[Steeveedee]

I fully expected to be found dead on my desk at work. My wife asked me to talk to the financial people her parents used. I brought in all my retirement stuff and left it with them. 3 months later we discussed the possibility of retiring. I went into that meeting with an expectation of knowing how many more years I would have to work, but found out that I could retire right then. I waited until my 25th anniversary and punched out. One of the managers asked if I would come back as a consultant. I told him $200 per hour and I work from home...meaning that I had NO interest in doing that job any more. Funny part is, the company makes more money, because the three people they had to put on the work I did alone all provide "wheat tax", which is profit for all the other people who support the engineers.

Stress-wise? I go to sleep when I want, get up when I want (within reason, we got a new dog a little over a year ago, and it's goofy and wakes up at weird hours). I'm still A-type personality enough that I drink coffee to keep from falling asleep after lunch, stuff like that. Life has a limit, and I'm going to make sure that I get what I want to do gets done, even if it takes coffee to make it happen.