Eleven Years

Today marks eleven years since the official end of my career as an air traffic controller. 
As much as I enjoyed the ATC gig, being retired from it is way better! I haven't engaged in supplemental income through contract work as an instructor or staff at any facility and don't understand why others have. I am apparently much less driven to have more, do more, or be more than many of my former coworkers. My pension, Social Security, and Thrift Savings Plan are enough to support my simple retirement lifestyle. 

My retirement from the evangelist/gospel magician gig came a few years later when we were unceremoniously invited to leave the church where we had served for a couple of decades because we didn't object to allowing a transgender woman to be a part of the fellowship. 
Wow! Talk about blessings in disguise! 
Admittedly, I kind of miss the magician part -- more than the ATC gig, and definitely more than the church/religious bullshit. In fact, these days I rarely make an appearance in church of any kind, and when I do it is with a small group from church that meets at a brewery!

My life today is much different that what I might have imagined it to be eleven years ago. 
But I am a much different person than I was eleven years ago, so it makes sense. 
Life happens.
People change.
People grow.
Or maybe people stay the same and you (or I) grow.

I am at peace.
I think I've always been able to find the centering peace within me, but it is helpful to be truly aware of oneself and to be able to purposefully find the calming, peaceful, almost magical presence that connects us to everything around us. Perhaps mystical is a better word than magical.
I wish I had been paying attention to that voice rather than allowing myself to be controlled by the church voices and others that speak and teach from outside of myself. 

If I were ever to go back to preaching, that is what I would teach -- that the Spirit of God lives within you. Find that voice.
Nurture that part of your being -- feed it, exercise it, help it to grow.
Learn to recognize that same spirit in others. 
Let the spirit connect us to each other and to the world around us.

Think about the philosophy that we are not bodies with souls, but rather we are souls with bodies. When we begin to view life from a spiritual perspective rather than a physical perspective everything changes.

Earthly status doesn't matter in the spiritual realm.
Wealth doesn't matter in the spiritual realm.
Power  doesn't matter in the spiritual realm.
Skin color doesn't matter in the spiritual realm.
Gender doesn't matter in the spiritual realm.
National borders don't matter in the spiritual realm.
Even the religious beliefs of us humans don't matter in the spiritual realm.

Find and strengthen the God spirit within yourself, then look for and connect with the God spirit in others.

I don't think it is a message that will preach well in our world today. Too many want to cling to the perceived power or control that their current beliefs give them.
Fair warning!!! -- Following Jesus is way harder than worshiping Jesus.

There!
I said what I said.
Now you know why I don't preach anymore.

John

Unintended Consequences

This past week the federal government staffing cuts hit the FAA. While air traffic controllers seem to be exempt from the cuts, the people that support the system were not. The people that keep the software and the hardware running, the people that maintain the facilities where air traffic controllers work, the people that inspect the airplanes that the public flies, the people that test and monitor the systems that make the US air space the envy of the world -- those people have had staffing reduced to dangerous levels and let go the people that were training to replace them.

Halts to hiring and training are not new to the FAA. Such moratoriums happened during my career as a controller. Although they were supposed to save money, they never really did. They just put advancement farther behind and expenses farther ahead.
And the FAA always maintained the standard line -- Safety was never compromised.

Bullshit!
Safety was always compromised. It took some pretty extraordinary work by those left holding the system together with duct tape and software patches to keep the system users alive from airport to airport and day to day. 

I am all for reducing the size of government and cutting unnecessary waste (Is any waste necessary?), but these cuts are removing vital parts of the system to find more money for the richest among us.
I wonder how many winning lottery tickets I need to move me into the class of people that will actually benefit from these cuts.
Damn.

John

Labor Day 2023

No special holiday plans today and I didn't do anything on the weekend, either. Quiet and simple is the way I like it.

I'll water the new plants today so they can get their root systems well established, but the other plants should be fine. I need to figure out where I want to plant my recovering rose bush so I can get it in the ground soon. I am also thinking about what fall bulbs I need to be planting and where I want to put them.
I know that the plans in my head are overly ambitious based on how much work will need to go into them, both in the creation of space and in the maintenance of the new garden space.
Tilling a space for a larger wildflower garden won't be too bad other than the fact that the tiller can give a pretty good beating on the wrists and arms. I'm also going to need another large space for sunflowers as Chris wants them on the other side of the house next year. I can probably wait until spring for those. The bulb gardens will need to get figured out this month.

Yard work and gardening is the extent of my labor these days. 
A good federal job and representation by perhaps the strongest (though not the largest) government workers labor union has made a comfortable retirement that allows this privilege. I was fortunate enough to get to serve, both locally and on a couple of national committees, with the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA). The people that I have kept in touch with from my work world are mostly people I met through NATCA and not so much the people that I actually worked with. Some times I think about going to a national event to see some of them, but you already know that big gatherings aren't my thing.
I am hopeful that labor unions are making a comeback as workers get more and more fed up with the ever widening pay gaps that exist between corporate executives and the people that provide the actual labor for companies to make money. Many workers -- like air traffic controllers, teachers, first responders, etc., -- don't produce a product, but provide much needed services.  

If you are one of the many that will be working today, thank you.
If you are enjoying the day off thanks to organized labor, be grateful.
If you are retired -- well, it's just another day.

John

Seven Years

It has been seven years since I retired from my work as an air traffic controller. (I actually worked my last shift seven years ago yesterday.) It doesn't feel like it's been that long. On the other hand, I can't really remember what it's like to go to work everyday. There certainly isn't any kind of seven year itch to get back to it or take on any other kind of part-time work to keep busy doing something. I have rarely even thought of work or anything to do with ATC in the past seven years.

There are only a few old co-workers with which I've maintained any kind of contact. Most of that is just as social media friends. Really the job was what we had in common so it kind of seems natural that we've mostly drifted apart. It's weird that I seem to have more in common with controllers that I never worked with (and some that I've never even met) and maintain Facebook friendships with more than the people I interacted with regularly. 

Life is pretty simple these days. I've become a pretty unproductive member of society. And I'm okay with that. 
When I retired seven years ago, I thought I would have a more active preaching ministry and magic ministry. That didn't really work out. I haven't done any magic in several years and have pretty much grown apart from my old evangelical friends(?). And I'm okay with that, too.
There have been past friends that I've reached out to over the years, but most have moved on and -- like I said, we no longer really have anything more than a shared past in common. I get it. 

I am very fortunate to be able to live out my retirement in comfort. I am very much aware of the privilege of this lifestyle. It is not extravagant, but it is far more than enough. If I were to do that productive member of society thing again, it would be to champion the needs of the less privileged so that we could all live with adequate shelter, decent healthcare, and not have to worry about whether or not they will be able to eat today.

John

Running on Empty

Well it is just the first day of the second half of November and I am running out of things to write about for National Blog Posting Month. I'm looking at my coffee mug this morning and it reminded me that yesterday I was thinking of one weird thing that I miss about working -- stairs!

If you're also following my other blog, you know that I've been trying to get daily exercise. Before I retired I would often do the stairs on my breaks. It was 80 stair steps from ground level to the fifth floor where the elevator stopped. I always took the stairs up and rode the elevator down since going down stairs is hard on my knees. Six reps of that plus the twenty additional stairsteps to the sixth floor break room was an even 500 stairs and a decent bit of exercise several times a day.

It would be pretty handy to have easy access to some stairs like that, but definitely not worth going back to work! I'll manage with my exercise cycle, treadmill, and just plain walking. 
Sometimes I see social media memories of sunset or sunrise pics from the tower, and sometimes I think of watching thunderstorms rolling in from the tower. Those are about the only things that I miss about working. As it is, there are pretty good sunrises (although I'm rarely up to see them) and sunsets visible from our home, and the deck is a fine place from which I can enjoy a nice rainfall with a bit of thunder and lightning. 
All-in-all, the mug saying sums it up pretty well!

Tomorrow will probably be a lame Wednesday Wisdom meme. Thursday I'll need to figure something out or just decide that this whole National Blog Posting Month is lame and drop it. As it is, this will be my 184th post of the year, my third highest annual post count in my 15 years of blogging. 187 is second highest and 202 is the most I've posted in a year. 

See you tomorrow
...maybe.

John

Life Maps; a mini book review

So i just finished reading Life Maps by Jim Fowler and Sam Keen. I'd say it is a book that every adult that is interested in growing (or even just growing up) should read. It's a little weird in that there are two men with differing perspectives on human development that share their thoughts on how people grow, don't grow, or just get stuck for life in a single way of thinking and processing the world around them.

I found that I like Fowler's method of explanation more than Keen's, but Keen was probably more relatable in many ways. I was reminded of some of our NATCA Constitution Committee meetings where two people would passionately argue their positions when a third member would interrupt and point out they were in violent agreement, but coming from very different perspectives.

One odd thing that wasn't really addressed in the book, but obviously exists in real life, is that we sometimes cling to primitive (childlike) thought processes on things like faith, politics, or other specific areas of thought, but graduate to more mature processes in business, science, community, etc.
It was difficult reading and not seeing the behaviors of others, but there came a time when one is forced to see themselves and their own progress or lack of it and assess what (if anything) needs to be done next.

I can't say it was truly an enjoyable book, but I don't think it was meant to be. It was (and is) a kind of necessary book when it comes to understanding people, how and why they think the way they think, and how to communicate between stages of thought processes.

John

ATC and the government shutdown

For my former co-workers and all of the other 800,000 federal employees that aren't being paid right now the government shutdown isn't about politics. It's about personal finance and family issues. It's about an agreement between employer and employee that is being violated. It's about paying bills, buying groceries, and the everyday things a person does with the pay they receive for a job well done.

Because air traffic control is considered an essential service, my friends are working without pay. In truth, I only know a few of the controllers that are working, but I know the character of a typical controller. I have often described controllers as the most arrogant, egotistical assholes you'd ever know -- ideal for a job that demands perfection! I know that every day they will be doing their jobs to the best of their ability. But ...

Let me ask you something ... What keeps you awake at night?
Unexpected bills?
Financial hardships?
Uncertainty about the immediate future?

Now imagine going to work after another poor night's sleep. It's your sixth day in a row of work because your facility is already short staffed. Some of those days have been 10 hour days.
Air traffic controllers don't get to use sleep meds. Those usually come with a minimum 24 hour medical disqualification. If you need them to sleep, you lose your job.

Figuratively speaking, you can do the routine things in your sleep.
But ATC isn't usually routine. It is problem solving and vectoring aircraft that are moving several hundred miles per hour while climbing and descending through altitudes of other aircraft. Even a moment's inattention can be disastrous. 

The United States' air traffic controllers are the best. They move more metal, more safely, than any other system in the world. But adding stress to an already stressed system is dangerous. If you haven't contacted your senators and congressional representative about bringing an end to this shutdown, do it now!

You can find them and their email addresses here.

John <><

Happy October!

It is Sunday morning and I find myself at the dining table of a hotel suite in St Charles MO.
We are in this nice suite due a mix up in our hotel reservations that took Expedia over an hour to straighten out at the end of a long (but enjoyable) day.

We were blessed and honored to be invited to the wedding and reception of an old friend. We came into the FAA about the same time (he was already a trainee when I arrived at the facility) and have worked together in two different facilities  during our careers. Since he came in as a young guy and I came in as an old guy, he is still working in his career.

At some point, I will probably decide to write about marriage struggles, failed marriages and second marriages, but for today I'll stick with wishing this new family the very best as they venture into the blending of their two families. My buddy is going to need some counseling (and occasional testosterone outings) -- he'll be living with his wife and four girls (2 his, 2 hers), three of them teenagers!

It was pretty great getting to reconnect with some old air traffic friends. We ended up in a corner away from family and other friends of the wedding party. (I'm not sure if that was by design or just a coincidence.) These were guys (and their wives) that the groom had worked with and I had come to know over the years. I had also worked with a couple of them.

I also got to meet some of the groom's non-air traffic friends. He always introduced me with the additional "John does magic and uses it to share the gospel" bit, so transition into a conversation about the gospel was pretty easy.
And that was a good thing since the week was coming to an end and I still had not completed my part in the one week challenge of sharing "God loves you" and "Jesus died for you."
I did get to have a couple of conversations talking about what I do in sharing the gospel, both through camps and magic shows, as well as through preaching from the pulpit. It does make it easier to share the simple message that "God loves you and Jesus died for you."

Later this morning we'll meet with some other friends and catch up on their lives.
In the day-to-day grind, I often forget about the many people that have touched my life in some way and then moved on. We have such technology available that we shouldn't lose touch with those dear friends and yet, we often do. I really need to make an effort to move beyond the impersonal social media contacts that have taken the place of true friendships today. It is sad that I've fallen into the trap of placing dear friends into the group of Facebook friends or Twitter followers rather than actually talking to them and being with them from time to time.

It's no wonder we have such a difficult time communicating with one another when most messages come in the form of 140 character tweets or cleverly constructed memes.
As much as it pains me to actually talk to people, I think I'm going to challenge myself to have at least one genuinely meaningful conversation with someone (other than Chris) everyday. That probably sounds too simple for most of you, but there are many days that Chris is the only person I see (and I'm okay with that!).

I'm not a list maker, but I guess I'll need to become one.
At the top of every daily to do list:
Talk to someone other than Chris
Ugh!
It may be more than I can accomplish!

Maybe you have an old friend that would be blessed by a call.
Why not do it today?

John <><

Road Trip; more people

After meeting with Bill in the DC area of NoVa, I traveled south until Fredricksburg where I overnighted at a cheap motel. I was able to sleep in a bit before traveling to meet an old friend from my days of being active with our controllers' union.

For my entire career, Adell Humphreys was the lady that kept NATCA running smoothly. Even while the officers of the organization changed, Adell was always there to maintain the office and acclimate new officers to their posts. It's true that she worked for NATCA and she has recently referred to me as one of her 15,000 bosses. But her leadership in guiding the office staff never went unnoticed by those of us that were privileged to work with her.

I have to admit that I always felt that my role in NATCA was pretty small and insignificant and am somewhat surprised that I have Adell and a few past officers as social media contacts. In any case, it has been more than a decade since I have been to any NATCA events so I was looking forward to this meeting.
I think Adell retired from her service to NATCA a little before I retired as a controller. Retirement is looking good on her. Like me, she has taken to motorcycle riding in retirement and is learning to enjoy the road on two wheels. She is engaged to be married and her guy, Stan, seems like a great guy. I was so pleased to get to meet him. I always enjoy talking cigars with someone that enjoys a good smoke and we exchanged a few cigars over lunch.

We met at a truck stop just off the highway and then rode our bikes to lunch.
Stan said, "John, we're taking to to lunch at a gas station!"

Some of the best places to eat are local dives.
This little BBQ place was busy for the lunch hour. Four state police cars were in the parking lot and several construction workers were there as well as a few local couples. I figured that they were taking me to one of their favorite places for a reason. I had a pulled pork sandwich with slaw and a little spicy sauce and was not disappointed! I don't remember the name of the place, but I'm sure one of them can help me by leaving it in the comments.
Once again, the conversation was easy and I think Stan and I did most of the talking with Adell just listening. I doubt an observer would have guessed that we just met.

I still had several hours of highway ahead of me, so they guided me back to the highway and we said our goodbyes. Stan gave me a good route to follow (was one of google's alternate routes) and I figured to take advantage of his experience over google (remember the ferry in Detroit?).

It was great to hit the road with a full belly and a light heart.

John <><

Road Trip, Home

It's Monday morning and I am sitting in my home, drinking coffee from one of my favorite mugs.

I've been perusing Facebook and thinking that I should start writing about the adventures of my journey.
The thoughts that come to me this morning are that I am so blessed to be able to do such a ride. Even though Chris has no desire to ride, she is very supportive of my doing so and is willing to stay home while I take to the road.

The early retirement (and good retirement package) that I enjoy from my service as an air traffic controller is not lost on me. I know that few people find themselves in my position at this age. We are not wealthy by any means, but we are doing quite well as middle class Americans.

Because I was traveling alone, I didn't do much sight seeing that couldn't be done from the road and on the seat of my motorcycle. I'm not disappointed about that, but it seems necessary to mention that this trip was more about the ride ... and the personal visits.

In the end, if I had to pick a favorite part of the journey, it would be the one thing that started the whole process -- visiting with my brother in Vermont.
Steve lives in a small, seasonal cabin on Lake Champlain. He lives where other people vacation or go to get away from their normal lives. He hikes and camps in the Adirondack Mountains, kayaks on the lake or on any of the mountain rivers and streams. He'll have to vacate his cabin in the winter (lake living is seasonal and some services like water and septic are off during the winter) and find another place to live for a few months. Last year, he wintered in a house on nearby Mt Philo.

As I was preparing to leave, Steve picked up a voice mail from a friend asking if he was going camping on the weekend and if they could tag along.
Yep -- when others are starting to think that it's getting a little chilly to escape to the lake, he's packing up for a primitive camp in the mountains!

I really enjoyed our visit. We talked about our kids and what great adults they've turned out to be. We talked about life, family, work, and whatever came to mind. We ate a pizza by the lake as the sun set over the mountains, hiked up Mt Philo, toured the Shelburne Museum, walked the lake walk in Burlington and visited some of the shops, and we took the kayaks out for a paddle on the lake. (I kind of got my fat ass stuck in the kayak!)  I ate Steve's vegan diet at his place and indulged in a burger at the Vermont Pub and Brewery in Burlington, and a roast beef sandwich at his friend's after our hike.
In spite of the activity, it was a relaxing couple of days.
Did I mention that it was my favorite part of the journey?

Because I'm not much of a selfie picture taking guy, I regret that I didn't snag a pic of the two of us. I didn't think of that until I was riding through the Green Mountains on my way out of Vermont. I also missed the early photo ops with Mom and Dad, Aaron and Jenny, and Jo and Gord.
Dang!
At least I was able to get a few pics with people after that.

I'll have more on the people, places and food in future posts.
Today, I'm going to enjoy being home.

John <><

Road Trip, Day 1 (and a bonus story)

Back when I was still working for a living, most of the conversation as an air traffic controller at SGF was either about air traffic stuff, complaining about management, or deciding where we going for the shift's chow run.
Since the one thing that we all had in common outside of ATC was that we all liked to eat (every day as it turned out), food was a common topic. We talked about places we had been, places we'd like to try, food we created at home, etc. I'm not sure if it was that way with everyone because I heard (more than once), "How come we always end up talking about food when I work with you?"

And it wasn't just controllers.
Once we had a private plane that flew in from LOT, which is close to where we used to live. After asking the pilot if Romeoville/Lockport was his home base (it was), I asked him if the Pagoda House was still there. His response was, "Oh man! That's our favorite restaurant!"
My trainee was like, "So do you know a restaurant in every city?"

During another food conversation with the same trainee, he was telling me about a place that had the best fried chicken gizzards in a little gas station near where he went to school. I stopped him and asked, "Is that the gas station at Buckhorn?"

He just looked at me with his mouth hanging open.
When he finally got it working again, he said, "How could you possibly know that?"
I told him that I stop there all the time and even though I don't get the gizzards, I do get other things like the fried catfish filets, chicken tenders or fried mushrooms!

Anyway, this little place isn't too far from home but just the right distance if you've put away a pot of coffee before hitting the road (about 85 miles).
I stopped for lunch at Lion's Choice in Sullivan since I was going to need gas soon anyway. Two roast beef sandwiches, a diet Dr Pepper and a full tank of gas lasted me until Springfield IL.
I took a little time to re-hydrate, walked a bit, talked to another guy that pulled in to fill up his bike and then finished my ride at bit over 400 miles for the day.

Mom had dinner ready when I arrived.
Chicken and pork adobo, rice, garden fresh green beans, sliced tomatoes (also garden fresh) and deviled eggs. YUM!
We had a nice visit, watched a couple of ballgames and made a call to my nephew and his wife in North Carolina. They are expecting the birth of their son any day now! Once again I will be officially declared a GREAT Uncle. If Irma will cooperate by keeping her rain to the coast or back out to the North Atlantic, I may get to see the little guy on my return trip. We shall see.

All in all, I am declaring the day a good day. It was cool and a bit windy, but a fine day to ride. Traffic was easy and my pack provided a nice back rest. Tomorrow's ride (Thursday) will be short -- just 125 miles or so to Chicago to see Aaron and Jenny.

John <><

Welcome to retirement!

Yesterday I went to a retirement party for one of my longtime coworkers. When I first arrived at Springfield Tower (SGFT) he had just moved from controller to a staff position. He later was promoted to supervisor and then ended his career as the Air Traffic Manager (ATM) at SGFT. He was (and is) one of the few people that I really trust and admire. I spent many of my breaks in his ATM office just talking about life or whatever happened to come up that day.

We talked about our kids, our spouses, our churches, our beliefs, baseball, whatever ... rarely did we talk about air traffic or our jobs.

Being there yesterday (with other retirees) reminded me of how glad I am that I retired when I did. I could have gone another 17 months and made a little more money and increased my pension by a small amount, but I am really glad that I didn't. Many of the things that I have done in the past two years, I would not have been able to do if I was still working.
Truthfully, by comparison, my retirement is pretty modest next to many of my peers. I had a relatively short career and never moved beyond a mid-level facility. Never-the-less, I do realize that my pension and savings is still more than many working people make and we are pretty comfortable.

It was also the last day of work for one of my controller friends. I was very happy to see him at the retirement gig. He, too, is one of the good guys! It seems that our schedules rarely overlapped over the years and I didn't get to work with him as often as I would have liked. If I would have been able to pick my team, he definitely would have been on it! There was one year when I shared a line with him and two other great guys. I was most certainly the weak link on the team that year!

It was good to talk with the other retired folks and I was a little disappointed that only a couple of the current controllers showed up. I do understand that they have been working a lot of overtime and so their time off is pretty precious.

I do hope that my friends find their new retirement rhythm quickly and start to enjoy the freedom that it gives. I haven't been very good at keeping up with other retirees and maybe I need to get better at that. I know that air traffic was much of our common bond while working and so it is understandable that we no longer share that and may grow apart. But it is always nice to have worked with people that you have genuinely liked and respected and perhaps we will find that is enough to continue our friendships.

To Brent (BA) and John (YU)
Welcome to the good life!

John <><

June 13, 2016

The clock is about to reach the 11pm point on this the 13th of June, 2016.

I suppose I could have written a birthday post earlier in the day, but it has been a pretty full day.
I made the morning ride back to Baptist Hill Assembly for the Lawrence County Baptist Association Children's Camp. I'll be here all week and likely won't get another ride in until Saturday afternoon when I ride home.

Today was a typical mid-June day in the Ozarks -- that translates to hot and humid. But it has been a good first day of camp.
These guys know how to put on a kids' camp. Everything is very well organized and there are plenty of volunteer workers. I don't have to have a great deal of interaction with the kids, so that part is probably good for everyone! I'll have the 7th and 8th graders for Bible study each of the next three days, plus the entire camp (most of the 150+ kids are 3rd through 6th graders) for evening worship and then a Friday morning worship to wrap things up and send them home.

I'll get a short break on Friday before the afternoon brings in 1st and 2nd graders for an overnight camp with Friday night and Saturday morning services and activities.
I have to admit that I sometimes wonder if I'm getting too old for this.
It isn't the activity part that concerns me, but I often wonder about how well I communicate the Gospel to these elementary age students. At some point (maybe now) there has to be a younger person that is more relevant and able to reach these kids.

I received plenty of kind words and encouragement from last week's camp about my "Story time with John" days. I do realize that I am a Story Teller. (I put that in caps because I think Story Teller is a kind of title.) I know that story telling is becoming a lost art, but truthfully, most people just don't put the effort into making a good story a great story. If fact, most of the time they take a great story and turn it into a real snoozer!
If telling a great story is the only thing I bring to the table, maybe it is time to step aside for a younger story teller and let them grow into their role.

At age 56, I have officially become too old to be an air traffic controller!
Although I retired fifteen months ago, I would have been forced out at the end of this month. I am glad that I didn't wait until now. My pension and retirement income wouldn't have changed much and I have had the past fifteen months to enjoy life in peaceful isolation without the daily grind of working with people and dealing with the FAA.

I seriously doubt that I am completely finished as a productive member of society, but I do like having the freedom to choose my time and place of community contributions. I may have to spread the camps out a little more than this year -- a day camp on the 4th, two days last week, a wedding, and now three camps in two weeks (11 out of 12 days)! Then I get two weeks off before another week long kids' camp.
It's almost like having a job!

When Pastor Terry was talking about suffering for the cause of the Gospel last Sunday, maybe this is what he meant -- SIX different camps with bunches of kids (more than 600 total)!
Oh yeah, and there's that hot, humid weather thing, too!

Eh, no worries.
It is all for the Glory of God!

Time to call it a day and get some rest.
Tomorrow is on the way!

John <><

A Blast From the Past

It's a kind of Throwback Thursday type of post.
I'm not sure why, but for some reason I've been thinking about air traffic control lately. It could have to do with the bill in Congress that has to do with shifting air traffic to a non-profit corporation, or maybe it's just recent contact with a couple of controllers. A recent lunch caught me up on the all the latest tower news.

As expected, my contacts with former coworkers have become fewer and less often. When I was working and someone retired, it didn't take long before life went on without that person and they were seldom brought up in conversation. I expected that to be the case with me and those that retired at the same time as I did. There were four of us that retired from the facility in Dec '14 and Jan '15. Three more retired during 2015 and one left to take a promotion.

For a while Chris and I were meeting with two other couples for dinner, but it has been several months ... and life goes on.

As a controller, I rarely did anything outside of work with other controllers. Our relationships were really centered around being air traffic controllers. I was pretty certain that when that ceased, so would our relationships.
For the most part, that has been true.

There are a few people that I think I will continue to stay in touch with, and a few others that I will probably be in touch with less often. It is a little sad, but it is just the way of things.

I can honestly say that I do not miss it at all. I am also glad that I was able to retire prior to a changing ATC structure. I'm not saying that it won't be a better way of doing business. The way the FAA has been managing it over the past few decades has been terrible. Staffing is at critical levels and will probably get worse before it gets better with so many controllers eligible or soon to be eligible to retire.

I do see things that make me think of different people and some of the conversations that we had and occasionally send a text message. But there really aren't too many instances when I think of work or the people there. I stopped by the tower once when I had to drop Hannah off at the airport, but that has been the only time.

Life goes on.

I'm enjoying my days -- especially when the weather is nice enough to get out and walk. I managed to walk 100 miles in January and will make another 100 miles in February, even with 2 fewer days! Some days are nice enough to sit out on the deck, and we've managed to cook out a couple of days. I'm motorcycle shopping online and hope to make a purchase before April. Baseball season is only weeks away and all will be right with the world.

Well ... I guess there is still the election year politics, strife in the Middle East and all kinds of other issues, but my world is pretty quiet.
This blog is my main form of interaction with others on most days ... and I am really okay with that!

Tomorrow will be a new day and we're going to take a weekend road trip. I'll report back later.

John <><

Thursdays are for Thanksgiving

Some time ago I started a post label of Thursdays are for Thanksgiving. As with most things in my life, I have a way of getting distracted from a good intention and it falls by the wayside. As this is the first Thursday of November and I'm in the middle of this 30 Day Writing Challenge, I thought it might be a good time to revive it and begin anew a reflection of things for which I am thankful.

I don't want my Thursday posts to be trivial, nor do I want them to be a long list of many things. There are many things that we take for granted and often go without saying -- even though we should probably mention them every now and then.

I'll begin this first Thursday of November with something that is simple and yet very significant to me.
This will be my first holiday season as a retired person!
I can't begin to express how blessed I feel to have been in a career that allows (or forces, depending on your attitude) me to retire at an age that is much younger than most. Though not wealthy by any means, we are in a safe place when in comes to finances. Even though Chris continues to work, we have more time to do things together and to take an occasional trip -- even if it's just a short weekend adventure.

I truly feel that I am in a good place -- financially, physically, emotionally, spiritually and mentally.
Financially -- I don't know if we ever have as much money or as many things as we want, but I have more than what I need.

Physically -- I still have areas to work on and a lifetime of poor habits to overcome, but I am probably in the best condition and health that I have been in for several decades.

Emotionally -- I'm not really certain of how to judge that, but I feel that I am pretty stable. I don't know if it's age, maturity or that my "give a rip" factor now dismisses most things that used to bother me, but I generally feel that I am on a pretty even keel.

Spiritually -- Yeah, that's good, too. Blessed, challenged, comfortable but not really content.

Mentally -- This one is kind of a big deal. Toward the end of my career, I was really beginning to worry about dealing with depression. Most days, I didn't even want to get out of bed, much less go to work. And there is no help for a depressed air traffic controller. You can't work if you've been diagnosed with depression and you can't work on the medication that treats it. You're just finished.
So you don't even talk about it. You just put on your big boy pants and deal with it.
The walks and getting into better physical condition helped a lot -- but still...
Coping with life is much better when you spend most of the day alone and with your own thoughts.
Who you spend time with, what you think about, what you talk about, what you read, where you go ... all of these things are better when you have more control.

Today is a rainy day and I'm doing laundry. Chris is running some errands and meeting a friend for lunch. I'll probably take a walk -- in the rain. Later, we'll go to an afternoon movie.
It's not a glamorous life, but it's a good life ...
...and it's my life.

John <><

ATC Retirements

There have been many recent articles and news stories on the critical staffing levels of air traffic controllers. The percentage of eligible to retire controllers is still quite high and the number of new controller trainees is quite low.

Last night I was at another controller retirement party for two guys that I worked with. One had moved to a staff job several years ago and was past the age of being able to work airplanes. The other still could have worked for another year, but decided to go now.
Congratulations to both of them!

The people that made it to the party were an interesting mix. It was mostly retired controllers that were there. There were a couple of the newer controllers and a couple of the newer supervisors and just a few of the controllers that I worked with over the years. I did enjoy the night and visiting with the people that I once worked with. It would appear that retirement is agreeing with my fellow retirees.

I know that there are many factors that each eligible controller considers about when to pull the trigger and leave. Part of the pull to stay is that it really is a great career. I can honestly say that I still enjoyed working airplanes at the time I left. But I used to tell my boss that as much I liked my job, I could usually think of at least one place that I would rather be each day -- and sometimes it was just home, smoking a cigar on the deck. When it got to the point that it didn't make much sense to stay financially, it was time to go.

Although I still consider myself to be an apprentice retiree, I am enjoying it very much. I think I'll enjoy it even more when I get a new motorcycle! I like taking the little CM450 (1982) out for a ride (almost everyday) but would like something that I can take for a longer trip next summer. I would love to make a day trip or two to St. Louis for a couple of ballgames or ride to Chicago to see the kids. And I'm OK with going alone. I think that time on the motorcycle is good therapy. I always feel great after taking a long ride!

I wish the best to my new fellow retirees!
Apprenticeship in retirement is way better than training for ATC!

John <><

Hmmm...Retirement plus Part-time work?

For some time now, the FAA has been transitioning away from government employees for many staff jobs (like training) and hiring training personnel from a contract employer. Before I retired, my manager had suggested that when the SGF-ATCT (Springfield MO Air Traffic Control Tower) staff person retired, he would probably be replaced by a part-time contract worker. (Most of them are retired controllers.) I think he was hinting that I might want to consider that.

Hmmm...

Well, yesterday he retired.

And today (apparently) a job opening was posted for the contract position.

And I had two different people call me to tell me about it -- just in case I am interested.

Before I retired I had indicated that I might be interested in such an arrangement. Now, I am not so sure.

The thought of having to get up at a certain time to be at work -- even just a couple of days per week -- doesn't really appeal to me. However, I'm not entirely certain that I want to dismiss the idea completely just yet.

Hmmm...

Money isn't really an issue (although, who couldn't use a little more of it?), so that isn't going to be a driving factor in my decision. Personnel at the tower is pretty much equally split between people I'd like to see regularly, people that I'm indifferent about seeing and people that I really have no desire to see. I guess it will come down to finding out exactly what is involved and whether or not I think that it will be worth the compensation. The only way to really do that is to go through the process. 

Hmmm...

Under normal circumstances, it would probably only be about 8 hours per week. However, there is a lot of training at SGF right now so it may be closer to a full time position for a little while. But it would be all weekday hours, no nights, no weekends, no holidays. 

Hmmm...

Maybe I'll have to think about it for a little while.

Hmmm...

John <><

Goodbyes...again.

Last Friday was our long awaited retirement party.

I have to say that I had a pretty good time and enjoyed seeing people from the distant past as well as the recent past. I received some calls and texts from people that couldn't make it and was surprised by some of the comments that I heard.

Here is a post that I wrote last fall. While I suppose that it is mostly true, it has been nice to see that there are a few people that genuinely seem to miss having me around (at least some of the time).

Today I would say that it is a humbling experience to know that the little things that we say and do can make lasting impressions on people. For a guy that isn't always in control of his emotions or mouth, it is also a little frightening. I have been fortunate that the people that I may have hurt or been unkind toward have not contacted me with their comments. It is difficult to do more than regret those moments and vow to do better in the future. Unkind words cannot be unsaid.

So the recent experiences and re-reading that old post has reminded me to take the time to express appreciation as the opportunity arises. I'll be more purposeful about telling people how they have made positive impacts on me and the other people they engage on a regular basis.

Say good and encouraging things often. Tell others when they are doing well. Encourage one another often.
There are no regrets for a life well lived.

Live well,
John <><

Remembering Working for a Living

It's rare that I think about my working past. There have been events that remind me of some of the people that I once worked with, but not often.

I have had a few text message conversations with former coworkers and met up with a couple of them to watch a game or just catch up with each other.

Having worked through several other people's retirement, I know that my former colleagues have little reason or occasion to remember me in their daily routines.

However, yesterday I received a picture of a flight progress strip and a note that it made a controller think of me. It made me smile.

A week from tonight is a retirement party for the four of us that retired at the beginning of the year. I'm kind of looking forward to it. There was a time when I wasn't sure that I would even attend and I would be content to just get on with life. But after having heard from some former colleagues  (and being threatened by one colleague's spouse) I'm actually looking forward to it.

I suppose that most of it will be the polite "How's it going?" "Do you miss it?" Aren't you bored?" "I'm so jealous!" kind of small talk. But I think that there will also be some good times and good memories. I know that there will be several retired controllers that will be there and I'm looking forward to seeing them.

At four months and five days, I still consider myself to be an apprentice retiree. I'm not sure of what it takes to get checked out as a journeyman retiree, but I'll continue to work on it.

I managed to get to another ballgame last night and have a few short trips planned for the coming months. If making plans to stay busy is a part of journeyman certification, I may take a long time. Mostly, I'm happy to take things a day at a time...and occasionally look back and remember.

Be well,
John  <><

It's Official!

Last Sunday, someone asked me how it felt to be retired. I told them that so for it really just felt like I have had a few days off. Besides, since I hadn't actually received a retirement income yet, it could just be that I hadn't shown up for work for 30 days!

Well, now it is official!

My first partial retirement check has been deposited into my account (and only 1 week late!)! I still haven't figured out how the government can get away with issuing interim checks (sometimes for several months) instead of getting the calculations right (and on time) from day 1. It's not like someone is calculating with pencil and paper or using an abacus to determine what your annuity payout is supposed to be.

Oh well. After a career with the government and all of the meaningless bureaucracy, why should I expect less in retirement?

Hopefully, I'll have many more years of frustration ahead of me!

John <><