Today marks the day I have officially retired.  It's a bizarre feeling.  Usually when I quit working some job I'm either currently looking for another one or I have something already lined up.  Not this time.  And it just feels . . . wrong.  I'm sure plenty of people go through the same thing, so I suppose it's normal.  That shirt I'm wearing says "Finally Retired - Now Official!"  I bought it while in Germany in January.

I worked as a Senior Software Engineer at Intellitect here in Spokane, Washington.  Founded by Mark and Elisabeth Michaelis, it is a consulting firm that is filled with amazingly brilliant people.  I don't know how or why they let me in.  Seriously.  Those people think circles around me, so to speak.  But it has been the best place I've ever worked.  I've always admired the company and to be a part of it and have it be the place I retired from is an honor.  I truly finished at the top of my game (such as it is).  Why is it such a great place?  Well, I've been giving that some thought over the past week.  Certainly they are, as I said before, brilliant people capable of solving tricky problems and designing excellent software.  And they are tenacious about wanting to do the best possible for clients.  But the attribute I've told them that they possess is kindness.  It is just a fun and pleasant place to work.  People will often say there are no dumb questions.  But then when you ask something, you might get that roll of the eyes and heavy sigh that says "I was wrong - there are dumb questions and you're wasting my time with this one!"  I've asked some doozies, but I never received nothing but patience and a helpful attitude.  And some of these people are younger than my youngest daughter!  I believe that attitude, plus just wanting to have fun, is what makes it so hard for me to leave.  But it is time.

So what do I do now?  Spend more time with my wife and family for sure.  Probably some volunteer work in our community.  And of course some traveling.  But this site for the most part is about my motorcycle adventures so I'll focus a bit on that.  If you looked at a previous entry you'll see my project bike.  That is what is going to take up a lot of my time.  To have essentially unlimited availability during the week to tinker on this is just going to be a joy.  Last fall I did some test cleaning of a couple of parts to see what it'll take and I have a lot of work ahead of me.  But it will be a labor of love (such and overused expression) and I'm going to keeping a log and document my progress.  I'll update this site with entries as I get things done.  Stay tuned!