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Be careful what you wish for
Yesterday at the gym, the personal training area was a bit busy so I suggested to D. that we work on the circuit machines as a change. Good Grief, it didn't take long before my leg muscles were objecting strenuously! Ow! Never mind, it's good for me. right? I'm not as sore today as i thought i would be, though.
Really loving these four day weeks. Have been using up vacation days on Fridays. I work Monday and Tuesday morning and then am off until Jan. 6 though on call on the 27th. That's really just checking emails to make sure nothing's blown up. *makes note* make sure the Service Desk has my phone number, too. We get an hour's stand by pay for it. Obviously, if i had to actually work i would get overtime but Dec. 27 and the days before New Year's are pretty quiet in here. Skeleton staff.
Did I mention that i'm now in a position to take my work pension and run if i wanted to? I reached the "rule of 80" at the beginning of December. I have 25 years in which only means a pension of 50% of my gross salary, however, so that's really not enough. If i have to get a job to make ends meet, there isn't much point in retiring. It's nice to know I have that option, though. I'll probably go another 5 years when i will have 30 years and a 60% pension. Most people go that far and what they end up with is about what you get after all the extra deductions you have to pay while working. Plus that's 5 more years for my salary to increase with the contract yearly raises. If you take the average of about 2% a year raise which is what we've been getting lately, that's another 10% or a tad more than what I'm making now (due to compounding the raise). I also have a bit of money in my RRSP to top me up as well. Canada Pension can kick in at age 60 if i want and my old age pension at 65 or 66. I think they've changed the age and i can apply for that about 6 months after i turn 65. Every year here that I work is another 2% pension. At the recent service awards, there was a guy that has been working 45 years. It's probably the only job he's ever had. Most of the people I've seen that stay 40 or more years are the men that work on the outside crews, the road crews, the guys that drive the snow removal and the landscaping crews, the traffic and right of way, all that sort of thing.
I've only seen one person who works as office staff stay that long. She works in the Finance department. Not sure how long she's been with the city but she's in her 70s. I can't imagine working full time in my 70s and i'm sure it's because she wants to not because she has to. When you have built up a good pension at work and can also get Canada Pension and your old age pension, you will be as well off as you are when working. Ok, Working full time and drawing those other two pensions will make you even more comfortable but really, it must be getting harder and harder getting up and ready for work and slogging through that commute, especially on blustery winter days like these past few.
2013 book catchup:
76 - My Mother was Nuts - Penny Marshal
Penny Marshall's autobiography is very much told in her voice. You can almost hear her speak in that nasal Queen's accent. I enjoyed reading about her life and show business career. It's not a particularly insightful story, doesn't really express a lot of emotion about the past. She probably feels, what's the point as it's in the past. Her life wasn't particularly exciting or dramatic though she has recovered from a recent medical crisis. It's interesting enough to read if you're a fan, good behind the scenes tales as well.
77 - The Ice Princess - Camilla Lackberg
A new author for me, one of the Scandinavian crime novelists. This one introduces her detective, Patrik Hedstrom and a writer, Erica Falck who discovers the frozen body of her former best friend in the bathtub. It looks like suicide but of course it isn't. Erica is also dealing with the death of her parents and her sister whose husband is pushing to have the family house sold and gets involved in the investigation into her friend's death while trying to write a book about her. The characters are pretty good, the plot is a bit sloppy at times, where the reader doesn't get to be in on some of the clues that the characters get to see and there's more romance and family drama mixed in as well. Perhaps suffers from trying to be two things at the same time.
78 - The Painted Girls - Cathy Marie Buchanan
Tells the story of three sisters, though mainly about 2 of them, who are involved in the ballet at the Paris Opera in the Belle Epoque era, late 19th century. Their mother is an addict and their father is recently deceased. Marie is hired on at the ballet to help with the wages as is the younger sister, Charlotte. The oldest, a less talented dancer, Antoinette, does some stage work and gets involved in a relationship with a man who is less than upstanding. This relationship brings her further down in the world and could destroy her. Marie meets Edgar Degas and is painted and sculpted by him. It's a story about survival and desperation at times. It was inspired by the model for a real Degas sculpture and drew from some of the headlines of the day surrounding some of the more famous crime stories. I liked this one, I wanted to find out what happened to the girls and if it has a happy or hopeful ending. It does.
79 - Inside - Alex Ohlin
A therapist, Grace, finds a man in the snowy woods, a man who has tried to commit suicide. She saves him and gets involved in his life. Meanwhile, she has a teenage patient, Annie, who runs away and becomes an actress. We also hear about Grace's ex, also a therapist, Mitch, who is deeply affected by events that happen while he's working in Canada's north and while in Rwanda. The stories off all three are told in various timelines, back and forth, crossing paths at times, so it's a bit off putting on one level. Annie's story really is separate from the rest and doesn't really return to the lives of the others so it's a bit odd that it's there after the initial involvement. Overall, though, it's not bad.
80 - 11/22/63 - Stephen King
I haven't read a King book in some years but my sister read this and loved it so much she read it twice. That had to be a good thing! She was right, this is one of his best, I think. It's not his typical horror story, it's a time travel story. Would you prevent the shooting of John F. Kennedy if you had the opportunity? Could you? Can major events in history even be changed? An English teacher discovers a time portal back to 1958 through a friend of his who has tried to go back to prevent the murder but couldn't go through with it because he became ill with cancer. He urges Jake to do the task for him, citing compelling reasons why the survival of Kennedy would benefit the world. There is the chance to right another wrong as well. Jake finds out that the alcoholic father of one of his adult students killed his whole family in 1958 leaving just the one child damage but alive. Jake wants to change that little bit of history as well so he is persuaded. Things don't always work out the way you think they will though and the outcomes of the things you change may not be for the better. He goes back a couple of times to try to fix the family murder outcome and then goes back to the main event.
We follow him as he travels from Maine to Texas, living in a small town near Dallas/Fort Worth, teaching and falling in love while at the same time keeping an eye on the progress of Lee Harvey Oswald as he and his wife live in the city. Time doesn't want to be changed, however, and the more you try, the more Fate puts blocks in your way to prevent changing history. Will Jake succeed? If he does, how does that affect the future? The story and the characters are real page turners. Excellent book!
81 - Dead Man's Footsteps - Peter James
I read a later book in this series about a Brighton detective, Roy Grace. In this story, Grace is trying to track down the murderer of a woman whose skeleton is found in a sewer drain. Meanwhile, a woman is being stalked and hunted by a former boyfriend who accuses her of stealing rare stamps from him. There is also a sub plot of a failed businessman who pretends that he's been killed in the 9/11 crash and all three branches intersect. Lots of twists and there's one or two at the end as well.
82 - The Firebird - Susannah Kearsley
I read one a short while about by her, Sophia's Secret. In that, in the historic plot, Sophia has a daughter, Anna, that she gives to a friend to raise to keep her safe. In this book in the "past" storyline, her daughter's life is traced through various locations, ending up in St. Petersburg. The "present" storyline concerns a woman who has the psychic ability to see the history of objects she touches. She works for an art dealer and gets involved in tracing the ownership rights of a small carving of a firebird passed down to a woman that may be the descendant of Anna. She gets help from a man who is a psychic as well, more trained than she is and a former boyfriend. She and he both trace Anna's story as they see it in their visions while falling in love in the present time. Good story, good characters, the dual timelines that this writer uses every time, though in a different manner each time, is beginning to feel a bit gimmicky and the "past" storylines are far better than the present ones which are just lip service and a bit of a love story.
83 - The Devil's Star - Jo Nesbo
Another good Harry Hole (detective) novel, I really should have read all these in the proper order. This one's murderer is teasing the police with pentagram shaped diamonds and having the murders located in spots around the city of Oslo that also match a pentagram on the map. Harry is pretty much hit bottom at the start of the book, having lost his love Rakel in the previous one. She couldn't deal with his drinking and his obsession with his work and trying to prove a coworker is actually a corrupt murderer so he spent the next month drunk before slowly being pulled into this new investigation in what may appear to be his last case before being fired. Since there are a number of books after this, we already know that somehow he's going to pull it off. In spite of his failings, he really is the best at what he does, catching murderers.
Really loving these four day weeks. Have been using up vacation days on Fridays. I work Monday and Tuesday morning and then am off until Jan. 6 though on call on the 27th. That's really just checking emails to make sure nothing's blown up. *makes note* make sure the Service Desk has my phone number, too. We get an hour's stand by pay for it. Obviously, if i had to actually work i would get overtime but Dec. 27 and the days before New Year's are pretty quiet in here. Skeleton staff.
Did I mention that i'm now in a position to take my work pension and run if i wanted to? I reached the "rule of 80" at the beginning of December. I have 25 years in which only means a pension of 50% of my gross salary, however, so that's really not enough. If i have to get a job to make ends meet, there isn't much point in retiring. It's nice to know I have that option, though. I'll probably go another 5 years when i will have 30 years and a 60% pension. Most people go that far and what they end up with is about what you get after all the extra deductions you have to pay while working. Plus that's 5 more years for my salary to increase with the contract yearly raises. If you take the average of about 2% a year raise which is what we've been getting lately, that's another 10% or a tad more than what I'm making now (due to compounding the raise). I also have a bit of money in my RRSP to top me up as well. Canada Pension can kick in at age 60 if i want and my old age pension at 65 or 66. I think they've changed the age and i can apply for that about 6 months after i turn 65. Every year here that I work is another 2% pension. At the recent service awards, there was a guy that has been working 45 years. It's probably the only job he's ever had. Most of the people I've seen that stay 40 or more years are the men that work on the outside crews, the road crews, the guys that drive the snow removal and the landscaping crews, the traffic and right of way, all that sort of thing.
I've only seen one person who works as office staff stay that long. She works in the Finance department. Not sure how long she's been with the city but she's in her 70s. I can't imagine working full time in my 70s and i'm sure it's because she wants to not because she has to. When you have built up a good pension at work and can also get Canada Pension and your old age pension, you will be as well off as you are when working. Ok, Working full time and drawing those other two pensions will make you even more comfortable but really, it must be getting harder and harder getting up and ready for work and slogging through that commute, especially on blustery winter days like these past few.
2013 book catchup:
76 - My Mother was Nuts - Penny Marshal
Penny Marshall's autobiography is very much told in her voice. You can almost hear her speak in that nasal Queen's accent. I enjoyed reading about her life and show business career. It's not a particularly insightful story, doesn't really express a lot of emotion about the past. She probably feels, what's the point as it's in the past. Her life wasn't particularly exciting or dramatic though she has recovered from a recent medical crisis. It's interesting enough to read if you're a fan, good behind the scenes tales as well.
77 - The Ice Princess - Camilla Lackberg
A new author for me, one of the Scandinavian crime novelists. This one introduces her detective, Patrik Hedstrom and a writer, Erica Falck who discovers the frozen body of her former best friend in the bathtub. It looks like suicide but of course it isn't. Erica is also dealing with the death of her parents and her sister whose husband is pushing to have the family house sold and gets involved in the investigation into her friend's death while trying to write a book about her. The characters are pretty good, the plot is a bit sloppy at times, where the reader doesn't get to be in on some of the clues that the characters get to see and there's more romance and family drama mixed in as well. Perhaps suffers from trying to be two things at the same time.
78 - The Painted Girls - Cathy Marie Buchanan
Tells the story of three sisters, though mainly about 2 of them, who are involved in the ballet at the Paris Opera in the Belle Epoque era, late 19th century. Their mother is an addict and their father is recently deceased. Marie is hired on at the ballet to help with the wages as is the younger sister, Charlotte. The oldest, a less talented dancer, Antoinette, does some stage work and gets involved in a relationship with a man who is less than upstanding. This relationship brings her further down in the world and could destroy her. Marie meets Edgar Degas and is painted and sculpted by him. It's a story about survival and desperation at times. It was inspired by the model for a real Degas sculpture and drew from some of the headlines of the day surrounding some of the more famous crime stories. I liked this one, I wanted to find out what happened to the girls and if it has a happy or hopeful ending. It does.
79 - Inside - Alex Ohlin
A therapist, Grace, finds a man in the snowy woods, a man who has tried to commit suicide. She saves him and gets involved in his life. Meanwhile, she has a teenage patient, Annie, who runs away and becomes an actress. We also hear about Grace's ex, also a therapist, Mitch, who is deeply affected by events that happen while he's working in Canada's north and while in Rwanda. The stories off all three are told in various timelines, back and forth, crossing paths at times, so it's a bit off putting on one level. Annie's story really is separate from the rest and doesn't really return to the lives of the others so it's a bit odd that it's there after the initial involvement. Overall, though, it's not bad.
80 - 11/22/63 - Stephen King
I haven't read a King book in some years but my sister read this and loved it so much she read it twice. That had to be a good thing! She was right, this is one of his best, I think. It's not his typical horror story, it's a time travel story. Would you prevent the shooting of John F. Kennedy if you had the opportunity? Could you? Can major events in history even be changed? An English teacher discovers a time portal back to 1958 through a friend of his who has tried to go back to prevent the murder but couldn't go through with it because he became ill with cancer. He urges Jake to do the task for him, citing compelling reasons why the survival of Kennedy would benefit the world. There is the chance to right another wrong as well. Jake finds out that the alcoholic father of one of his adult students killed his whole family in 1958 leaving just the one child damage but alive. Jake wants to change that little bit of history as well so he is persuaded. Things don't always work out the way you think they will though and the outcomes of the things you change may not be for the better. He goes back a couple of times to try to fix the family murder outcome and then goes back to the main event.
We follow him as he travels from Maine to Texas, living in a small town near Dallas/Fort Worth, teaching and falling in love while at the same time keeping an eye on the progress of Lee Harvey Oswald as he and his wife live in the city. Time doesn't want to be changed, however, and the more you try, the more Fate puts blocks in your way to prevent changing history. Will Jake succeed? If he does, how does that affect the future? The story and the characters are real page turners. Excellent book!
81 - Dead Man's Footsteps - Peter James
I read a later book in this series about a Brighton detective, Roy Grace. In this story, Grace is trying to track down the murderer of a woman whose skeleton is found in a sewer drain. Meanwhile, a woman is being stalked and hunted by a former boyfriend who accuses her of stealing rare stamps from him. There is also a sub plot of a failed businessman who pretends that he's been killed in the 9/11 crash and all three branches intersect. Lots of twists and there's one or two at the end as well.
82 - The Firebird - Susannah Kearsley
I read one a short while about by her, Sophia's Secret. In that, in the historic plot, Sophia has a daughter, Anna, that she gives to a friend to raise to keep her safe. In this book in the "past" storyline, her daughter's life is traced through various locations, ending up in St. Petersburg. The "present" storyline concerns a woman who has the psychic ability to see the history of objects she touches. She works for an art dealer and gets involved in tracing the ownership rights of a small carving of a firebird passed down to a woman that may be the descendant of Anna. She gets help from a man who is a psychic as well, more trained than she is and a former boyfriend. She and he both trace Anna's story as they see it in their visions while falling in love in the present time. Good story, good characters, the dual timelines that this writer uses every time, though in a different manner each time, is beginning to feel a bit gimmicky and the "past" storylines are far better than the present ones which are just lip service and a bit of a love story.
83 - The Devil's Star - Jo Nesbo
Another good Harry Hole (detective) novel, I really should have read all these in the proper order. This one's murderer is teasing the police with pentagram shaped diamonds and having the murders located in spots around the city of Oslo that also match a pentagram on the map. Harry is pretty much hit bottom at the start of the book, having lost his love Rakel in the previous one. She couldn't deal with his drinking and his obsession with his work and trying to prove a coworker is actually a corrupt murderer so he spent the next month drunk before slowly being pulled into this new investigation in what may appear to be his last case before being fired. Since there are a number of books after this, we already know that somehow he's going to pull it off. In spite of his failings, he really is the best at what he does, catching murderers.