30 Working Days

 45 calendar days and 30 working days left! 

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't experiencing some anxiety about this but again, it's a decision that was made for me and I've prepared as well as I can prepare. I have made the absolute best out of the hand I was given. One degree down and on the verge of a second, a lifetime income, relatively low debt that could be knocked out with a full time job plus the pension income in about 36 months total. 

All in all, I'm ready to get on with the next chapter in this spectacular life! 

I made a roast last night in the crockpot before bed:

1 London Broil roast

1 Jar of Pepperocini Peppers

2 packages of Au Jus mix

2 packages of Ranch Dip mix (not the dressing mix)

1/2 stick of butter

Add potatoes if you want.

The result is an amazing roast experience with a thick gravy! Also great to be able to eat on for about three days! So it is laden with value! Roughly a 30 dollar dish depending on how much roast is at that time and if you get six meals out of it, which is easy, then it's about five bucks per! That's great value!

Anyone who knows me knows I love candles. Yankee Candles released their Halloween candles yesterday and I got a deal where you buy two and you get two free! Sweet! Four large jar candles for the price of two! I'm all set for the fall/winter season candle wise now! 

I'm done with Week 5 of my current course, this coming week I'm over halfway done with the hardest course remaining! Other than the capstone I mean which will be next spring. Then I'm finished! I'll be 52 and I should be looking to rejoin the workforce around that time! 

50 Calendar Days

 Yes, no matter what else happens, in 50 calendar days I'm finished with my career as a defense contractor. 50 calendar days boils down to 34 working days! As I've written before there is a strong possibility that the company change happens on October 1st. We have not heard anything but I'm operating on the assumption that there has been a contract protest/appeal and the company swap won't happen until possibly November.

This past Saturday was a great day! For the first time since Thing 2 went to Korea about three years ago I was able to spend a day with both Things at the same time! We went to a really good burger place, a comic book shop, and then had cigars and just talked as adults. It's really something when they turn into adults and you talk about your experiences. 

I can't tell you how much I love them, how proud I am of them other than to say it as simply as I can knowing it isn't what's in my heart.I have such a depth of love, pride, and admiration for my daughters it's unreal. 

I'll be back when I know more about the company swap!

The Final Step

 When I applied for the pension retirement they explained all of the steps involved in the process. There are a lot of them. You have to apply and give a lot of information, then they examine everything and request more information if they need something else. Then that's approved or denied and then it's another step. 

Long story short I had my final step approved and got the official approval in the mail yesterday! It explained what I'll be earning each month, I chose to have taxes taken out of it, and then I got my final estimate. The estimate will go up a little bit because there are still just over two months of pension income going into the fund on my behalf.

Overall though it'll be close to the current estimate which is pretty nice! In other news the current company I work for lost the contract to Dyncorp. Dyncorp was the absolute worst company we ever worked for. They are worse that Vertex Aerospace and that's saying a LOT! Vertex has been very difficult to work for as they pursued an adversarial relationship with the workforce rather than a beneficial relationship. Dyncorp commenced with layoffs, not offering the same jobs to the people that held them, eliminated a lot of positions, and changed everything that has worked forever and kept everything running smoothly. 

Dyncorp did the same thing when they came to the base in 2001. Ultimately Dyncrop sold to CSC and that lead to the worst two weeks of my life in 2009. It's all documented how bad it was if you read back to that year in the blog. 

If there's a protest then Dyncorp will take over sometime later this year, if not then they'll take over October 1st and I'll leave on September 30th rather than October 12th. It won't benefit me to reapply for my job and go through that process only to retire a week later. When a new company takes over everything is set back to zero like your vacation leave. I hope there is a short protest so all of my leave is worth 4% more which happens October 1st. We'll see what happens though. 

Tomorrow marks 50 working days and 73 calendar days if there is a protest and I work to October 12th! That's a big milestone! A 30 year career coming down to driving on base 50 more times!