Just don't try pulling a "Tom Sawyer fence painting project" on me because it will not work.
I haven't personally changed the oil in any vehicle I have owned since about 1976.
I haven't had a paint brush in my hand since about 1970.
I'm happy for others who enjoy doing all of these things. But, it's not for me. If I were ever to retire, zero time would be spent on such projects.
I figure I have 6 years to go. I will be 60 and able to receive a decent pension and 100% of the medical benefit.
I really enjoy carpentry work, maybe I'll do that. Getting ready to build a deck and pergola in the backyard out of Redwood. The "boss" has given me a long list of requirements and specifications. I never use canned plans, I enjoy the design part too.
paden cash, post: 395290, member: 20 wrote: Some time back I made some changes and decided to 'ease' into retirement. I don't go to my office anymore, even though it's still there. My colleagues tell me they don't mind the empty chair and apparently don't need the space. The only time I go there is to collect the mail and grab some old jobs off the backup drives.
If you were an attorney or an academic, we would say that you had reached "Emeritus" status. It has a different connotation than just being unable to find much to interest you in puttering around about the homestead. If I were you (which thankfully I am not because I would then be living in Oklahoma, staring out at the world), I would strongly consider writing up something suitable for use as course material for a continuing education seminar. Leave out the soda pop bottles, but keep the rest. I'd start out with short topics and see whether they can be assembled into a longer version with a connecting narrative.
Kent McMillan, post: 395302, member: 3 wrote: If you were an attorney or an academic, we would say that you had reached "Emeritus" status. It has a different connotation than just being unable to find much to interest you in puttering around about the homestead. If I were you (which thankfully I am not because I would then be living in Oklahoma, staring onut at the world), I would strongly consider writing up something suitable for use as course material for a continuing education seminar. Leave out the soda pop bottles, but keep the rest. I'd start out with short topics and see whether they can be assembled into a longer version with a connecting narrative.
Examining and Validating 60d Monuments, a Short Course?
Dave Karoly, post: 395303, member: 94 wrote: Examining and Validating 60d Monuments, a Short Course?
In Oklahoma, I'd think that Paden could run in all directions with something to say and it would be news to most of his listeners. Just a simple description of how land surveying was done at the dawn of his career would be a useful bit of documentation for posterity.
I'll write his opening for him, borrowed from Julius Caesar: "All of Oklahoma is divided into three parts."
Holy Cow, post: 395296, member: 50 wrote: We have "people" who do those things for us.
Sounds sort of uppity, doesn't it? But, it's the truth. I'm not a Mr. Fix-it, never have been and never intend to be. I derive no positive feelings about accomplishing such things. That's what makes this world so interesting. What works for one person doesn't work for another. I'm glad you enjoy such diversions. Just don't try pulling a "Tom Sawyer fence painting project" on me because it will not work.
I haven't personally changed the oil in any vehicle I have owned since about 1976.
I haven't had a paint brush in my hand since about 1970.
I'm happy for others who enjoy doing all of these things. But, it's not for me. If I were ever to retire, zero time would be spent on such projects.
We're not that different HC. I don't even change oil in my motorcycles...I pay other people to get their fingernails dirty. And I pay people to mow my lawn, too.
The "round2it" list is just a number of things of which I have made mental notes to perform as an exercise in getting me use to doing something besides reading or writing descriptions. Something to soothe me, I guess, to the point where I will be able to wake and do something else besides survey work. As light as I may make the situation, it is really difficult. I don't dislike surveying, I've just done it my entire life and would like to define myself in other shades and tints. I've always thought I worked at my career as a choice. But now it seems as I try to put it down, I find myself making excuses to pick it up again.
A work in progress I guess.
Kent McMillan, post: 395304, member: 3 wrote: I'll write his opening for him, borrowed from Julius Caesar: "All of Oklahoma is divided into three parts."
"Omnis Oklahoma in tres partes divisa est" is the way I learned to format that, but I've since seen other versions.
paden cash, post: 395290, member: 20 wrote: Some time back I made some changes and decided to 'ease' into retirement. I don't go to my office anymore, even though it's still there. My colleagues tell me they don't mind the empty chair and apparently don't need the space. The only time I go there is to collect the mail and grab some old jobs off the backup drives.
I have maintained a couple of clients that I felt would be 'fun' to continue the work, good money for the little time spent and it keeps my interest. It sounded like a good plan...but I have failed miserably. I have found myself hovering over emails from people asking questions about past jobs and spending time researching stuff for free. I've got a butt-load of things around the house I was planning on getting done....but I keep 'surveying'.
Today however was a red letter day. I woke up late, knew it was Friday and decided I would get after that 'to-do list'. So I removed and replaced some storm-windows (they've been needing it for 3 years), repaired and cleaned up the sashes and re-puttied the glazing on my "vintage" weighted double hung windows. I didn't hurry and didn't check my email until I was finished about 4 PM. Mission accomplished.
I may try it again next week...;)
Nice work for one day! My window jobs drag on for years.
I know what you mean about not being able to switch off. When I am not working I am free as a bird but still get involved in past projects etc;
Time for Paden to become involved in a few boards and committees. They will keep you so distracted you won't find time to fall back into your old habits.
Jim Frame, post: 395316, member: 10 wrote: "Omnis Oklahoma in tres partes divisa est" is the way I learned to format that, but I've since seen other versions.
Wouldn't that be "Terra Indianus", as the correct translation of "Oklahoma" or is "Pulvere Planum" adequate to the purpose?
Kent McMillan, post: 395302, member: 3 wrote: If you were an attorney or an academic, we would say that you had reached "Emeritus" status. It has a different connotation than just being unable to find much to interest you in puttering around about the homestead. If I were you (which thankfully I am not because I would then be living in Oklahoma, staring out at the world), I would strongly consider writing up something suitable for use as course material for a continuing education seminar. Leave out the soda pop bottles, but keep the rest. I'd start out with short topics and see whether they can be assembled into a longer version with a connecting narrative.
Sign me up for PDHs from Uncle Paden and his short stories (and other life lessons learned from a long career in life and surveying).
Brad Ott, post: 395348, member: 197 wrote: Sign me up for PDHs from Uncle Paden and his short stories (and other life lessons learned from a long career in life and surveying).
Not that interested in the daytime course, but I'm just going in to the bar after the seminar and buying him beers to hear some of his short stories (and they could be about the Cash clan as well as surveying).
I have given up doing maintenance work on my house and have hired other people to do it for us. My wife said that it was cheaper that way. Most of the time, the work that I did was shabby and she would need to hire a professional carpenter, plumber to fix it again. Not to mention the medical "accidents" that I get myself into every time I try to fix things around the house.
paden cash, post: 395313, member: 20 wrote: We're not that different HC. I don't even change oil in my motorcycles...I pay other people to get their fingernails dirty. And I pay people to mow my lawn, too.
The "round2it" list is just a number of things of which I have made mental notes to perform as an exercise in getting me use to doing something besides reading or writing descriptions. Something to soothe me, I guess, to the point where I will be able to wake and do something else besides survey work. As light as I may make the situation, it is really difficult. I don't dislike surveying, I've just done it my entire life and would like to define myself in other shades and tints. I've always thought I worked at my career as a choice. But now it seems as I try to put it down, I find myself making excuses to pick it up again.
A work in progress I guess.
I think the career chooses the individual and from what I have seen in my career in regards to my mentors once a surveyor always a surveyor.
Twenty three years ago I was 17 and started surveying for a large firm in my area. There was a gentleman in his 80's called "Bones". He was a founder of the original firm that the larger firm bought out. He had his own office and came it every day, at his leisure and didn't draw a salary. He told stories about roads being built with mules pulling graders and wrote programs for the HP calculators and piddled around on this and that.
I once asked Bones why he didn't retire and enjoy his golden years. He said this keeps me young. He lived into his late 90s sharp as a tack the day he died.
I think surveying is a life long career that we ultimately can't just let go. Not like working in a mill or plant.
Good luck in your retirement, enjoy it, but don't let go. You are a surveyor!!!
Paden, I was just re-reading your stories about "Listen to the Rain," and "The Cash Boys and the Coke Machine." I think they ought to be printed and spread around in other places besides Beerleg. And by the sound of things there are many more where those came from.
I met a guy named Neil Haugerud some years ago. He had been a small-town sheriff in southern Minnesota and had a lot of stories to tell. In the end they turned into a book called "Jailhouse Stories" (U. of Minn. Press, 1999). He didn't start out to do that, but it happened. Here's what he said about it--
"JAILHOUSE STORIES is my recollection of experiences associated with the sheriff's office in Fillmore County, Minnesota, in the mid-1950s and early 1960s. It is mostly about honorable, eccentric characters who happened to be alcoholics, just plain drunks, thieves, burglars, robbers, doctors, lawyers, judges, farmers, and ordinary citizens, if there is such a thing...
"My transition, from storytelling to story writing, late in life,...has been difficult and challenging. I first read one of my stories to the Minneapolis Writers Group in 1994. The group liked it and asked for more. With this as encouragement I began to search through the old jail register...."
Never attended a writers' group myself. People have told me they're not bad. It's probably a matter of individual taste.
RPlumb314, post: 395463, member: 6313 wrote: Paden, I was just re-reading your stories about "Listen to the Rain," and "The Cash Boys and the Coke Machine." I think they ought to be printed and spread around in other places besides Beerleg. And by the sound of things there are many more where those came from.
I want you (and everybody else here that has encouraged me) to know I really appreciate the positive feedback I get from you all concerning my stories. It has kept me interested in at least keeping track of the stories.
I would consider myself anything but a 'frustrated artist' but penning stories is far from the only creative endeavor I have attempted over the years. In my younger days I was a member of several musical groups, none of which went anywhere. "Every time I've had to play where people sat there drunk.." was some of Fogerty's best lines. Playing the bar scene was incredibly boring...But I still love music. I still have one good vintage Strat by my bed and one of Hoyt Axton's banjos is sitting here within 5 feet of my keyboard.
And I spent almost twenty years attempting to carve a niche as a part-time graphic artist. Charcoal, pen and ink and watercolors were my passion. I sold a lot of work. If anybody has any '80s POB issues you can not only find some of my pen and ink work, but also single frame gag-jokes also. And there are several sketch books by my easy chair in the other room; I still love to scratch.
Almost twenty years ago a friend that has known me my entire life (and worked with me a good amount of that) had heard my stories so many times he suggested I write them down. I actually put together a good collection of young Paden's (and related humorous human interest stories) escapades and attempted to find someone willing to publish it. It's a brutal business and requires a lot more effort than I had the time with which to stay with it.
And over those twenty years I have written several articles (mostly history related) for a handful of surveying periodicals and publications. As odd as it may seem, I have never considered myself a writer. But writing has given me something that I never found with any of my other creative avenues, satisfaction. For a while I thought maybe only people my age could relate to my stories and therefor limiting a receptive audience. But from the feedback from all of you guys (and gals) here on BeerLeg I'm beginning to think that may not be the case. I am inspired when someone tells me they enjoyed a story. And for that I thank each and every one of you.
Time management is my nemesis. Two years ago I started a novel about a young man that found his way into surveying in the 1870s...it's about half finished. Then I've got all of my childhood memoirs that I keep trying to collect and make something of...other than merely "words flying in close formation".
And...to top it all off....back in the summer I had what seemed like a fantastic idea to write some short stories in the old pulp Western style, but in a modern day setting. It has turned into a novel in itself.
So I do appreciate it when people tell me they enjoy the stories. That is really why I do it. I gave up on making any money with it years ago.
And when I finish any of these works you guys will be the first to know.
paden cash, post: 395471, member: 20 wrote: Two years ago I started a novel about a young man that found his way into surveying in the 1870s...it's about half finished. Then I've got all of my childhood memoirs that I keep trying to collect and make something of...other than merely "words flying in close formation".
If you haven't thought of it, a good format to consider would be a narrative describing a typical day in the life of a surveying party in the chain and transit era. There would be interludes that all sorts of other excursions from the task at hand would fill and, of course, you'd find a Vincent Black Shadow in a barn on the property.
RPlumb314, post: 395463, member: 6313 wrote: Never attended a writers' group myself. People have told me they're not bad. It's probably a matter of individual taste.
Writers groups vary considerably in their focus and operation. Some try to develop skills with writing exercises from prompts, while others are more about discussion, lessons, and/or critique.
I go to one because I once upon a time wrote a poor excuse for a novel (also a too-long short story about a surveyor) and wanted to learn more. I found the group interesting. Now I'm stuck attending because they made me moderator and newsletter editor. We focus almost entirely on critique of our works in progress and try to operate loosely according to these guidelines, more tightly if the attendance gets over ten. The guidelines have developed over several years and seem to be a good plan.
http://noblepencr.org/?page_id=224
One of our group's members started with good ideas and poor writing, and has progressed to turning out interesting stories in the "paranormal romance" genre (ghosts, shape shifters, etc. falling in love). She has sold a few hundred books now through a small publisher and intense self-promotion.
paden cash, post: 395471, member: 20 wrote: attempted to find someone willing to publish it. It's a brutal business and requires a lot more effort than I had the time with which to stay with it.
Back then you either found a big publisher (perhaps through first finding an agent), fighting intense competition for their attention and interest, or you just had it printed and sold it to people you met. Now there are a lot more small publishers that will take work in whatever genre they like and get it published both on paper and as ebook, sold through Amazon and other outlets. And if you want to deal with all the details you can get it on Amazon yourself. These approaches have less chance than the very slim chance of the big publisher route for getting you on the NY Times best seller list, but can sometimes enjoy moderate success.
paden cash, post: 395471, member: 20 wrote: Two years ago I started a novel about a young man that found his way into surveying in the 1870s...it's about half finished.
This idea may not be suited to what you've already written, but it would be interesting to interleave several different narratives dealing with both the narrative of what really it was like to original locate some boundaries and several later surveying parties that came out to try to follow the work. The concept is Micheneresque, but might be interesting, maybe spanning a couple of generations of landowners. The result would be several interlocking short stories widely spaced in time occupying nominally the same space on the surface of the land. The full Michener treatment would, of course, start before the arrival of the whites, before the land was scarred with roads and fences.
