Funemployment

Early retirement has taken a new twist. I’m retiring very early now, but only for a very limited time. Through unfortunate twists of fate I am without work now and joining the funemployed masses. Alright, there probably aren’t masses of funemployed, many people probably aren’t excited by the prospect. But it was pretty popular a year ago . There are even websites with cheap things to do and blogs that have helped popularize funemployment.

I crunched the numbers (as I frequently do) and it looks like I can avoid meaningful work until at least the end of the year. If we could get congress to extend unemployment benefits this time off could be much more enjoyable. Don’t get me wrong if I got offered a comparable paying position tomorrow I would take it, but why stress? I figure I have a number of things I need to catch up on and take care of in my life, why not take advantage of the time off and maybe even enjoy the short break. This little break is definitely going to put a dent in the savings and that is the only reason I would be anxious to take a job again so quickly.

So, what am I going to do with my free time? I’m of course going to look for a job, but now I have the slight benefit of time so I’m going to hold out for something that will be more interesting and hopefully pay well. I’m going to improve my diet, I detested the ridiculous frequency with which I ate fast food and now the old excuses aren’t valid so that should be easy to fix. I get to do more hiking; travel and life were hindering my 60 hikes in 60 weeks plan so now I get to play catch up and might actually get to achieve my goal and maybe even early. I also would like to squeeze in a little camping and travel but I need to get a little better handle on my expenses before I get too crazy with the cash reserves.

I should have much more time for updating the blog now, so look for frequent updates on my new adventures.

Life goes on.

Life has been very busy lately and I have been very bad about updating the blog. Christmas with the family was good and it was fun to drive around in the snow. I managed to pay off my car, unfortunately I had to total it out to do so. So buying a new car didn’t help me much towards the goal. I’ve had some fun adventures lately, off to Italy and Turkey and the summer travel is starting to ramp up. I should be another jet setting year.
So how am I doing pushing towards the goal? That is tricky; I have had some issues lately that have been a big money and time sink so it is getting hard to focus strongly on that goal right now. The housing market has been very slow to recover in my area, so I won’t be flipping the house anytime soon. I won’t be building up the mountain home without unloading the current abode. So, on the road to retirement I’m kind of stuck in a rut…
The funny thing is I have been really busy with work and exercise and adventuring around the outdoors, so I’m not too bummed about my goal sliding. While there are ups and downs at work, traveling is the best part of the job and I’ll get to see some interesting places this summer. I have a couple of more months before the drama in my life concludes and I should be finished with the three sites I’m working on so my current goal is just enjoy myself, catch up on my Cisco certifications, brush up on my Spanish, save a little bit when I can and work on a great plan for 2011.
What is the great plan for 2011? I don’t know, that is a long ways away… There are new options for get rich quick schemes overseas, the mountain land should be paid off so construction may begin on something and who knows perhaps with Italy as an inspiration Albuquerque may be introduced to a new gelato business.