Among a whole bunch of other things today, we spent some time visiting with Mother in Soda Springs. She had quilted this quilt for Jared several years ago and now that he’s finally married, she’s gifted the quilt to him. It is a real work of art. Both Jared and Tania were very pleased with the quilt. Who knows … maybe there’s another grandchild in our future??

This morning at 9:30 am I met with the folks at Personnel Security, answered a few questions (like, did I have a weapons permit or a camera permit and similar), handed over my badge, and was escorted out of the building. It’s now over for real.

Driving back to Pocatello I considered how I feel about all of this. There’s definitely a feeling of freedom, relief at no longer having to get up at 4:30 to meet a vanpool at 6 and drive for an hour to work, and feeling of anticipation for what will come next.

As I got ready to close my company-issued MacBook Pro for the last time (a very nice and very functional computer), there was a bit of a feeling of regret that I wasn’t going to be doing much Python scripting, or web development, or database development because there is so much that the department needs to have done. They’re in the process of hiring replacements as my manager was able to turn my departure into requisitions for two people (not that I was doing two people’s work; I’m pretty sure that I was being paid enough that they could hire two people at little increase in cost), one of whom will be an intern. It’ll be nice employment for both of them.

There is also a kind of a sense of loss of family. I’ve been working closely with a great group of people. They’re intelligent, competent, funny, weird, human. Some weeks I’ve spent more time with them than I have with Nina. I shall miss that association. But that emotion isn’t as strong as I thought it might be, mostly because of the huge feeling of anticipation for the next thing!

One thing finished, something new at the doorstep. Life is very good.

My last day working for a paycheck finally arrived. Voluntarily I’m turning in my badge tomorrow morning … for which I’ll get a full day’s pay. As the day got closer to 4:30 I actually got increasingly happy! I’m right ready to do this.

The office did arrange a cake and ice cream get together at noon and I was able to chat with a lot of people I’ve worked with over the past several years. This has been a great ride and a lot of fun. I’ve learned a lot and it’s a fitting end to a long career in computers. Now if our mission call would just arrive!

Nina drove over to Boise to spend some time with relatives, stayed overnight last night, and drove home this afternoon. She took my car as it has more “listening” options, including SiriusXM Satellite Radio. It’s a long 3 1/2 hour drive each way, much of which is rather boring. In addition to all the music / talk show options, the car is also equipped with a ham radio APRS transmitter (Automatic Packet Reporting System) which sends out location information either on an interval or when the car heading changes by more than 15 degrees.

That information is picked up by other ham radio stations and either relayed to an “igate” or the station picking it up is an “igate” (internet gateway). The data is then stored in a database which has been integrated with Google Maps. That’s the display in the picture. The image updates every few seconds. Consequently, I was able to see where she was during the entire trip. It was kind of fun having that kind of imformation at my finger tips!

We’ll be making a trip out east in October visiting family. The tracker will be in the motor home and all interested parties can see where we are during the entire trip. I rather like that capability.

This was my penultimate working day. We had lunch together as a department. I asked if this was a celebration…. Everyone (eventually) agreed that it should not be a celebration because Roland is leaving. Be that as it may … I’m leaving whether it’s a celebration or not!

Yesterday was Trevor’s birthday. Had he lived beyond 29 he would have been 43 years old. I can’t conjure up an image of what he might look like at 43. He’s still burned into my memory as a rather michevious, free-spirited 29. He is still sorely missed and I think of him often, wondering what he is doing and whether or not it’s possible for him to get into trouble, even there. Happy birthday, Trevor!

And that’s all for today!

It is windy with brief rain showers outside. The temperature has gone down by about 15° in the past half hour. It’s windy enough that the motor home is shaking!

Folks have been asking us how it is living in the motor home, all 24′ of it. Here are some pictures:

The motor home sits in the back of the park in space 5. I think there are about 35 spaces or so. The ones on the outside are for folks like us, here for a longer duration. A couple of rigs look like they’re here permanently! The inside sites are for the short timers and they turn over a lot. Even today, in the middle of September, the park is full most every night.

There is sufficient space between sites. We seldom see the folks on either side of us.

This is the view from the front looking to the rear. The small closet is to the right behind the mirrors with the table on the left which folds down into a (small) bed. The kitchen is straight back and the bathroom is through the door that has the hanging pockets thing on the door. Storage space is at a premium and the hanging pockets are very useful for Nina and all her genealogy stuff.

Th is is the view from the back looking to the front. I’m standing in the kitchen to take the picture. Because of the need for hanger space, I’ve put a rod across the front seats where we can hang clothes. The fridge / freezer is to the immediate right and the door to the bathroom to the left. The couch folds down into a bed (there is no built-in bed) where Nina sleeps. My bed is up top over the front two seats.

It’s cozy, but very workable. We’ll see how it goes when I’ve retired on this coming Friday and we’re both here full time….

Magic Number:

I will be retiring (for real this time) on Friday. That means this has been my last Monday at work for a paycheck, likely for the rest of my life. Seems quite strange, actually. It’s been a long career working with computers, starting at the Purdue National Bank in Lafayette, Indiana in September, 1968. I spent 6 years prior to that in the Air Force stationed in Japan with extensive temporary duty assignments in Thailand, Vietnam, Phillipines, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Korea.

After Purdue National Bank I worked for TRW in various capacities, including almost 6 years in Europe, for over twelve years. Then I worked for a software consulting company in Cleveland that no longer exists for 9 years followed by 4 years with Thiokol Corporation. I had a brief stint consulting with the State of Utah, then 10 years with LSI Logic which took me all over the world. That was followed by three years with AMI Semiconductor in Pocatello, and finally with the Idaho National Laboratory. It has been a good career. In a few days the next adventure begins. It should be a fun ride!

Ta ta for now!

When we decided to sell the house we began boxing up stuff to put into storage. Our good friends (and our home teachers) had just purchased a set of storage units so that worked out well for us; they could kind of keep an eye on things while we are somewhere else in the world. We decided to rent two of them thinking that we could put all our stuff into about 1 1/2 units and have room to put the Toyota Rav4 in as well. We’d keep that car, sell Nina’s Avalon, sell the motorcycle, and possibly sell the motor home.

It hasn’t worked out exactly like the plan. First, the house sold about six weeks earlier than we had expected, so rather than moving things in a leisurely fashion, we had to kick into high gear and get fully moved out in three weeks. The Ward members turned out in droves to help move everything out of the house into storage and the result was both units completely full. No room for a car! The motorcycle might be sold, the guy who wants it “has to come up with the money.” I finally told him that I’d need a definitive answer by today so if he couldn’t do the money, I still had time to get it sold. Nina’s Avalon is sold as well, the buyer just needs to come and get it.

We’re now living in the motor home at the Cowboy RV Park in Pocatello, Idaho.  We’ve downsized from 4,200 sq ft to about 120 sq ft. It’s working out reasonably well….

The biggest issue is finding stuff. We’ve been to the storage units almost daily since the 12th of August when we moved into the motor home, either taking stuff to the storage unit or bringing stuff here from the storage unit. Quite often what we’re looking for in the storage unit can’t be readily found without taking the whole unit apart. I’m pretty sure if I took everything out of both units and repacked it, we’d have room enough for the car. The question is whether I want to go to all that effort! It’s a bigger job than I could do by myself, so I’d have to find / rent help. It might be worth it just to make an inventory of what is where in the storage unit!

We’ve pretty much decided to keep the motor home and put it in storage while we’re gone. We’ll never be in position to buy another one, this one is paid for, works well, and is in pretty good shape. Selling it in November will be very difficult and we wouldn’t get it’s value out of the sale. So, we’ll park it outside in a fenced-in storage lot, put the cover over it, and have it available when we’re done missioning.

And that’s the way things are….