spreadsheets and me or numbers drift around my head like mites

I haven’t written since Monday morning. It’s been a busy week again.

Things are winding down and for that, I am grateful. I have my last training session at River Rock this afternoon and I swear, there are sparks coming off my head from all the new things I have learned.

Yesterday afternoon, I had to do a tutorial on Excel because one of my responsibilities is some tracking of costs and such. If you know me at all, you know that numbers do not lie on the page for me like words and letters do. They drift up off the paper and float around in the air like dust mites.

So, part of what cracked me up about this tutorial is that the spreadsheet example was of someone’s household budget. They added up the cost of every dollar they spent. Ha! Really?

I made it about ¾ of the way through the first one before I had to have a glass of wine. I managed to finish it and it even kind of made sense but when I got in the middle of the second one and they were talking about real or absolute something or other, I had to quit. What the hell. I might be too math dyslexic to do this job. Good thing I have an Excel tutor.

If you are a regular reader, you know that we had a wonderful time at the Bluesfest a couple weeks ago and ended the night at Willy’s dancing to a great blues band out of Milwaukee. Regis, bless his heart, has hired them to play at a party to celebrate my 60th birthday in 2012. I cannot even believe it. It will be a lollapalooza, let me tell you. We have had so much fun talking about it and making plans that the real event will be cataclysmic. No duds allowed so put on your dancing pants, friends!

Yesterday morning, I spent an hour or so packing up my office. I don’t want to leave a lot of BS for Joanne to deal with after I am gone so I did my best to empty drawers and files and shelves. There are a few education-related books on the shelves that I don’t want anymore since I am moving into the coffee and bistro business, but otherwise it looks good.

Joanne came in and asked if it made me sad and it does not. I can’t say there have not been sad moments in the last six months but now, I am not sad. I am excited to move ahead into the next thing. I am not leaving the people I enjoy and like to spend time with…I will still see them.

It’s been a process of leaving the work behind. My supervisor is fond of saying that you can’t work and retire at the same time but I don’t think you can work the same on your last day as you have worked before. It just isn’t possible.

Since I decided to retire and started making plans for the transition, others have started picking up my tasks. I have delivered computer files and lists to the people who will be taking over pieces of my job. I’m fine that now.

So, there you go. I have used the analogy of falling off the perch and that’s how I felt for a long time. Now I feel like instead of falling off the perch like a dead parakeet, someone opened the cage door and I’m ready to fly out to freedom! Ha!

We will have a busy weekend even though we have no real plans. We might get together with friends tomorrow night and we need to pick up some meat at Prairie Pride Farm. Peter is coming for hot wings Sunday night and if it stops raining, we’ll do some yard work. No matter what, though, we’ll find time to have some fun.

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