Good afternoon - what a nice day it is but the rest of the week end is going to prove to be very hot indeed -

Anyway, what has happened to John Bolton? I heard that he is being filibustered. Can't be!

Another John is starting to take a lot of hits as well - Mr. Robert is being attacked by NOW, National Organization of Women, as being a clone of Bork - remember Bork? Good Man for the job - interpret the Constitution as it was intended - the liberals made fun of his beard and how he looked, They are great ones for character assignation - the liberals are saying the John Roberts is gay and that one of his sons is gay as well. Don't you just wonder what they will find wrong with his wife and parents.

But putting that all aside for now, let's discuss retirement for a moment. So many people ask me how retirement is going and I tell them just great. I also say it isn't exactly what I thought it was going to be but none the less, it is better than working at a job that was getting to stressful for me. I believe that the thought of retiring played against me in my last years with the company. A conflict between wanting to get out, and doing a responsible job that I was hired 18 years ago to do.

There are several things that are a causes for stress in retirement. The first one, and the major one, is that you have to be ready mentally. So many people have no idea what is going to happen when they stay home on the first Monday. They have this idea that they are going to travel and read and just take life easy. That might be the case for some people that have low horizons and are easily amused, but for the most part, it will not happen.

The first six months may be a lot of fun traveling around the world or staying at home reading and putzing in the garden. Then reality will start to set in. Now what? Let's look at it this way, for forty years or so, you have someone else direct you eight or more hours a day. You had specific task to accomplish and a time frame to get them done. Now you have no direction and no time frame. You are now self directed and motivated.

The second thing that is important is having some kind of hobby or skill to use that will carry you for the next twenty five years. If you were smart and thought about this, took some kind of action four or five years before your retired, you would be ready to start a new life with new skills and motivation. If you didn't, it will be a different ball game altogether. You have to have something to do and be productive at to keep sane.

The third thing, of course, will you have enough money. Did you save part of every check like everyone said you should. Or did you blow it on new houses and cars and travel. If you are a Democrat, you probably bought into the clap-trap propaganda that if you voted for them they would take care of you. Whoops! Big mistake. They lied, again. Social Security will not cover all of your expenses and you have to buy your own insurance. It was never intended for that purpose. Mrs Clinton's loopy national health plan fell through, as you know, so you are at the mercy of the market. So why did 48 percent of the voters vote for Kerry? He had no plan for the retires. He had no plan for anything.

Okay, here's the deal - five years before you decide to retire, start thinking about what you are going to do for the next thirty years. Have a plan. Take time away for the sitcoms and really concentrate. Take the wife out to dinner and discuss what fun thing you would like to occupy your time, especially one that will keep you out of the wife's way, if she is at home as well. If not, she will be glad she is still working.

Maybe you want to go back to school and learn a new skill or try your hand a some kind of manufacturing that you can do at home - it's ends less. What is your passion?

Now it is a given that you will not set the world on fire in the first years away from work. It takes time for the adjustment, sometimes as long as two years.

The bottom line here is save for retirement as early as you can and as much as you can for as long as you can. Be ready for a new life, a new way of living. It's great -