Night Owl Cards

  There are a couple of people I know who wonder why I'm in such a hurry to retire. I don't know, it just sounds so attractive, especially the closer I get. I don't understand people who want to work until they're 75. (It's another matter if you have to). Also, there are several former classmates of mine who are already retired and I don't know if I've been more envious in all my life. Perhaps you need to be my age to understand. The job, like many others, ain't getting easier. In fact it's getting more complicated. Some of that may be just because I'm not able to process things like I once did, but I think a lot of it is the nature of the current world. And the older you get, the less enthusiasm you have for all of the adjustments , which seems to be the No. 1 thing work is all about these days.   Also, I feel my brain's ability to retain new information waning, even on some basic levels. An example: Yesterday, I looked at my fuel gauge and ...

  The majority of my card-sends these days are via the once-shunned, plain, white envelope. The size of the packages are smaller, and now that we've dispelled with that long-held fallacy that you're asking for trouble sending cards in a PWE, it's the more logical, and cheaper, option. I still do send out larger stuff in sturdier envelopes and I receive cards in those yellow 5-by-7s or 7-by-9s, too. But those padded envelopes are no guarantee because just last week ... ... the dreaded bullet hole again. That's some distasteful arrival, especially for 5 dollars and 30-something cents. The last time this happened to me was almost 10 years ago now (wow, I've been doing this too long). So I guess I can handle once-every-10-years, but it's still a shock when it happens. It makes me not want to send another PWE ever.   This envelope also arrived with the corner torn -- and the innards sticking out! Just not a good sign for the contents within.   But I'm pleased to...