Sharing some of my photos, vintage images I've discovered, and -- occasionally -- commentary and thoughts from retired life.
From the category archives:
Yesterday, I was going down the hall heading back to my office, preoccupied with what I was doing.
Sure enough, I walked in the wrong office.
I knew it almost as soon as I opened the door. I went ahead and walked on in and chatted with Dave for a few minutes before he headed to the class he was slated to teach.
Without thinking, I had gone in the office I had been in before I retired.
Other than personal items and the chair, it looks just the same as it did when I left.
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I certainly did NOT miss clearing the paper out of the paper path in copying machines.
However, it’ still one of the necessary qualifications in today’s “paperless” nuclear power teaching environment.
On Friday, I went to the copy center to copy material I planned to hand out in my first classroom instruction since I started on this contract.
The students all have laptops and wireless access to most of the material that they need for class. However, I’m going to be going over material associated with a certification that they need to complete and I wanted them to have a copy of the forms that that will be used by the evaluator during the test.
The machine jammed on the first copy.
I had not cleared a paper jam from a copier in at least a year.
Needless to say, it wasn’t a particularly easy task.
Even after I finally found all of the paper, it took a while to get all the levers, knobs, and other copier widgets back in their proper positions. The door wouldn’t close until everything was aligned for operation.
Finally, everything was somehow aligned correctly and the front door of the copier would close.
I decided to give it one more try before going to find a friendlier machine. All twelve copies sailed through with no problem — single side to double side, stapled, punched and stacked.
All in a day’s work at the power plant training center.
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USS Casimir Pulaski, SSBN633 - next to sub tender
The dry dock in Holy Loch, Scotland
Casimir Pulaski in dry dock
When I first met Fred in Holy Loch, Scotland, in 1976, he had gone to check out a job on the USS Casimir Pulaski, SSBN633 — the fleet ballistic missile submarine where I was one of the crew. When I went back to the engine room that morning, he was sitting there unable to get back to the tender after scoping out the job he was supposed to work on.
While he was checking out the job, the submarine had been moved away from the tender and was on the way to the dry dock.
Fred hadn’t been to breakfast and he hadn’t reported in to the shop, yet. For all we knew, his chief considered him AWOL.
I don’t remember if we told any chiefs or officers about Fred’s dilemma so that his shop could be informed. I do know, though, that I took him to his first breakfast on board a submarine.
Supposedly, the food on submarines is supposed to be the best food in the services. I really don’t know that to be a fact, since the few meals that I ate on any vessel other than the sub were on the submarine tender and I don’t really remember those. However, I seldom had any complaints about what we were served on the boat.
Fred’s job had been assigned to the tender as a temporary duty station. He later served on a submarine.
About 5 years later, I was sitting in the control room of a commercial nuclear power plant when a potential new employee was being given a tour of the plant and the control room. I looked at him and asked, “Where do I know you from?”
He asked what boat I had been on and I told him, “the Casimir Pulaski.”
“You were the guy that took me to breakfast!”
It was Fred.
Fred accepted the job offer and went to work in the same department that I was in, Operations. After I went to the Training Department, we both ended up in the same senior reactor operator license class. He stayed in the Operations Department far longer than I did, but eventually he accepted a job in Training. He is actually older than me, but he stayed at the plant after I retired, retiring almost exactly a year after I had.
Fred is now working as a contractor at a plant in South Carolina.
I’m now working at what used to be Fred’s desk.
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at the job site
Fred was a pretty glum fellow the day that I first met him way back in the mid 70s — before cell phones and most of the other modern communication devices that we take for granted today.
Fred was — and still is — a real go getter.
On his first full day at a new shop, Fred went to the job site to check on the job he had been assigned — before breakfast and before he went to the shop.
After checking the job, he headed to the shop, but found his way blocked. There was no way that he could get through and no practical way that he could let his new boss know what had happened.
That’s when I met Fred.
He told me about his dilema and I did the only thing that I could think of — I took him to breakfast.
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Stop back by for the rest of the story, including how it ties in to where I’m working from today and the picture in the post: What the Heck is it?
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My old office in my last week of work in January 2007
On Monday, one of the guys in the group I’m working with came into my office and said, with a puzzled look on his face, “You’ve got a call on my phone.”
When I picked up the phone, the fellow calling said who he was and that we had talked a couple of years ago and that I had been thinking about retiring at the time.
I told him that I had already retired and that I had just come back to work as a contract instructor for six months. When I said that he sounded a little disappointed when he said, “Oh, okay.”
You see, the guy who had called me was an employment recruiter who had called my old phone number in my old office to see if I was available or would be in the very near future.
He had no idea that I retired 2 1/2 years ago. It was just coincidence that I was back to work on contract when he called.
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On Wednesday, another retiree — who I’ve known for over 25 years — went back to work on contract, the same day that I did. He’s working in another part of the training organization from the one I’m working in.
It just so happens, though, that his son is an “in-house” employee in that same organization.
Since he has been contracted to work primarily in a support role, there may be times that he’ll be providing support for his son.
He told me today that he didn’t have problem with doing whatever they needed for him to do, but that his son might have a little bit of a problem telling his dad what he wanted done.
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Last year, when my contract job was finished, I stopped wearing my watch. (see I don’t wear a watch when…,)
It’s not that I’ve got anything against wearing a watch. I just don’t have need to be so focused on time when I’m not actively employed.
Yesterday was my first day on this new contract job.
I had hoped to be there several weeks ago. The people that I’m working with had wanted me there several weeks ago, too. However, there were some issues with getting the funding, as I understand it.
The office I’m sharing is two doors down in one direction from the one I was in last year. It’s also two doors down in the other direction from the office I shared for over 15 years before I retired — the door in between is the door to the stairs.
After 10 1/2 months of not working an eight hour day of having to be in the same place sure does seem long.
I didn’t look at my watch too many times during the day, though — right…. 
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There is quite a bit more certainty in my immediate future than there was a few days ago.
The way things are looking right now, there is a very good probability that I will be working next week, based on a few phone calls with the supervisor of the group I’d be working with and with the contracting company I’ll be working through.
The work that I’ll be providing will be very similar to what I did on the last contract, which means a lot of time in the classroom and a lot of time in the simulator.
The accompanying picture is from just before I retired. I used a art media brush stroke filter to render it to look like a painting.
In a way, it’s ironic to be going back. I’ve been very much involved in every initial license class since 1992, including the one that was conducted after I retired. This will be the second, assuming there is no last minute glitch.
Since work will now be a part of my routine for a while, I will have to be making some adjustments.
I hope to be able to post here on a regular basis. I really want to maintain and improve this habit of posting, commenting and replying to comments.
While I am interested in taking this contract, I don’t need to work, fortunately. This will help us finance some projects and fend off having to withdraw money from our savings to augment my pension.
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It’s back to work I go — I think.
We should know something soon as the proposed date to start is June 1st.
The contract schedule will be a little different from last time. I’ll be working about 6 weeks and will then have about 6 to 8 weeks off while the class is involved in activities that do not require my “expertise.” The entire contract for me will be 6 months of actual work.
During the 6 to 8 weeks that I am off — assuming the funding for the contract is actually approved — we’ll be traveling out in the western mountain states. We had originally planned that trip for July and August, so it’ll be a little delayed, unless the funding is not approved.
I really do enjoy the work that I’ll be doing under the contract. It’s the best part of the job that I had before I retired.
The job will help us keep from dipping into our savings for the duration of the contract and we’ll try to pay down a debt or two so that the pension and other income will stretch further when I’m not working.
Heigh Ho, Heigh Ho, it’s off to work I go…, probably…, maybe.
We’re leaving Harper’s Ferry this morning, heading for Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.
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In January, I wrote about a coworker’s suggestion that I apply for unemployment when the contract that I was on was over — even though I didn’t need the job when I took it. Comments on the piece overwhelming supported my decision not to apply for unemployment compensation. (see Applying for Unemployment)
The contract was over at the end of August. In the turbulent economic months since then, I’ve had a few moments where I’ve thought about the extra cushion that unemployment income could provide. However, I’ve never had a moment where I regretted my decision.
A few weeks ago I was at one of our every-other-week retirement breakfasts when I heard some fellows talking about putting in for unemployment benefits after thay had finished a contract job. The nature of the industry that we retired from is that there is a lot of opportunity for contract work for those with the right experience and/or credentials. It wasn’t surprising that the idea of putting in for unemployment had occurred to others.
Apparently a couple of them had actually applied.
They were turned down!
They weren’t qualified because they were making too much money from their pension!
Since I was a contract worker working as an employee and NOT an independent contractor, if I didn’t have any other income, I could have applied for unemployment payments. However, with my pension and other income, it didn’t seem right to apply.
In the end, I was not only morally right, but legally right, as well.
I would not have been able to receive unemployment compensation.
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