Moving Forward

I have worked as a Database Administrator for 32 years. With that much experience, you become quite skilled. Often managers or Human Resource reps have asked me what my career aspirations might be. Do I want to be a manager? Director? Run my own company? The answer is not really. I was an “Interim Director of Software Systems” for about 3 years at one company. More recently, I was the manager of a Database Administration team. Certainly, salary or bonuses might be better. But I just like to be hands-on with the software. Most of my experience is with the Oracle Database. It is a beast. It is large, complicated and has a lot of features that many companies never use. But, when they do, keeping them running well with acceptable performance can be a challenge. A lot of the job is like being a detective. You must dig to find out what problems are occurring, or how to keep things running fast. I am good at that. Some managers have told me that my job is to make problems go away. They know I am doing a good job when they cease to hear about the database. It just works, day after day and month after month. At one company where my team was consulting, I noticed all the other consultants got to go on long engagements of weeks or months. I spent a lot of time in the central office without much to do, so I asked my manager, “why don’t I get long engagements?” She answered that it was because if a customer had an emergency performance issue, then I would not be available to help. I was a “fire fighter”. I waited around for something bad to happen, and then was sent to quickly fix it. I traveled all over the mid-west, south and east coast putting out fires at Fortune 500 companies.

I am now close to what most people think is retirement age. I had not planned to retire. I like the job. It is sometimes mentally exhausting, but never physically so. I am paid well. So why retire? Why not keep on working as long as I can remember my name and what direction to aim the car each morning. I am rewarded with plenty of paid time off. What would I do if retired? Am I to sit on the front porch in a rocker and point at the cars that go by? Do I slowly sink into an inactive, sedentary life and slowly decay? No, I will just keep working.

So, that was my thinking until the spring of 2020. I suddenly found myself able to do activities that I had given up on years earlier. It was not just a hip replacement that sent me on a different track. I also knew that to make it through the necessary physical therapy afterwards, I needed to lose a lot of weight. I changed my diet and lifestyle and lost over 100 pounds. I came to another realization. I was an “old timer”.

I grew up and worked in a different era, a time when you worked hard, with pride in your workmanship, or you did not keep your job. Failure was not tolerated, and due diligence was required. Excuses went unheard. Managers expected a lot and could be harsh when those expectations were not met. You were held accountable for the quality of work you did or did not do. But no more. Everybody must be kept in their “happy place”. We must work in a kinder, gentler office environment. Teamwork seems to mean 1 or 2 team members do all the work, and the rest of the team does nothing but share in accolades. I have more than once heard younger employees around me say things like “I had to stop doing that work, because it was giving me negative energy”. In my era, you were likely to get a negative paycheck if you said that. I am having a hard time with stress due to all the complacency, poor workmanship, and apathy I see in co-workers. Is the only thing we care about, the paycheck? I cannot seem to stop caring about the quality of work I do and get frustrated when I see lack of care in those around me. It means more work for me. I cannot keep up with the shoddy work anymore as I am outnumbered. I need an escape plan. An overview is as follows:

• Reach full retirement age (18 months)
• Sell my house and all the “stuff” accumulated for 30 years.
• Purchase some type of vehicle and “4 season” camper.
• Pile my remaining fishing, hiking, backpacking, canoeing, bicycling, XC ski gear into it.
• Drive out of Michigan, a place I never wanted to be, and never look back.
• Become a nomad, risk taker, adventurer, curmudgeon.
• Keep moving, observing, and enjoying nature.
• Relax and avoid stress.

So, you think, I am going to be a full time RVer? NOT! I think rather, a minimalist. There will be no huge Rec Vehicle, with noisy generator, TV, air conditioner, and yipping mop dog tied to the entry steps. Sure, I know the question. What happens when you get too old to do that? I cannot answer that. I have not planned further. Perhaps I would wait for a winter, strap on the skis, and go too far into the backcountry to make it back. I will figure that out when the time comes.

The first bullet point just requires waiting. The second is much more complicated. I have already started selling the “stuff”, two surround sound systems, some unused ski gear, a computer desk, 3 large containers of Legos, a BlueRay DVD player, and a large Television and media stand, all just a drop in the bucket. I am talking about a house that has 8 computers sitting around, but only 2 people living in it. There are more desks, tables, an exercise bike, a 3-section theater recliner set, dozens of books, CDs, DVDs, even some VHS Disney tapes. All is mostly junk. Anybody want some “Backstreet Boys” CDs? How about a scale model of the battleship New Jersey, WWII Fletcher class destroyer, M1A1 Abrams main battle tank and Bradley Fighting vehicle? There is even a 1968 Boss 302 Mustang. We have every darn Harry Potter book imaginable (or conjurable). From where I now sit, I can see 2 large flat screen televisions and 7 computer monitors. In the garage there are 5 bicycles and 2 canoes. When I type this, it makes me wonder what I was thinking (well except for the bikes and canoes – you can’t have enough of those).

We are talking MASSIVE GARAGE SALE next spring. My driveway will be the new local dollar store.

So, it begins…