January 29, 2009

• Why I've Been Posting Less Frequently Lately

  You may have noticed that I have not been posting as frequently as I used to.  That's because I've been going to work early in the morning, and taking a nap in the afternoons, but I should explain a little more. 

  After a couple of years of retirement, I decided I needed to get out of the apartment and do something to make myself feel useful, and to meet some people.  There is a limit, after all, to how many times one can clean the place.  Besides, there will always be more dust no matter how many times you pick it up.  So I began to ask myself what someone with almost 40 years of experience in the software business can do after they retire.  I didn't want to go back into my career field (too much like work), and I didn't want anything that would involve stress.  I also didn't want to be on my feet all day or be sitting down all day.  I needed a mix to keep my body moving.  Finally I decided that short of getting a real job, I really wasn't qualified any more to do anything but drive a vehicle.  That decided, the question became what kind of driving might I be interested in. 

  * I could drive a taxi cab, but that sounded too dangerous because I'd never know who was getting into my cab or where I would have to drive them to. 

  * I could also drive a city bus to amuse myself, but that would mean little interaction with the passengers.  It would also mean that I would have to be sitting down all day fighting with busy traffic on a lengthy route.

  * Then I thought that I could drive a shuttle bus at an airport.  Going from the terminal to parking A to parking lot B to parking lot C and back to the terminal sounded like it would be quite boring, and again I would have little or no chance to interact with the passengers.

  * Driving a truck didn't sound much like fun either, especially if I had to be actively engaged in loading and unloading it.  Besides, that would amount to a full time job, which I didn't want.

  * I briefly thought about being a courier for a bank.  That didn't sound too bad.  The job basically involves picking up paperwork or packages from one bank site and delivering them to another site.  That is a pretty stress free activity, with some chance to be on my feet and dealing with people here and there, but I would have to use my own car.  They would pay mileage expenses, of course, but there would still be a lot of wear and tear on my personal vehicle.

  * Finally, I could drive a shuttle van for a local hotel.  I would get to meet and talk with some interesting people from all walks of life and from many different parts of the world.  I would also have other duties around the hotel, so I wouldn't be required to drive all day long. Also, the hours that the hotel was offering fit in very well with what I wanted.  I would drive in the morning, Monday through Friday, and I get off work at noon.  That would let me shop when the stores aren't crowded and before things have been all picked over.  I would also have the weekends off.  As a bonus, I would get to see some spectacular sunrises; and I wouldn't have to deal with rush hour traffic getting to and from work.  Taken all together, that's almost as good as not having to work at all.

  On top of all that, my passengers would be well filtered, meaning that most have either been through several airport security screenings or are about to go through such a screening.  That pretty much eliminates the possibility of anyone carrying a weapon.  And since they are staying at a hotel, they all have some cash and some credit cards, making robbery or hijacking attempts even less likely.  That certainly makes the job safer than driving a cab.

  Guess which job I took.

  • 8:11 pm
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