I guess this is as good a place as any.

[mexfishguide]

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL.
And
A HAPPY NEW YEAR.
GOOD HEALTH & WEALTH TO YOU.

I will be home for the holiday’s this year, barring any problems. I like a lot of you have spent many holidays away from home in some 3rd world place. Falling for some corporate ‘ bull shit’ about we really need you on site to hold the project together for us, we agree and the state side staff, take’s a long holiday.
.I started a couple years ago going home, if the company liked it are not, guess what? No one ever said a dam thing to me about it. This year it will be different! I have a made a very difficult decision , but for the good of myself and my family, shortly after the first, I will take myself out of the workforce, including my guide services!!! When and if a man lives to 70, and has been in the public workforce for 57 of the 70 years, with a lot of the time spent overseas. I think he should have a little time to set on the porch with the dog. I will miss the companionship of the folk’s after a long hard day, of work, setting back with a cold one and talking about the next and the last job. Oh not to forget the run down 3rd world ‘shit hole’ tavern’s where no one speaks English and never heard of Budweiser, but all the girls are pretty & friendly. However I have enough memory’s, to last awhile, all of you will reach this point if you live long enough. If it is all right with HR, I will hang around on site for awhile, maybe through Jan. 09. Take care, keep your head down, and to hell with the cheep ass, bottom dwelling, minimum wage firms.

Take Care
Mexfishguide
:cheers

[Megga Watt]

Merry Christmas to you and yours Bud
I have found retirement a real pain so I went back to work before it killed me.
But now if I was a fishing guide part of the year that is something to look forward too.
I have found taking large periods of time off at a time helped when I finally decided to take one full year off and didn't go crazy. So where retirement is a good thing and I wish the best for you a little at a time works better. And a whole lot of fishing helps too.
Good luck to you Bubba, you will be missed on the international Posts.:cheers

[Gabriele]

I hear you, how I wish I could stay home with a decent job, I could bring the family with me, but then they are away from the family too. Enjoy the holidays with family and friends :cheers

[The Wild Rover]

I finished reading that and I kind of got emotional. I've been to too many retirement parties lately. All of my Journeymen Wiremen that trained me are all fading fast, and I kind of miss them. The old timers taught me well, and I have no way to repay them, except to say thanks when someone admires my pipe-bank...how soon we forget that we got this far because someone took the time to teach us the right way the first time. I remember when you took care of the old timers...and they didn't mind being called the old timer, because they earned it. I am really kind of sad, and I don't even know you man, except to say that you're my brother in many ways. Union and otherwise.
I hope retirement works for you. You gotta keep busy, or you'll loose your edge...
Try gardening, and not only vegetables, grow and prune trees. Grow some grapes and make your own wine. It sounds kinda funny, but it keeps you busy just enough so you are not in the wifes' way at home, if you know what I mean.
Keep on keeping on, old timer.:cheers

[Pops]

Take it easy. If you ever get down I-40 this way, give me a holler and we'll have a Bud. Also, I don't see why you can't lurk around here longer than that. You should be "grandfathered in".

If it wasn't for old timers the young timers pretty much wouldn't know what they don't know.:cheers

WR is right, I read this and couldn't even answer it for a few hours.

[TheJester]

We say Merry Chistmas where I'm from :cheers

Not working overseas any more doesn't bother me. Not seeing, hanging out with, or talking with my "overseas family" as much as I'd like does. Sure, the "...I bet you won't do this" or "...you aint gonna believe what we did last night" coffee break stories are pretty good times. Hell, just hanging out with friends at home isn't even CLOSE to hanging out with friends overseas. It doesn't matter what kind of drunken, police got involved, fucked up story they come up with over the bar, you always find your self saying "...well, yeah, that was funny/scary, but there was this one time when I was in a SHIT HOLE GETTING SHOT AT..."

I've personally got some stories that are so fucking funny or unbelievable that I can't even talk to people other than the ones that were there about them because it won't be believed. When you give up working overseas, you give up a family that you have known since you started. Even the ones you didn't like. It's all family and THAT is what makes retiring so hard and even pulls people back in.

Traveling sucks, the flights suck, the place you are going with suck at some point, and you'll spend your days thinking more and more about how you wish you were at home sitting on that porch, but there will always be the draw to go. It's figuring out how to get your head back to where you don't want to go that is hard.

That's why the Rat Pack Parties are fun. You don't have to deal with all the work bullshit, you just get to talk about/bitch about different fucked up places, people, and things you have ran into while slugging back some brews.

[HeadRat]

Holy Crap Jester, that was almost sentimental

[sme]

Come back SHANE,sitting at the house petting the dog talking to yourself
mostly is great but do'nt keep all that savy to your self post up for some of the newbies getting in.I myself will miss your input seems to me SIR when you
have somethig to say most all stop and read.