Issue # 141 Zzajrant

4/1/2014, 09:11 – Well, I’m back on my notebook, so I can do colors & numbers again.  Uneventful flight back from Hawaii to my retirement destination here in Lacey, Washington.  Visited up at Fort Lewis yesterday, nothing earth-shattering up there.  Hooked back in with the Olympia Jazz Society meetup site, so I expect I’ll be hearing from some of the local players new & old.  I’m expecting to fly out to Ohio to visit with my family folks out there in late April or early May… then, be back here for the duration sometime mid-to-late summer.  My son got me a “retirement gift” that I would’ve never dreamed of… I was a very, VERY happy camper when I saw the car below sitting in our garage:

For some reason, the color features won’t work on this keyboard I’m using with my Android, or the numbers, for that matter.  So, my updates will be infrequent until I get back to my laptop.  Bear with me, please!  It’s Sunday, the twenty-third of March… they pickup my< furniture and clothes on Tuesday; turn in the car on Wednesday, then fly out on Friday. Wish me luck as I make a rather large transition in my life!/p>

3/22/2014, 14:10 – As you can see below, a few pix were snapped at the little going-away party they held for me on the 20th…. shared so you can see what it was all about (thanks, Chuck)!!!

3/20/2014, 16:18 – Nothing brings a departure “home” more than the going-away party (after close to 50 years of service for the Government). 

I’ll be flying out of Honolulu airport (to Olympia, Washington, my home-base) on the 28th of March, and they had my little luncheon today. 

It was very nice to see all the smiling faces, and to get the thoughtful (albeit humorous) gifts – to include the bag of suspenders (inside joke, ask me in an email sometime… lol). 

I’m looking forward to the next phase of my life adventure – it will surely be something “different”, as it always has been… no idea what that means, but then, that’s what LIVING is all about, right?  Wish me luck, please! 

For any of you who would like to stay in contact with me – here’s how/where to do it:

Dick Metcalf, aka Rotcod Zzaj
4714 39th Avenue SE, Lacey, WA 98513
rotcod@rotcodzzaj.com
http://rotcodzzaj.com/wordpress

3/8/2014, 08:07 – Managed to get quite a few reviews done over the last week.  I have family inbound to Oahu starting tomorrow & some commitments I must keep, so my activity (starting tomorrow afternoon) will be very limited, through about the 18th.  I’ll still continue to check my email accounts and may manage to squeeze a review or two in, but for all intents & purposes, I will be occupied doing other things & just won’t have time to stay fully engaged with the magazine.  Much of this is in preparation for my departure from the island on the 28th of March…. I will be flying back to Olympia, but am unsure where my road will lead me after arriving back there.  Keep checking the magazine for updates, though, because (as always) – “I’ll be BACK”!!!

3/6/2014, 12:38 – The project referred to below had a meeting scheduled for me to train some folks at the HQ on how to use the toolset…. so, I come in (voluntarily) from my terminal leave – & the whole meeting is BLOWN OFF – because some idiots never followed through to ensure that the Defense Connect link they were trying to use for the meeting had been fully tested & verified.  That is EXACTLY why I put in my retirement papers… I am SO tired of working with cave-people who can’t seem (even with a jump-start from folks like myself) to get themselves in touch with how the technology works.  A whole Army full of educated fools who all want to be “in charge” of something, but don’t seem to understand that if you’re “in charge” of a simple meeting – you must TEST and VERIFY before you declare it as “set & ready”; being in charge also should mean that you understand the processes being discussed better than ANY of your subordinates… not that you can “talk tougher”, or “dazzle ’em with BS”… that you’ve actually studied what’s being discussed, thought it through, formed your own opinions & are ready to offer your guidance to those who work for you.  I am just SO glad to be away from these Klowns… if they worked for an outside company – they would have all been FIRED months ago! 

3/4/2014, 15:40 – Finished my final project for the US Army this morning (about 05:00 this morning)… tomorrow I have nothing – I mean NOTHING – on my plate – & what a gr8 feeling THAT is!  I got my appointments for picking my possessions up and turning in my car for shipment back to Olympia done on Friday last week.  Got a couple of reviews done yesterday and am doing what one’s supposed to do in retirement… enJOYing my days!  Wish me luck in the coming months!