Hello on Monday Morning

Dear Friends,



I just returned from my 4:30 AM workout at Retro Fitness. The usual suspects were there at this rather early hour. I paid for another 6 months at Retro Fitness.



Yesterday was one of those lazy slug like days for Linda and I. After reading the Boston Globe, and our local newspaper, we got into our sweats, and hung around all day.

I started reading a book at 8:30 AM, and finished it by 8:30 PM. I did so watching NFL football games with the volume turned down low.



Linda’s crock pot soup was wonderful on such a chilly day in the Berkshires.

Even my friends who spend the winters in Florida had a chilly start to their day!



If you are a sports fan, I hope that your team did win, and make it to the playoffs. My Patriots not only lost their game, and but they lost a key receiver, Wes Welker, for the rest of the playoffs (ACL injury). They put in a young guy who I think will do okay. He actually looks like, and plays like Welker.

The Patriots were guaranteed a playoff spot because they clinched their division the week before. Yesterday, they found out who their opponent will be at Gillette Stadium next weekend. Let us hope that the home field advantage gives them an edge against the Baltimore Ravens.



The Christmas tree is coming down in the next couple of days. Our trash guys do dispose of Christmas Trees if we put them out with the trash, which is Wednesday for us.



We are going to try and see the Sherlock Holmes movie today during the mid afternoon. The movie goers will be retirees like us. We won’t have to fight for a seat like our friends did over the holiday period.

I did see where Avatar had 1 billion dollars in ticket sales. The movie cost ½ billion to make, so at least now they are turning a profit.



Danielle’s brother Brian and his wife Teresa had their first child on January 2, 2010. They had a beautiful and healthy baby girl whom they named, Adelle. Teresa had her baby on her exact due date. After her maternity leave, she will return to her profession as an elementary school teacher in Minnesota.



Observation – As I was finishing up my book, and watching Sunday night football yesterday, I was thinking how fortunate that Linda and I are to not have to go back to work after the Christmas Vacation period. On the day before returning to work, we would not be acting likes slugs because we would be thinking, and planning what we would be doing on Monday morning. I would be using yesterday to make up work sheets with the intent of seeing what my students remembered since we last met. If I remember correctly, the students would be what I called “brain dead” on this day. It took a lot of effort to keep them focused, to stimulate their brains, and get them back into the academic mode. At the end of this first day back from vacation, most of us teachers would be wiped out.

For us today, the hardest task is to read the local newspaper, decide what time that we are going to the movies, and figure out what type of food we will be preparing for supper.

Yes, I do know that most of my readers are still working. There will come a time in your life that you can call it a career, and chose what you would do in retirement. Some of you will chose to keep on working because you need to for your mental health.

Yes, we all could use a few more bucks even as retirees. They will always need greeters at Walmart which I have considered, but not for right now.



You will know when it is time to retire. It is like when you have found the person who you think that you can spend the rest of your life with.

I knew during those last few years of teaching that it was time for me to pass the torch on. 36 years of being in the teaching profession was long enough for me. It did take Linda a year longer to make the retirement decision.





Politics / News – Nothing jumped out at me on the CNN Web page. Congress will be back at work soon to deal with all kinds of issues; HealthCare, the latest terrorist threats, airport security, stopping the Somali Pirates, fighting wars, saving nations from their natural disasters, getting the economy back on track, etc.



Well, I have to get a second cup of coffee, and read the local newspaper. Is this considered exercise?

Have a great week at work or play!

Talk to you soon. The Curley Lad