Tales & Trails of a Traveling Wiseguy

Spring Family Visit Travelog #12
Back home · Sun 5 Apr 2026. 10pm.

We're back home from our week of visiting Hawk's parents in Pennsylvania. No, it didn't take us until 10pm (the time shown above) to travel. We walked through our front door just before 6:30pm. And then we promptly turned around and went out to dinner.

After the affront of being handed a packet of Heinz salsa at an airport eatery Hawk declared, "I want good Mexican food tonight!" So we went to dinner at one of our local favorites, La Fiesta.



(This is actually a picture from months ago, but we ordered the same things... minus the margarita.)

After dinner Hawk was wrecked from sitting in the airline (and airport) seats for several hours. We came home, and she sacked out on the sofa while I puttered around sorting through the mail and unpacking my suitcase. I thought about going for a soak in the hot tub tonight— yes, the hot tub is fixed after months of being out of service!— but lazed out and stayed in.

Spring Family Visit Travelog #10
Getting ready to leave · Sun 5 Apr 2026. 9am.

Today we fly home from visiting my inlaws in Pennsylvania. And this trip has been almost nothing like I planned. Not that I had strong plans; I left things flexible knowing we'd need to play it by ear. But still I came in with a range of expectations... and it's been unlike any of those.

First, and simplest, we didn't go anywhere other than Hawk's parents' place. We'd thought maybe we'd spend a day seeing my mom and youngest sister, or a day visiting our nieces, but none of that worked out. The three nieces I reached out to about meeting up with never responded. Sadly that's what happens most of the time.

Spending the whole week with Hawk's parents wasn't bad. It's just more... limited... than what I hoped for.

So then there's what we planned— or expected— with Hawk's parents. Those plans were largely dashed. I mean, we spent the week with them. In a way that was the most important element of the plan... but it was also merely the baseline.

There were no fancy meals. Hawk's mother is too weak to cook. She can barely even walk to the kitchen, with the help of a walker. I didn't expect her to cook up a storm... but after 30 years of visits where she's practically lived in the kitchen seeing that all her guests are well cared for, it's a different experience being in her house with meals being completely DIY.

Like I said, though, we knew she wouldn't be cooking for us. At least not more than a minimum. We figured we'd take her out to dinner a few times instead. Except even that was a bridge too far. She didn't have energy to leave the house. She gladly stayed home by herself while the rest of us joined family friends for holiday dinner.

Beyond issues of enjoying meals together— again, always a defining aspect of visits to my inlaws— Hawk and I expected that we'd help her parents with preparing to move. Yes, we're already past the first step on the line of "You really need to move out of this house." They've accepted that they need to move out. So we figured we could help them 1) look at retirement homes in the area and 2) clean out the house, especially the basement, in preparation for moving sometime in the near future.

Alas they didn't have energy even to participate in such tasks. Cleaning out the basement requires their active participation, at least to act as deciders. "Keep this, toss that, hold the other thing for now." Triage. But even that was a bridge too far. We tried doing a few cleanup tasks without their supervision, like throwing out expired food from the fridge... but even that resulted in hard feelings! Well, at least Hawk's brother did get her dad to look at one retirement home option. But it seems they did only a cursory look and left with lots of major questions still unanswered. All these will remain tasks for another time.

Speaking of "another time", we're already planning out next trip! MIL's birthday is in late May. We'll sit down with her today and try to map out her treatment schedule to determine which dates would be best for the next visit.

I've been retired now for 4 weeks. Not 4 weeks officially but effectively. The difference is that I submitted notice of resignation with a proposed final work day of Friday, March 6. The company then dismissed me on on Monday, Feb. 23. So, effectively, I haven't been working for 4 weeks. Anyway, enough about official vs. effective; the thing I want to write about here is what I've done and how I've felt in the past 4 weeks.

"What have I done in 4 weeks?" is an easy question to answer. The answer is Not much. 😓 I've long planned that in retirement I'd travel a lot more. Well, in the past 4 weeks I've only taken one trip, and it was a short, weekend-sized trip. Though we took that trip during the week, avoiding the weekend-sized crowds, so there's that. We also did a short scenic drive followed by a hike in the mountains last Thursday. Again, it was the sort of trip we could have done on a Saturday or Sunday— except by doing it on Thursday we avoided weekend crowds.

The fact that my retired life is off to a slow start is disappointing, but I remind myself it's just that— a slow start. It reminds me of summer vacations as a kid.... Knowing there were only 10 weeks of freedom until the next school year started, feeling like I ought to maximize every one of those precious few days, and often just sleeping in and lazing around most of the day until the summer was half over. And you know what? While I felt guilty about that, it was also satisfying. Now, like then, decades ago, it's both satisfying and guilt-making. And I'm confident I'll shift into higher gear eventually.

Today was my official last day of work / start of retirement. Yeah, it seems like I've been retired for almost two weeks now. That's because after I submitted my notice of resignation exactly two weeks ago, my company walked me the following Monday.

I've been doing a whole lot of... nothing much... to soft-launch my retirement. Yes, I had/have great plans for what to do in retirement, but I'm caught in a slow period right now. Hawk has been working through medical issues that have made her unable to travel and do outdoors adventures. Recently I decided that since she's on the DL (disabled list) I might as well go on the DL, too. Thus my choice to see a dermatologist about removing a lump on the back of my head. No cardio exercise or even going to a pool for me for a few weeks.

One thing I've reflected on at this two-week anniversary is this meme I've shared a few times when discussing retirement:



I'm happy to report that I am no longer feeling like the sad person in this illustration. I'm not yet the happy person recording cell phone video of sunny long-range vistas— though I know that will come eventually. Once we get off the DL together.

What's changed? I figured before a combination of two things were making me feel down. One was unsorted feelings about quitting my job, for good. The other was misgivings about "What if the money in retirement doesn't last?"

Well, the latter's already getting a bit of a test with how markets have been slumping the past two weeks. And it's not bothering me. I built our financial plan to handle bumps like this. Nearly every day I revisit the numbers to remind myself it's working.

That leaves unsettled feelings about quitting as the culprit for my feelings of sadness and anxiety. Two weeks later isn't a hugely different vantage point to revisit this question, but in terms of how I'm feeling about it, it's close to night and day different already. I have no question about whether I was right to leave that job. I am so over it now. Zero regrets.

It's been warm here the past few days. On Friday the weather app said it reached 78° in Sunnyvale, though I measured 81° (27 C) when I was out just after 2pm. Today it's warm again with a reading of 79°.

I wish I could say I've done something special with the warm weather but... I haven't. Other than enjoy it. Today I even dressed in shorts and a short-sleeved shirt for the first time in over 4 months.

Along with being warm it has also been dry. We haven't seen rain in several days. And the 10 day forecast shows no rain in the near future... though the warm weather will subside as temperatures return closer to normal— normal being a still not-sucky 62° high at this time of year.

The possibility that this could be "it" for the rainy season this winter is a bit concerning. (Why is it concerning? It's concerning because the threat of DROUGHT looms over California and its 40 million residents nearly every year.) A recent report from the California Department of Water Resources says the Sierra snowpack is at just 66% of normal water equivalent for this time of the season. It's a mixed report, though, as some major reservoirs are over 100% right now. It seems like we'll be fine this year, drought-wise, even if there's no more rain/snow until next winter, but we'll have little buffer going into next year.

Flying for Fun & Profit #3
Back home. Sun, 28 Dec 2026, 9pm.

Well that was easy. The mileage run I thought would chew up part of the day and all evening got done in just a few hours— thanks to finding a quick turnaround flight back from Los Angeles. I could've been home over an hour ago but I decided, since it was before 7:30 when I landed in San Jose, that I'd like to enjoy dinner out with Hawk. Now it's 9pm and we're back home, unpacked (for very small values of unpacking; basically I just took my computer out of my shoulder bag!) and relaxing.

For dinner we went to California Pizza Kitchen a few miles away. That was my pick because I was planning to eat at the CPK in Terminal 1 at LAX. The CPK there is actually more attractive now than it was a few years ago thanks to renovations, but oh! the prices. I took a peek at their menu while I was dancing the hokey pokey. They want $26 for a pizza! I figured with that and two airport-priced beers I'd be out $60 just for a basic dinner for one. Instead Hawk and I enjoyed a dinner for two near home, including two beers and an appetizer in addition to two meals, and the total was only $80.

Oh, and I just checked— the miles are already posted to my account! I now have A-List Preferred status through 2026. 😎

Thanksgiving triplog #18
Camp Hill, PA · Sat, 29 Nov 2025. 9pm.

Today was Second Thanksgiving with my inlaws. It's kind of like being with Hobbits. ...I mean, in the sense of them having Second Breakfast, not in the sense of being around short people with hairy feet.

Second Thanksgiving happens because MIL and her longtime family friend, Lynne, both loving cooking. Each wants to cook a delicious Thanksgiving meal. So they agreed they'd take turns. One hosts Thanksgiving, the other hosts Second Thanksgiving a day or two later. 😅

Second Thanksgiving was at my inlaws' house. It was also a smaller party than Thursday. Beyond the 5 of us in the house (MIL, FIL, BIL, Hawk, and me) the only guests were Lynne and Dean.

What's on the menu for Second Thanksgiving? Well, since it's not really a traditional thing there's no expectation of it being about turkey. Which is okay with us, as I don't particularly enjoy turkey (though I'm okay with it) and Hawk really hates it. So MIL made a roast of beef that was deliciously tender. 😋

Right now it's a bit after 9pm, and I'm fading, hard. The company left a few minutes ago. It was none too soon for me as I was struggling to stay awake. Though now that I'm laying down for a bit I'm waking back up. I  might go back downstairs soon to hang with family as they unwind for the night.

I woke up this morning aching all over. Actually, I tossed and turned from sometime in the middle of the night, achy in various places. It wasn't surprising since I got my Covid-19 booster shot yesterday. And a flu shot, too. But the Covid booster has pretty much always left me feeling achy and tired the next day.

I finally dragged myself out to the hot tub for a soak this morning. I say finally because I've been telling myself, "A soak in the hot tub tonight would feel really nice" all week. But then I've felt tired and lazy and have just laid around the house instead of going out. Today I decided Just Do It after despite the body aches. Actually it was because of the body aches I went. I hoped the soak would help! Alas it did not. I was still achy after.

In a way, being tired and lethargic this morning helped me match Hawk's energy level. She's still healing from her surgery two weeks ago. She also recently adjusted her pain medication because the previous regimen she was on left her with a lot of residual pain and caused nausea. By increasing one med and decreasing another, she's now reduced the pain and gotten rid of the nausea— hooray! But she's traded one side effect for another, in that now she's more tired out. After she almost face-planted in her hash browns at Denny's the other night, last night she almost face-planted in her bowl of chicken tortilla soup at a favorite Mexican restaurant.

Update: Although painkillers didn't do anything for my body aches the aches kind of wore off on their own after lunch. Hawk and I then went shopping at Costco. It was a lot of walking for her, on crutches— about a mile! She's tired after that though not sleepy tired. She's spent the afternoon crafting downstairs while I've vegged with my computer.

This morning I wrote about the changing seasons. While changes such as wearing pants (instead of shorts), the rainy season starting, and the weather turning cool enough to need the heater at home are indicators that fall has arrived, fall here does not mean they happen every day. That's winter! And since it's just fall it turned out I didn't wear pants today. It was warm enough that I wore shorts and was comfortable.

Also, when I went out to the hot tub this morning it was already somewhat warm and... not gloomy.



The air temperature might have been only 66° F (19° C) but it felt warm with the sun shining. Yes, the sun was shining by not long after 11am. That's a change from most of this past week, when the sky remained gloomy into the afternoon. The overcast was part of why temperatures remained pants-appropriate. But today it warmed up to 73°. It almost felt like summer... especially after a cool summer this year in the region.

After a late-morning soak in the hot tub I went out for lunch, did some food shopping, and then came home and frittered— much as I expected I would today. But then around 5pm an Amazon delivery arrived. It included a pair of free-standing shelves we ordered to sub in for our pantry while our pantry is cleared out due to a plumbing leak.

Yes, that leak started 8 week ago now. We've left most of our pantry foods stacked up on our dining room table since then. But now we need to clear the table (and other surfaces in the dining room) because Hawk needs the space for nesting while she recovers from foot surgery that's scheduled at the end of this week.

Putting the shelves together was a fun bit of productivity. Now our dining table is mostly cleared off. That's the first step toward building a nesting spot in the dining room. It'll be similar to the last time Hawk build a nesting spot in the dining room... but this time slightly more organized with temporary furniture she can sit up on.

This was a stay-home weekend for me. It's not too surprising that after, like, seven trips in the past 8 weeks I needed a weekend just spent at home. And especially with last week— or the last 3/5 of it— being so busy preparing a customer workshop Wed-Thu, followed by delivering it on Friday, after getting a last-minute system failure fixed before 6am,  I was toast. I couldn't focus on anything else. I had no gas left in my tank to work on anything serious, such as preparing for session two of the workshop. It was all I could manage to finish my weekly reporting at the end of the day Friday.

This weekend wasn't all sitting around, vegging, though I'm not sure how much I'd have minded if it were. Instead, Hawk and I got busy fiddling around with one of our showers.

We'd left this shower unused for several years because small sections of grout and caulk were in poor shape. Well, two weeks ago Hawk buckled down (while I was out of town on one of my business trips) and patched the grout and redid the caulk. Great news, the shower's ready to use again, right? Except as we did start using it for a week we discovered that the shower head leaks.

The shower head is old...ish and was left unused for years, so probably a washer in it dried out. Yet it's new enough that it's designed in the "No user-serviceable parts inside" school of force-you-to-buy-another-one product design. So we couldn't just unscrew the face plate and replace the washer for $.30. No, we had to buy a whole damn new shower head. For the type we wanted, a roughly similar replacement, it was $55. Fifty-five dollars because we couldn't open the old one to replace a 30-cent washer.

Oh, but it gets better. And by "better" I mean worse. You know how everybody maligns low-flow toilets? Well apparently all shower heads are low-flow, too now. And our old one wasn't even that old. We installed it back in, I think 2008. Or maybe 2010. Anyway, it's not like it's from the 1960s or something. Or even the 1990s. But the new ones are all lower flow.

While replacing the shower head we discovered another problem. The shower valve leaks. The leak comes in the form of the shower head dripping water even when the valve is turned off. Probably another 30-cent washer problem, I grumbled to myself. But this one might cost hundreds to fix.

We took a crack at the shower valve on Sunday to see what we're working with. Unlike the shower head which can't be opened and fixed, the valve consists of several components that can be disassembled, cleaned or replaced, and put back together. We checked stores and found the "replaced" option would cost anywhere from $30 to $120 (plus the value of our time), so I tried the "cleaned" option first and put everything back together. No dice. It still drips.

So, we have new parts on order. It looks like next weekend will be another stay-around-home weekend. Stay around home and fix the shower, that is.