Did I ever tell you about the time I was clocked at 142 on the FL turnpike by FHP? Yeah his car would only do 137. Man he was pissed when I got off and he caught up to me.

Yowza! I'm impressed he hit 137!

What were you driving?

LOL, a highly modified '71 Riviera.

.... or a bone stock Scat Pack Charger on regular gas !

Working for people SUCKS! I left my last job designing control systems and programming industrial machines. I had been there 25 years. The more senior I became the harder the jobs were till the point they were impossible but had to be done yesterday. My last "project" I was told to travel to Mexico (DEADLY) and completely reprogram a machine that was designed mechanically wrong. It had to be done in 2 days INCLUDING TRAVEL. I said EFF THAT to the owners. The company hired a contract company that threw 3 guys at it and charged $20,000. 2 weeks later they asked if I could go do it now pretty please. It didn't get finished. Had to be shipped back to Michigan to be rebuilt correctly. LOST $200k I left a few weeks later. Had ENOUGH of that ship after no raise since the great recession, the greedy bastards (but could WASTE $220k?!?!). Ugh. I left the coffee mug on my desk. After 25 years. That felt weird. Working for someone when there were literally 3 of us. The company grew to 50 people but I never "accumulated" anything. Now that I have my own biz, which don't get me wrong is a lot of work but I'm telling you its LESS stress and aggravation than working for someone. But at least now I have 2 industrial building, machines, trailers, hilo, tooling, truck, etc. In 10 years I've accumulated 5X what I made working like an animal, traveling 1/3 of the year, working holidays "or else", working 60-70+ hours, working 2-3 days STRAIGHT many times (but getting paid SALARY) doing the impossible. The TWO guys that replaced me quit recently. Yep I'm smiling. It's getting harder and harder finding VERY technical, mechanically knowledgeable, computer savvy guys to do industrial controls. And the Detroit area is the industrial automation center of the country so the demand is great. When looking at help wanted adds for guys to do this work companies want them to know every industrial computer system, every language, IT, MSEE, 10 years experience, have been published in technical magazines, to make $100k. GOOD LUCK WITH THAT.

Good luck to you and happy for you!!!

But T&A .... now eVeRyOnE of your customers are your “boss” !

Hey man, this whole state is a desert. Burnt dirt, rocks and cacti. The only grass you'll see is not native to the region. If it weren't for family and my Wife, I'd move someplace cooler and greener.

There is a lot of high country in the east-central and northern portion of Arizona. Pine trees, mountains, cool weather, etc. Humphreys Peak near Flagstaff is over 12,000 feet above sea level.

Williams is nice
If you can work and live there

I signed a sales contract on my house this morning and emailed my resignation letter to my boss. Feels weird, unchartered waters ahead. I have 60 days to get out.

Enjoy your retirement, and your new place.

That's awesome man. I am still young, relatively, in my mid 40's, but I can leave here at 50 if I'm financially able. 55 seems more likely. I don't see 59.5 happening.

Good for you! Congrats!

^This is true,but it does give you the option to or not to work for certain clients.Plus you have the option to "fire" them if they are difficult or in the non-paying arena. I've worked for myself the last 21 years and I'm cleaning up the client list currently.some are great,appreciate what you do,others are there to cry and milk you....time to go

It can take a little time to get your head around your new reality - major life changes tend to work that way. A couple months after the dust settles, your perspective on this whole corona thing is gonna be completely different.

The jerk that fired me could have let it slide even though I admit I earned it. At the end of the morning shift meeting he announced he had given his 2 wk notice, I couldn't help but express my excitement. He gave me some lip so I blurted out the thing I'd been suppressing since the minute he showed up. I spent a few months of my new life fighting the urge to knock on his door and thank him sincerely for being a jerk and not taking it like a man. It was the nudge I needed to pull the trigger.

Some years back I was out in the sticks near the house coming back from a boneyard. Rollin up on the speed timing marks painted on the street something told me to back it down even though the locals are rarely sitting there. Maybe end of the month, dunno. As I was approaching the speed trap some pyscho bird dive bombed me and bounced off the windshield and scared the hell out of me. I made a quick check to make sure it wasn't bouncing around in the bed because rear slider open then hammered the loud pedal - completely forgetting about the speed trap.

I was probably a mile down the road and only slowing down because of a corn field corner when I saw the local yocal screaming up behind me like Krispy Kreme had just turned their light on. Dove in to a convenient pull off in front of a barn to get outta the way because hadn't put 2 and 2 together yet. If this guy had been any more pissed, he would have pulled his gun. I mean having a full on melt down.

I was driving my LRE and probably had the TQ wide open when I passed him.