Venturing into the Big, Wide World

My son, as part of a school project for his class in government, had to attend a city council meeting last night. His comment about this three hour meeting: “I don’t speak politic”. He found much of the discussion totally opaque, and about as interesting as watching mud drying. This is not too surprising for a couple of reasons: local politics, even in a large city, most often deals with minuscule issues, normally of interest only to those directly affected, and discussions about same are almost necessarily couched in bureaucratese, a totally mind-numbing language seemingly designed expressly to obfuscate just what is being discussed and confuse any normal person. Heated interesting arguments and world-changing consequences are just not part of this picture.

Of more interest is the fact that the school course has such projects at all. And the city council is only one part of what my son has to do - he also is required to put some time in actually working for a political party office (of his choice - anywhere from Democrats to GreenPeace). And of course do a write up of his experiences and what he learned from them. These outings into the real world will at least provide him with a much better picture of what government is all about and how it really works than I got from school.

Back when I was his age (an incredibly long time ago), the classes I took in U. S. government and civics were pure lectures, and almost totally divorced from any current events or the practicalities of the political world. Now these classes gave me a good grounding in the Constitution and my civil rights and responsibilities, but they did not provide any type of picture of why or how I should get involved in politics. The high schools of my day pretty much left this up to the colleges and real-life experience after graduation, when suddenly the effect of a change in, say, zoning laws could have a real and very visible impact on your daily life, and made you realize that all these talking heads spouting esoteric mumble-mumble were important.

This is one change in modern education that I think is worthwhile. More practical, real-life things are very helpful in making the kids realize that what the teachers are trying to instill in them is useful - especially as far too many schools have discontinued the classes in shop, home economics, auto mechanics, and other such classes that used to provide at least a small taste of reality. Robert Heinlein, in Tunnel in the Sky, proposed a much harsher taste of reality, a school course in survival, where the final exam was to be dropped into some unknown land and forced to really survive for some time period. It’s doubtful this would ever become a reality, with its real risk of fatalities, and parents simply wouldn’t be willing to take that risk. Though in today’s world, their kids sometimes enlist in the military very shortly after graduation and are really placed in harm’s way - but most people wouldn’t be able to see the equivalency of these risks.

The real world is neither safe nor comfortable, and young people do need to learn how to navigate its reefs and shoals. Schools that don’t provide at least a small taste of what the big, wide world is all about are doing their students no favors.

Web Site Demise

My web site hosting service has, once again, and one time too many, updated its servers/database, and in the process has made access to my site (HyperPat’s Science Fiction) impossible. Each time this has happened before, it has taken me a week or more to get things fixed, usually involving emails, phone calls, and sometimes re-writing some of the html code, adding up to quite a bit of effort.

This time they apparently can’t even be bothered to answer my emails about the problem. So I’ve decided to call it quits for that site, which I started in 1999, and move some of the better and more useful information from it to here (no dummy I, I always kept backups of everything I had posted there). Over the next few days you will see new PAGES appear in the top line header containing what used to be on that site; I’ve started with my suggested reading list and my essay on why SF is worth reading. Please peruse these new pages if you’ve never visited my site, and comment appropriately!

$250,000 Shootout Jitters

Well, I’m back from Vegas, and for a change I return somewhat richer than when I left.

We began the bowling shootout bright and early Wednesday morning, and were allowed 20 minutes of warmup practice - but even that generous number wasn’t enough, as the lanes were just what I feared, very heavy oil, though not down quite as far as they could be - appeared to be something like 39 feet. This meant that it was possible to get the ball to ‘break’, though not a large amount, something like 6-7 boards for anything other than the power bowlers. This, while difficult, was not an impossible condition, and I managed to throw a least a couple of balls that got it right, with good results.

But my main enemy was not the lanes, but myself. I found I was incredibly nervous for this thing; my legs were actually trembling in the first match, and my approach timing was off. So for much of the tournament I watched helplessly as the ball would drift high, then light, and then (once or twice) completely off line. Still, I did manage to win the first round, even though I shot only two strikes in that game - but they were at exactly the right time, the first one allowing me to gather up the points available for the 7th and 8th frames, and the second to capture the 10th, giving me enough points to win the round and collect $500.

The second round was played an hour and a half later, and while for this one I wasn’t as nervous, lane conditions had changed quite a bit, with a lot of carry-down oil from the prior matches, and I spent the entire match trying to find the ‘line’. I had two strikes in this one also (compared to my normal 5-6/game), but this time they weren’t in the right places, and I was eliminated.

I don’t know the results of the final round against Pete Weber and Chris Barnes, as my return plane’s departure time would have made it difficult to go and see the match and still make the plane.  Of course, if I’d made the finals, I wouldn’t have had any problem, if necessary booking another flight. But when my wife and I actually got on the plane, after a fifteen minute delay while they had ‘maintenance come and look at the plane’, we found ourselves sitting on the tarmac for what seemed an inordinate amount of time. Then the captain announced that there was something wrong with the parking brakes on the plane, and we would be returning to the terminal. Another hour and half went by while they fixed whatever the problem was, and we finally got on our way, arriving only two and half hours later than expected. But if I known that things would be delayed like this, we could have gone and watched that final round.

Still, a lot of fun, and some cash in hand. Not bad.

Vegas on the Cheap

I made the cut for the $250,000 Bowling Shootout! This means I only need to beat another 502 bowlers to win this thing I’ll be leaving on the evening of May 1 to go to Vegas (expenses paid!), with the tournament being held on the 2nd and 3rd, in four rounds. The final round, with the two amateur finalists going up against Pete Weber and Chris Barnes, is supposed to be televised on ESPN on May 20th. In preparation for this, I’ve ordered up a new ball, a Total Inferno, and will have it drilled aggressively for the greatest hook potential. Hopefully this new weapon will give me enough power to actually reach those finals, as I expect that lane conditions for this tournament will be extremely tough, with heavy, long oil.

But if nothing else, I get a free vacation to Sin City. Of course, I do have to pay to bring my wife along, but that’s still cheap.

The Real Web

My brother, who normally resides in South Carolina, has been visiting here for the last four days, courtesy of a seminar/work assignment that his wife had to do in southern California. As with the large separation we don’t get to have really extended conversations too often, these last few days have been pretty much filled with just such, on anything from family history to world politics. Which is great. It also gave my eldest son a chance to meet his uncle, which had never happened previously (which says a lot about how frequently we’ve managed to get together).

But the older I get, the more I value such family things. Back when I was a stripling and serving in the Air Force, it didn’t bother me that I was neither talking to nor visiting my father, as that relationship was very strained. But when I did finally re-contact my family, and found out that my father had died in the interim, it was a pretty large blow. There are many times today when I wish I’d been able to talk more to my father, and learn what he’d done and what he felt was important, when I was old enough to really grasp such things. Too much of my father’s life is a black hole, and that leaves something of a hole in my own life.

I suppose you can never really know everything about someone else. But life is a web of interconnections and happenstances, and when the web has gaping holes in it, it is less secure, less complete. A hermit’s life is hardly worth living.

Looking Backward

This will make my 100th post to this blog, and a total volume of words equal to a short novel. As such, it’s time for a little rumination on how well this space has met my original expectations.

When I started this eight months ago, my only real plan was to put forward of few of my pet hobby-horses to a wider audience than just my friends and family - things like various trends in science, the extolling of some the better science fiction works and the ideas embodied within them, a few riffs on the political scene, and just a general diary of daily happenings. In this I think I’ve been pretty successful. The other half of this, to interest other people in these things and get meaningful feedback and commentary, has not been quite as successful as I would like, not because those who have commented have not been intelligent, reasonable, and interesting in their feedback, but merely because there haven’t been enough of them.  I have found a few other bloggers with similar (though not identical) interests, and reading their blogs has enriched my life.

Now perhaps what I’m peddling is just not that interesting to large number of people. But I like to think it’s more a matter of publicity, of getting this site more well known. Which doesn’t happen overnight, given the incredible number of blogs out there competing for everyone’s attention.  Writing these posts has probably helped me focus and organize my thoughts, and given me considerable practice in how to present those thoughts, so I will continue slogging on, and wait for the fame and fortune that will surely be mine when this site gets discovered by the great unwashed masses

Dull Boy Jack

It’s been awhile since I’ve posted anything. This is not too surprising, as I indicated in an earlier post, as my working hours have been nothing short of outrageous. While I didn’t quite hit 100 hours a week for the last three weeks, I was running over 90. The end result of all this effort is a prescription for even more effort to finish this system and make it work right - but it’s no longer an all-out, do or die effort.

Now all this work has left Jack a very dull boy, and a not very happy wife.  Companies that think they can require this of their employees all the time and thereby achieve greater productivity are at the very least fooling themselves, as after only a little while of working these kinds of hours your brain turns to mush, stupid mistakes multiply, and the employee’s basic attitude becomes more and more pessimistic. In extreme cases, such policies lead to companies losing some of their best employees, which will end up costing the company huge amounts, both in dollars and in time lost while they try and train someone new for the position. Happily this is not my company’s attitude - they only request something like this when it is truly necessary and it looks like the extra effort will bring immediate benefits, but it’s still a drag when it happens.

But at least maybe now I can get back to posting here on a reasonably regular basis.

It’s the Silicon Valley Way

Haven’t had time to post anything lately, as there have been a few things happening at home, my car broke down (happily fixed at no cost under warranty coverage), and I’m working a seven day week right now. As the saying goes, it’s crunch time, as my company tries to ready a brand new system for customer acceptance.

For our systems to work, there has to be mating between hardware, firmware, software, and applications program, all at once. Some pieces of the hardware didn’t even arrive till last week, and there were large ‘place holders’ in the software and firmware code waiting for that hardware. It’s my job to make all this stuff come together (not counting the work I’m doing as being primary engineer for one the board designs). So I’ve been running around getting everyone to hurry up and get me something that has at least minimal functionality - not easy given the traditional rift between the hardware and software guys. But the extra hours and effort seem to be paying off, as we did manage to get a simple pattern to be produced by the hardware a couple days ago - now the goal is to do the same thing from the software interface level.  Almost there - but the customer arrives in just one week’s time, and it will definitely be a race against the clock to finish this up.

I fully expect to be working something like 100 hours this week.

A Difficult Adjustment

Starting last Thursday, my bowling center started using some of the PBA oiling patterns. For last thursday, it was the regional/seniors pattern #3. This is probably the second easiest of the PBA patterns (easiest may be the Cheetah). Between my practice and league games last week I at least proved to myself that I can get to the pocket and have reasonable carry on this pattern.

But last night was a enough to give me a headache. For my practice games I was at one end of the alley, where this same PBA pattern was laid down. To play this pattern, which has a lot of oil on the lane, I lined up on the 13 board and shot 7th board, with a soft, easy delivery, and I averaged 193 over 5 games (199 for the last four, first game was poor as I figured out where to play it) - pretty reasonable. Then I shifted to league at the other end of the alley, and found that they had laid a ‘house’ pattern which was very stingy on the oil. To handle this I had to move over to board 20 and shoot board 10, with a hard, fast delivery.  And it took me awhile to make these adjustments. Net: I only managed a 181 average for league, and got very frustrated, as I left 10 pin after 10 pin even when I did get lined up properly. I just hope that next week the house uses the same oiling pattern, whatever one they choose, across all the lanes. Switching between patterns that are this different is a fast way to mess your mind over.

Word Addiction

Due to some incidents at the house, my wife imposed a restriction on my reading time here lately. This was intended to get me out my normal space, and more into an interactive mode. What’s it’s done is turn me into a something resembling a addict trying to de-tox. Nervous, jittery, pacing all over the floor, with a brain that keeps running around in circles trying to figure out what to do. I mean, those synapses get very upset when they don’t have new input to keep them firing!

Now I normally read at about 450-500 words/minute, occasionally kicking up to about 1000 wpm for certain kinds of material. Coupled with my normal reading time of about 1-2 hours/day, this works out to something like 30 - 60 thousand words a day, which gobbles up the average book in 2-3 days. Which does put a dent in the budget of something like $100/month, as I normally buy all my new reading material in hardback, and the library is hopelessly inadequately stocked with the types of things I like to read (and this doesn’t count the books my wife buys - she may not read as much as I do, but her library shelves are fairly well stocked, too).

So this enforced period of non-reading has saved me a little money, and it’s been an interesting time, filled with more talk and family activities than has been typical, which are not a bad things. It has also meant a little more TV time, something I usually only pay attention to for about two shows/week plus maybe a movie. Which has made me a little more aware of just how much advertising has invaded the network schedule - what used to be 1-2 minute commercial breaks has now morphed into, in some cases, 5 minutes at a crack, by which time I’ve forgotten what was happening in the show. And the average show content just isn’t enough to keep my little brain cells happy, except for a few shows like Jeopardy and Nova.

So I’ll be glad to get back to my normal reading schedule. I’ll just remember to be a little more attentive when other things need to be done or said, and be willing to put the book down at a moment’s notice.

Positive, Think Positive

‘Tis a new year, and hopefully a great one. That’s one thing people can always have, plain hope. Now 99% of the time, all the hopes don’t pan out, and you end up with something less than envisaged, but that’s alright, new hopes will come along to replace those that didn’t make the cut. It seems to be something that is hard-wired into the human makeup. If that wellspring ever dries up, the end result is a broken person, a stick figure that looks human but is really a zombie. So, anyway, my hopes/projections for this year:

1. My family will end the year together and happy. There have been some rough times in the past, and there probably will be quite a few shoals this year, but so far we’ve muddled through, and finally it looks like there will be some conclusion to a few of the ongoing problems.

2. Congress will get hip to the fact that this planet is a very fragile place and start doing something about it: provide truly adequate funding to the space program,  develop rational plans to handle all the various eco-catastrophes waiting around the corner, initiate a major upgrade to the nation’s infrastructure to make it more efficient and less taxing on the world’s resources, and actually develop a road map for the future of this country that encompasses a time frame longer than the next election, with strong enough controls enacted that they’ll actually have to follow it. Yeah, I know - this is blue-sky dreaming. But I can hope.

3. While Congress is doing (2), they’ll also wake up to the fact that security is never a 100% guarantee, and repeal the most obnoxious intrusions into personal privacy and the almost limitless police-state powers they have granted to various federal agencies. This country was built by people who took risks, and one of the major reasons they did is that they could see the direct benefit to themselves, without fear of the government tromping all over them.

4. Wars will continue to happen. It’s a given. But perhaps there will be a few places where compromise and real discussion will break out. It would be very nice to see the almost 60 year debacle of the Israeli-Arab conflict get to a point where “suicide bomber” is no longer a revered profession and the reasons for them no longer exist.

5. I could win the $250,000 bowling shootout in May. This one actually has a real chance of happening, though the odds aren’t great.  It would certainly go a long way towards making my financial position tenable. Along these same lines, maybe I can at least get my chess rating back into the Class A category. Higher than this doesn’t seem to be in the cards - I just don’t see enough time to do the really heavy studying Expert and higher would require. But here again, I can hope!

6. I’ll get off my tail and actually finish writing a story, and be able to sell it. Even if I only get $2 for it, this would be an accomplishment I’d be happy with.

7. I’ll be granted a couple more patents this year. This one is pretty likely, as the applications are already in, the concepts are sound, the technology exists, and my company is already building systems that utilize the concepts.  Now I won’t get any great financial reward for this, and the patents are ‘group’ things, developed along with quite a few other people, but I like the feeling that I’ve help add to the world’s knowledge by developing something new.

8. We’ll be contacted by the aliens from Acturas IV about next Christmas time. Fermi paradox be damned, they’re out there somewhere, and what better time for humanity’s hubris to be taken down a couple of notches when it finds out that it’s not unique, that intelligent life exists elsewhere.

9.  They’ll actually implement a fix for Social Security and Medicare and develop a real, workable universal health insurance plan. More blue-sky stuff. While they’re at it, they’ll revise the tax code so Mr. Average Joe can actually figure it out.

10. People will actually act more rationally to world events, instead of reacting with hysteria over every blip reported by our excitable (and deliberately provoking) media.

You never know. It all could happen.

Commercials, Commercials

It’s almost Christmas time again. A season that has now become a celebration of commercialism, with darn little reference to its supposed roots. In some ways, perhaps this is not a bad thing, given the track record of just about every major organized religion. Unfortunately, every religion requires its adherents to trust in faith, to accept without any provable physical evidence a concept of a supreme being. And of course, once you allow such a thing, logic disappears, replaced by emotion. All too often, that emotion is distrust and hate for those who are not adherents to your own particular concept of god, which leads, again and again, to strife and wars.

Religion may not be the only cause of wars, but it’s certainly a major player.

Still, there are times when I wish that this season would be more like it was when I was kid, when church, carols, apple cider, and small, heartfelt gifts were more the rule, and I was watching It’s a Wonderful Life for the first time. The sentiments that Christmas is supposed to have are admirable ones,  and it seems they’ve been shoved under the pile of sell, sell, sell.

A Fine Ending and a Nice Homecoming

Got back from Oregon last night, with my son in tow. A very nice graduation ceremony, and one I think will mean much more to him than those that happen at traditional schools. The school he attended is one that specializes in emotional growth for teens that are having troubles. Those troubles can range from drugs, sex, and violence to complete isolation and down-in-the-dumps self-images. The school does its damnedest to give these kids new tools to handle life in all its flavors, and for the most part they are quite successful. When I looked at all the kids at that school, I was pretty much amazed at just how well the program had impacted them; all I could see were bright, cheerful, polite, confident, and well-rounded young adults (and I do mean adult). And it’s not just the kids that learn from this program, the parents do too: better ways to communicate and interact with your children, what works and what doesn’t, how to identify and de-fuse potential flash points, the list goes on for a very long way.

However, for those that need and can benefit from such a program, there is one major stumbling block, and that is the cost. I would imagine that less than 5% of parents can afford to send their kids to such a place, and very few health insurance plans will cover any of the cost. It put me deep in debt (to the tune of $100,000), and the whole thing probably won’t be finally paid till fifteen years from now. But certainly more than 5% of all kids need something like this, and unfortunately all too many of them will end up with broken lives, incarcerated, or have very short life spans, as they simply will not have the chance to get this kind of help. And that’s a shame and a tragedy, as by not providing some means to help these kids, America is unnecessarily squandering at least some of its future potential.

Up In the Air and Down on the Ground

My youngest son graduates from his boarding school this weekend, and I’m busily getting ready to fly up there (it’s in Oregon). So naturally I looked at the list of banned/limited items I can take on the plane. Now some of the items you can’t take make sense, like no chlorine gas cylinders. And some of the items you can take in carry-ons make sense, like infant formula.

But there’s a whole lot of other stuff that doesn’t make much sense. Like I can take a 7″ inch screwdriver in my carry-on stuff. Don’t know about you, but I could make a pretty good weapon out of nice, thin screwdriver of that length, and just what else are you going to do with it inside the aircraft cabin? And I can take safety matches in carry-on, but not in checked baggage - this one has me really scratching my head. The whole business of gels and liquids being limited to 3oz amounts and packed in see through zip-locks kind of makes sense, but here again it’s quite possible to create some really nasty things by combining a couple of (separately) harmless items of this nature. Rational sense calls for a complete ban on these types of items, if you really want to cut down on the opportunity for a nut-case to wreak havoc with your day - but this is one case where political expediency has ruled the day, as the initial outcry about the ban on such things was deafening.

In the end, it still comes down to where do you draw the line between cost and risk. Inspecting all these items is a huge cost, and a real look at the problem shows that all this effort does not radically reduce the risk. Between the holes in the list of banned and allowed items and the fact that just about every test of the adequacy of security screeners has been a dismal failure, with way too many banned items allowed through, anyone who is really determined to blow up a plane can find a way to do it.

And it’s still true that driving a car is far more risky than taking an airplane. Where’s the outcry to install devices that won’t allow you to drive your car when drunk, or to install regulators and computers that won’t allow you drive way over the speed limit, or on board radars and video cams that can show stuff in that ‘blind’ spot that far too few drivers check for? It would seem that we don’t have a proper set of priorities. But that’s no surprise. Anything that involves a risk of death, no matter how small, that is outside of an individual’s control gets a lot of attention and demands to ‘do something’, while anything that might limit that same individual’s right to do whatever he wants, regardless of how risky that behavior might be to others, is immediately attacked as too costly, inconvenient, or unnecessary government intrusion into private lives. Welcome to America, land of the not-quite-screwed-on-tightly.

(Root)Beer and Bowling Don’t Mix

Bowling last night was a disaster. Everything was going just fine, my warmup practice games were good with a 256, 201, 192, and 202, and in the first league game I’d opened with a double, when I managed to spill my root beer, soaking my shoes. After cleaning up the mess, I went and got a pair of rental shoes, as I obviously couldn’t bowl with my soaked ones. Unfortunately, the rentals weren’t much better than using those wet things - I still stuck at the line, and after the first couple of balls thrown with these shoes, I got very leery of approaching the foul line. Of course, this played havoc with my game. I managed to finish the first game with a 187, but I had to turkey the 10th to do it. And it didn’t get any better in the second game, resulting in a 163. I’d had enough of this by now, so I went into the pro shop and bought a new pair of shoes. It took about three frames to break these in, but after that things got quite a bit better, and I ended with a 193 for a 543 series. Which is the lowest total I’ve had in four weeks. And really disappointing after Wednesday night’s performance, where I turned in  a 216, 265, and 200, for a 681 series. I guess this will teach me to have back-up equipment!

Post Turkey Day Fun

Well, turkey day has come and gone, and I guess I can post something here now.

After the turkey I decided to indulge myself in my other hobby of note, namely chess. Played in a little local 2 day event on Saturday and Sunday, and played in the top section for a change, so I could test myself against people who really do know how to play.

Game 1 was a very good game - I got the better of the opening, then lost my way a little in the middlegame, but managed to hold on till the end game with equality. Then we traded rooks and were down to nothing but King and 4 pawns each. I thought and thought, and ended up making the wrong move, when the correct move was a very clear win. This against a high class A (1924).

Game 2 got even better, with lots of tactical combinations happening on both sides. I managed to come out of all the tactics the exchange up, and though it took awhile (70 moves) managed to win this one. The opponent was a low class A (1828).

Game 3 saw me playing the only lady player in this section. This one I wanted to kick myself on - I had the advantage and then blundered to lose, when I had at least a draw in the bag. Another high class A (1956).

Game 4 saw me paired with a high expert (215 (who has been rated at master strength at one time, I know from previous run-ins with him).  This pairing was rather odd, mainly caused by the small number of players in this section, and would be my second game in a row with the black pieces - not what I was expecting for this last round, as I had figured I’d be paired against one of two other low class A’s. This was the only game where I was clearly outplayed, as he instituted a strong king-side attack that I did not manage to defend very well. I could plead a nasty headache I had as a result of Game 3, but the fact remains that I am still not capable of playing even-up against opponents of this caliber.

Net: 1 win, 3 losses, and a perfomance rating of 1780, not as good as I hoped, but still reasonable given my current rating of 1726.

An Unnecessary Plug for Final Fantasy

Just ordered Final Fantasy XII for the Playstation 2. Now I’m not much of a video game player (unlike my sons), but I do make an exception for this series. The quality of this series has been very consistent, with cutting edge graphics, excellent story lines, decent battle mechanics, and typically a slew of interesting side-games within the main line, all without being raunchy, super-violent, or morally questionable. For my money, the best of the RPGs that are out there. I was also happy that they developed this one for the PS2, rather than the PS3 - I don’t need to spend another $500 for yet another game machine, at least not yet. Maybe next year. In the meantime I’m looking forward to another 50-60 hours of engrossing playing time with this one.

Liberation Time

Now that I’ve moved into my new house, I’ve spent the last several days moving my library from the cold, cold storage room where it has langushed for almost a year into the new place. This is not a small job. At latest count, my collection consists of:

1200 hardback books, age ranging anywhere from 1908 to hot off the presses, most in excellent shape, and includes a few signed first editions.

1000 paperbacks and trade editions. I think the earliest of these dates to 1959, and it’s not in good shape, but most of the rest are.

1400 science fiction magazines. These range from the December, 1926 (Volume 1, #9) edition of Amazing Stories to the latest Analog. It boasts a complete set of Worlds of Tomorrow, Worlds of If, an almost complete set of Galaxy, and a complete set of the large size Analogs published in the mid sixties in mint condition (with some absolutely gorgeous covers by Kelly Freas and John Schoenherr).

Taking these things out of the boxes and putting them back on the shelves feels like I’ve liberated an unjustly convicted prisoner. Of course, this does put a premium on shelf space in the house, but my wife can’t complain too much, as she is unpacking her book collection at the same time (about another 700 volumes). It’s also doing a pretty good number on my back (70 boxes @ 40+ pounds/box = well over a ton).

This collection will probably end up being willed to my kids. As they have little interest in such things, they’ll probably end up selling it, and it could easily provide them with a fair chunk of change, but it would still sadden me to see those things it’s taken me a lifetime to put together go on the auction block (of course, I won’t be around to see this happen! Unless by then I’ve gotten another life as an uploaded avatar residing in a computer somewhere). In the meantime, I’ll persuse the shelves on a sometime basis, and perhaps pick out one I haven’t read in a long while, and sit down for a re-read.

Books are forever companions.

Celebrating

Finally, finally we are moved! Getting all the financials to finish took way longer than expected (our buyers were more than two weeks late in closing), and then when everything did finally close it was a mad scramble to get everything moved. Saturday was our first day where we got to stay in the new house overnight, and although it felt a little weird (having spent the prior fifteen years in the old house, I did get rather set in my ways), we got to sleep in a hurry, as we were both totally exhausted.

Now the only problem is unpacking the umpty-ump zillions of boxes and figuring out ‘did I pack that widget in this box or that one?’. This process is likely to take somewhat longer than the packing one. Maybe by 2007 we will have it all unpacked and arranged to our satisfaction. But we’re happy!

The Downside of Living Longer

As part of the process of getting my new mortgage approved, I had to go through all of our various retirement type accounts, which for us amounts to four different 401K’s, three different pension plans, savings bonds and certificates of deposit. When I totaled everything up, the sum looked fairly impressive. But when I look at it another way, it’s not so much, less than two years worth of our current combined salary. Will it be enough to really make our retirement financially worry-free?

Now there’s still some time that we have before retirement, and I expect that in that time our total savings will almost triple from current levels if we can continue to save as we have been. And if (that’s a big if) Social Security is still around and paying what they say they will, it looks like there will be enough, barring any major illnesses or Congress deciding to dismantle the SS program. But that’s the worry - I can’t predict the future, but I can point to high probabilities.

The first of these is that the likelihood of major medical problems for us is quite high. My wife is a Type II diabetic, which at the moment has not caused her any major problems, but this ailment is known for catching up to you in many nasty ways, including glaucoma, kidney problems, high blood pressure, circulation problems, and neurological disorders. Treatment for these ’side effects’ can be extensive and expensive. I have Crohn’s disease and COPD, both long term, essentially incurable problems. Either of these, if they get out of control, would make it impossible for me to work. And Medicare (Parts A, B, C, D, and by then probably part Z) will not cover all of the medical costs I can see coming.

The second high probability is that Congress will do something with Social Security. The program as it stands is financially unsound. Raising SS taxes even more to fund projected shortfalls doesn’t look like it’s in the cards, which leaves some form of benefit reduction as the most likely path for reform.

So I fiddle with the numbers, and look to see if we can set even a bit more aside each month. But I’m afraid I’ll have to live with this nagging worry about retirement. Still, we are far better off than many people, who have little or no savings. Which is still another worry. If there are too many people who don’t have enough to live comfortably at retirement time, who have to be supported by additional aid from the government in the form of housing and food subsidies, this will leave even less wiggle-room in the government budget for Social Security and Medicare. It’s something of a nasty spiral, and it at least partially springs from something that everyone wants, the ability to live longer thanks to the improvements in medical care in the last century.