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I've posted the birdwatching report from my New Zealand trip on my Alpennia blog (https://alpennia.com/blog/new-zealand-birding). The non-bird parts to come.

Today's rhythm was thrown off by the need to check in at 11:30 on my potential jury duty service. Which also meant that when I went online to set up an optometry appointment, I didn't think I could commit to the "earliest possible" slot next Tuesday, with the next options starting in late October. And then when I checked in and found I was excused from jury duty, that next Tuesday slot had been snapped up.

It became clear to me on the NZ trip that I really needed to update my vision prescriptions, though in part this was because I was doing a lot more close-distance reading than usual and it became clear that one of my eyes has drifted more than the other. Then coincidentally, yesterday I got a note from Kaiser saying that my current glasses prescription was about to expire (it's been two years) and I should make an appointment.

But anyway, since I didn't want to go off on the bike this morning because of the check-in, I wrote up my birding notes. And now I'm thinking that since my routine is already off, I could just go off script entirely for the rest of the day. (Yes, yes, I have a fixed routine in retirement. What can I say?) Maybe I'll do something wild and crazy like pick rose hips. I have three or four bushes that have a lot of hips--enough to do something interesting with, anyway--and it might be fun to try some comparisons.

With the acknowledgement that I have often gone for two weeks or more without posting here, I'll just note that I won't be posting (or reading) for the next two weeks because tomorrow evening I'm heading off to New Zealand for my official "celebrating retirement" with my BFF. I will probably try to do some sort of trip report when I get back, but it might be little more than "had a fabulous time."

With the preface that none of this is in any way time-critical or a problem, I'm amused at the slow progress of getting my solar installation inspected and approved.

While I was off at Worldcon, I got a call (actually, I always get simultaneous text/call/email for every communication) about scheduling the solar company's QA inspection. They wanted to schedule it for this past Monday (when I wasn't home yet) so I convinced them to reschedule. They said they'd get back to me with a new date. A couple days ago, I get notification of an inspection this coming Monday. I assume this is the company QA inspection and confirm by text.

The other pending inspection is the return of the city inspector to follow up with the to-do items. It turns out (which I hadn't been aware of before) that in addition to getting permits pulled retrospectively for my new water heater and the electrical panel re-build, they had neglected to include the solar storage battery in the scope-of-work for their side of the inspection items. (I discovered this when reviewing permits associated with my address.)

I'd been in contact with my electrician about the panel permit before Worldcon but we were both busy that week, so I pinged him and set about learning the online permit process. The interface is straightforward and very well documented with instructions and examples, so I got the water heater permit set up on my own. Once again pinged the electrician and explained that he didn't have to handle the inspection side, just the permit. He said he'd take care of that yesterday evening. (Spoiler: the permit wasn't in the system this morning, but it's not really a big deal, as further events will show.)

This morning, in the middle of my bike ride, I get another call from the solar company scheduler. She explains that since we don't have everything lined up for the city inspection, that they've cancelled the Monday appointment. Oh, I said, I thought that was the other one -- the solar company QA inspection. No, it was the city inspection. Ok, I said, I have the one permit pulled and my electrician will have the other in a day or so and I'll provide the information. But they can't schedule the city inspection until we have all the ducks in a row. She's just about to start lobbing dates at me when I point out that I'm about to be out of town for two weeks. Oh, she says, well then we'll make sure to work around that once we have the permit information. I heave a quiet sigh of relief because at this point I'd rather not be trying to cram all the inspection activities in before my trip. I repeat everything back to her "to make sure I understand correctly" and delete the Monday appointment from my calendar. I am left with the impression that I was confused about there being two pending inspections, because I asked about it several times.

This afternoon, I get a text/email/call to schedule the solar company QA inspection for Monday. Head:desk. By the way, the solar company scheduler is always the same person, though I suppose I can forgive her for not keeping track of all the accounts individually. (Though that's what notes in the file are for. She should have been aware of the pending QA inspection when we talked earlier today.)

So at this point the permit # for the water heater has been sent to my contact, I'll give the electrician some grace before poking him again because honestly as long as I get the permit # for the panel before I leave the country and can pass it along, it's all good. The QA inspection will presumably be taken care of on Monday. And then I'll get the city inspection ideally the week after I get back.

But one more thing...remember how I had a jury duty summons that I had to reschedule because of my trip? That is also now scheduled for the week after I get back. I provided that information to the scheduler: "Jury duty summons for Thursday." She noted, "OK, so we won't schedule it for Thursday." Um...that's not always how jury duty works? But at that point I figured it will work out somehow.

The Skin-Singer release process has gotten caught up with almost all the pending steps. The print copies arrived today (just in time to take to Worldcon). The kindle version is live and added to the Books2Read page. I've been able to add one non-Amazon link to the print links on Books2Read. (Need to research what other outlets might have it available to order.)

My advertising has been limited to social media at this point. I've made up some business-card sized promo cards to hand out, but they're b&w since I was printing them at home. (It would be unethical of me to regret lack of access to the color laser printers at Bayer. Right?) I'll draw up some flashier promo cards to use online and in hard copy when I have some breathing space. But my plan has always been to launch and then work on the publicity rather than treating it as an "all or nothing at the start" project.

The next big step will be recording the audio version (which I'll be narrating myself). Then there will be learning the process for audio distribution. But all that will probably wait until I get back from New Zealand, since I'll only have 10 days in between trips.

I have, however, already uploaded the next two podcasts. And if I work in some sound editing time (maybe on the train) then I'll be way ahead on the September episodes as well.

At the moment, I'm waiting for the dryer to finish so I can do the last packing items, and then I can re...well, ok, I won't relax until I'm actually on board the train tonight. But I have my ride all lined up. So there's that.

I've hit another key milestone: the first payments from my annuities are in my bank account. When I get the account statement at the end of the month, I should be able to figure out exactly what's being withheld for taxes. Evidently it isn't what I calculated from that they told me previously, because one account sent me more money than I thought they would and the other sent me less. (Overall it's about what I was expecting to some in. I just like to know exactly to the penny what my money's doing.)

At this point, other than watching my budget, the next stage in money neepery will be doing taxes, which will take a couple years to settle in. (Maybe more, given T's messing around with this-is-not-actually-a-social-security-tax-cut-and-will-expire.)

I'd calculated how much "take home" would feel comfortable for me, and currently I'm getting several hundred more than that per month. If you look at what my Bayer take-home was (after taxes and retirement and everything was taken out), I'm currently getting about 90% of that. Some of my expenses are higher (e.g., healthcare) and some lower (though for various reasons I'm averaging about the same amount of driving at the moment, which I was expecting to be a bigger savings). So...not bad. Not bad at all.

The Worldcon programming schedule is out and I'm on a number of interesting panels.

Wed Aug 13 - Horrible Histories: A Way to Make Learning about History Fun (Room 343-344)

A discussion about shows, podcasts, and other media that help make learning about history fun. After all, it isn’t just lists of numbers and names! How do you take that dry text and make it engaging enough to reach an audience that isn’t necessarily interested in history?

Thu Aug 14 - Medieval Characters—Women Authors (Room 420-422)

A look at the legacy and influence of Marjorie Kemp, Christine de Pisan, Marie de France, Hildegard of Bingen, the anchorite Julian of Norwich, and more. Their works continue to have relevance today.

Fri Aug 15 - Conlangs 101: How to Get Started Making Your Own Language (Room 322)

Building language goes beyond just putting funny sounds together or making a word that looks cool. Learn what’s needed to make a basic constructed language and how to find the resources and tools to get started in language creation.

Plus autographing on Fri Aug 15 at noon, a (limited attendance) table talk on Sun Aug 17 at 9am and...

Hugo Awards Ceremony - Sat Aug 16 (time TBA) where I will be trying not to chew too hard on my fingernails as I wait for the Best Related Work category to come up.

More details on my blog: https://alpennia.com/events/worldcon-seattle

As you may know, a year ago I invested in a fancy (expensive) recumbent tricycle to support my bicycling habit in the face of the awkwardness sometimes falling over at stops due to the mild nerve damage in my right leg. So yesterday I'd made an appointment to get it an annual tune-up (plus replacing a part that needed fixing) and since the specialty bike shop is in Sacramento, this meant dropping it off in the morning then finding something to do while they worked on it.

I had no idea how long this might take (since it would depend on whether they got walk-in customers) but I figured I'd start with a romance bookstore in downtown Sac that I'd found on a list of such things, and then see where things went from there.

I also took the opportunity to contact some friends in town that I usually only see at conventions and arrange to meet for dinner.

The day started earlier than usual, having volunteered to drop Denise off at her colonoscopy appointment, but that was balanced by my refusal to take the suggestion of my map app of what appeared to be a ridiculous diversion off I-80...and ending up in about 30 miles of slow traffic due to construction. Dropped off the bike, then had to kill half an hour before the bookstore opened and found a cute litle patisserie nearby which served for breakfast.

The bookstore was a perfectly nice indie shop in a space they could easily fill more fully. It's divided into three "shops" on different floors, thought it's all the same establishment, with the romance shop being one floor. (Three narrow stories, but lots of open space.) It was the sort of place that works well if you want to buy books but don't have specific titles you're looking for: a combination of new releases and the sorts of older classics that can be guaranteed to sell regularly.

As usual, the romance section--though plentiful--was extremely thin on the sorts of titles I'm interested in, and I didn't find anything to buy, though I did pick up a newish Malinda Lo from the YA shelves elsewhere in the store. I chatted a bit with the proprietor and he noted that they get their biggest boost from author events.

While shopping, the bike folks called to say they were already done, so I picked it up and then had several hours to fill before dinner. So I found a park with shade and grass and I relaxed and read. Yes, people, I *can* just laze around doing nothing when I choose.

Dinner was a fairly standard (but delicious) Greek place. We chatted about books and publishing and careers and whatnot. Then back home and falling into bed.

One of the things I treated myself to in retirement was a lifetime National Park Pass (because of the senior discount). Which, of course, is only useful if I actually use it. I've been thinking about getting back to doing the occasional short car-camping trip. (Short enough to leave the cats to their own devices, so mostly fairly local. But with some light cat-checkup I could get as far as Crater Lake.)

First step will be to pull out all the camping gear to check that it's clean and in good working order. I have a set-up for the back of the Element with an elevated platform bed with gear stowed underneath. I can take a bicycle, but not the recumbent (which is a good argument for keeping the fold-up Brompton).

At one point I bought a pop-up so that I can set up a larger "living space" off the back of the vehicle, which I haven't ever used yet. So I need to do a test set-up. My plan is to use some of the canvas from my old pavilion to create walls for it, so that I can use it for changing. (Changing clothes while wriggling around in a sleeping bag is for the young and flexible.) So I need to do that.

And then, of course, there's the issue of scheduling reservations, though mid-week availability will help there, I imagine. I haven't found a similar program for state parks -- there's a senior discount program, but it isn't as generous. But state parks are more numerous, of course.

So I've probably already mentioned (many many times) that one of my strategies for leading a balanced and productive retirement has been to identify a variety of "activity categories" and aim to do something in multiple categories each day, as well as aiming to do something in each category on a regular basis. That is, I don't have to hit every category every day, but I should rotate through them and get good coverage.

Today is the first day that I hit all 12 categories. I may at some point add more categories, but these are broad enough to cover almost everything. So what does that look like?

Got up around 6am (which seems to be what my body wants to do at the moment). Light breakfast and post about the podcast on social media {Category=Promotion}, then completed revisions on Skinsinger story #3 {Category=Fiction writing}.

Went out on a bike ride {Category=Exercise} and paused at the turn-around point to have coffee and read/annotate a chapter of my current LHMP book. {Category=Read for LHMP} Divert the end of the bike ride to set up the gym account that I get as part of my Medicare Advantage plan.

Shower and decompress for a bit, reading the current hard-copy novel (as opposed to the current audiobook). {Category=Fun reading} Then do a page of Medieval Welsh translation. {Category=Language} Type up the LHMP notes. {Category=Writing for LHMP} Then work on the "What is a Related Work Anyway?" background research. {Category=Writing organization/research}

Do a deep-clean of the bedroom. {Category=Housework/organization} Start dinner simmering (not a category). Do a session of weedwacking in the backyard. {Category=Yardwork}

At this point, knowing that I had a zoom date in the evening {Category=Socializing}, I wanted to push through and hit the last item {Category=Play Music}, so I put together my flute (which I haven't touched in a decade or so) and started some scales. The fingers were willing, but the embouchure was weak. This is going to take some work. (The higher priority is replacing a harp string and getting it into tune, but ticking the box with the flute was easier.)

So now I have dinner almost ready and at least a couple entirely free hours before bedtime. I know this all sounds really busy, and I'm serious that I don't have to hit every category every day. But it was fun to manage it at least once in my first month.

Started the day by biking down to Walnut Creek for some routine lab work. Dropped by Brioche de Paris for breakfast afterward combined with LHMP reading/note-taking. (My plan to reduce my "eating out expenditures" is being stymied by my current routine of doing LHMP reading in coffee shops. I'm not beating myself up about it, since I also combine it with my bike ride.) Texted the former co-workers to see if anyone wanted to meet up for lunch when I pop over to Berkeley Bowl tomorrow (since Wednesday is their on-site day).

When I brainstormed about how to structure my days in retirement, I came up with the idea of having a list of "activity categories" where I would try to regularly check off a certain number of different categories each day. (The point is the doing, not the checking off.) Most of them are things I'd been doing previously, though not on a close-to-every-day basis, like exercise, yard work, housework, LHMP reading, LHMP blogging, etc. But I added three categories for activities that had largely fallen off my routine: writing fiction (duh!), playing music, and--after some thought--working in non-English languages.

I'm still working on getting the first two into my routines, but yesterday I pulled out a Medieval Welsh text that I haven't previously translated (Owein) and started working through it. It helps that editions of Medieval Welsh texts generally have a glossary at the end, so in the event I don't know a word, I don't have to be going back and forth with a dictionary. But I was a bit surprised at how few items I had to check.

My current process is to copy out the original on every third line of a ruled notebook, take notes for vocab I had to look up, or verb forms I needed to work out on the second line, and write my translation on the third line. Out of two notebook pages, there were four words I didn't know, three I checked but had remembered correctly, and one verb form I needed to look up. There's also a passage where I know all the words, but I'm still working on the overall sense.

It helps that I'm intimately familiar with several of the branches of the Mabinogi, and the overall grammar and vocabulary of the medieval tales tend to be highly similar. (Also: I know the general shape of the literature.) But it was still gratifying to find that I could pretty much sight-translate 90% of the material. After I finish Owein, I want to try some poetry because I want to work up to translating a poem that doesn't appear to have an English translation published yet.

Given all the language study I've done across the decades, it's felt sad that I don't use most of it except as general background radiation. I'd like to brush up on my Latin, and I'd like to get a more formal grounding in reading French (at least academic French), which I can get the overall gist of, but don't have the grammar for.