I love being semi-retired. This is the greatest thing in the world. As one friend said to me, “You seem busier now than when you were working.” It’s true. All of the personal enrichment projects that I put off or worked on in the background within my limited free time constraints, because I had a day job taking up my precious time, are now being actively worked on. I am multitasking like crazy to address all of my interests.
Hiking
Claire, my lovely bride of 10 years, and I have been hiking mid-week. The day job constraints of having to do free-time activities on the weekend are gone. Throw in mid-week hotel rates and, yeah, it’s really nice.
As of this writing, we have both climbed 49 peaks of the “52 With a View” list. We are one multi-peak trip away from completing the list, though we are considering other, shorter options. Claire is also two peaks shy of the 48 4000-footers list. We are one long trip away from completing that list.
Our next goal will the Belknaps, short mountain in a range just south of Lake Winnepausakee in New Hampshire. As with the other two lists, there is a patch that can be requested upon completion of that goal.
My next goal will be the Terrifying 25, of which I’ve completed 13, and of which Claire has no interest. They also have a patch, which I find amusing. The number of trails on that list is actually higher because the list is composed of mandatory trail and optional ones. 13 is the official number; I’ve hiked more than the required number of optionals. I need to hike 12 of the mandatory to get my patch. That one will be a challenge; I’ve seen the trail listings and have read the trail descriptions. I’m also looking forward to the challenge with a mixture of eagerness and trepidation.
I also recently hiked with my Qualcomm ex-peeps. We had a nice hike up Mount Cardigan in New Hampshire with a future hike planned during fall foliage season. It was a great day to be out and be among … friends? family? After working with people over the coarse of years, if not decades, it’s tough to differentiate.
Brick Mill Games, LLC
Brick Mill Games was going to be my “retirement job” some time in the future. Well, the future is now. Over the past month or so, I have been able to devote the majority of my free time to BMG software work. We are making tremendous progress, though I am admittedly multitasking among other shorter-term tasks, like hiking. That said, the work is extremely satisfying. A lot of it is background services work at the moment, but the fun UI work is coming up very soon. I’ll go into more detail both here and on the BMG blog in the coming weeks.
Winter’s Victory
Winter’s Victory is in the publication home stretch. I can’t believe how much time I’ve spent on this game. That said, it’s been an astonishing amount of calendar time, but only a heckuva lot of real time. Working on WV was always a background process, but it’s been a very fruitful background process. Looking back, I’m proud of the work I’ve done with regard to rules ideas and implementations and proofing and play testing et al. Seeing how the sausage is made, with regard to wargame production, has been an eye opener for me and is one of the highlights of my involvement in the hobby. I’m very proud of my contributions and I’ve enjoyed all of the play testing. But, I’ll also be glad once it’s out the door.
Steel & Steam
This project is on the back burner again. I’m in a bit of a dilemma on how to proceed with it. I like the latest iteration of the game, but materials need to be printed and it needs quite a bit of play testing.
Genealogy
Genealogy is my guilty pleasure and it also runs in fits and starts with me. And, honestly, it takes more time than it should. Quite a bit of it is straightforward; a lot of the Québecois records are in good condition and easily accessible on-line. And then… you hit a roadblock and need to do some sleuthing. The major challenge occurs when tracing Franco-American families back across the border to Québec.
I am planning to do a Franco-American genealogy presentation at the local library at some point in the upcoming fall/winter seasons. I also have some day trips to do some classic, gumshoe genealogy at local cemeteries, libraries and other locations.
Other Pursuits & Personal Stuff
Of course, other real life stuff comes up from time to time as well. Family, mixology, the final death throes of a divorce agreement… it all takes time and energy.
The family stuff I keep off-line for privacy reasons. Not everyone wants to be online. I could wax eloquent about the joy and love that my family gives me, but I tend to gloss over social media posts from other people which contain those sorts of details and I expect others would do the same for mine. Suffice it to say that I live in an environment where there is a lot of love… old divorce agreements notwithstanding.
(Blog photo courtesy and copyright © Claire Guerin.)