Dave's Retirement Adventure

Estelle and I knew being overseas for seven months in Egypt, South Africa, Australia, etc had risks. And we knew at our ages that unforeseen health issues can happen, but we’ve both been very healthy and I don’t think we gave that risk a lot of consideration. So, we land in Johannesburg Monday night after two weeks in Australia, back with family, Wednesday morning I feel some mild chest pain. It comes and goes, feels like some kind of indigestion to me. The next day, Thursday, it’s still there, doesn’t respond to normal indigestion medicine, and it feels somehow different than previous indigestion pain, and I did just turn 72. So I call our long time friend, Etienne, an MD in Pretoria, about 5pm on Thursday to get his opinion. After a few questions he says I should come immediately to the hospital he thinks is best, in Pretoria, with the best cardiologists, who he knows personally, just in case… Still believing this is just indigestion, Estelle and I drive about an hour ...

I was not her star pupil by a long shot. But my junior and senior year English teacher at Montgomery Bell Academy had more impact on me than she or I could have ever imagined. I was a bit of a geek, even in the 60s, always into mechanical/electrical stuff, destined to become an engineer. But one great thing about a good education is that it doesn’t let you get by just doing what you think you like. It exposes you to a broad-based range of studies that will serve you well in your life. And Mrs. Lowry was passionate about the English language, its literature, and its proper use. She made us understand, “THIS IS IMPORTANT!” So it was with English. We had to turn in a 500 word composition (Theme) every week for four years at MBA. Each was read and critiqued closely for content and style by our teacher—no mercy for spelling or grammatical errors. Only later, in my working life, would I learn the importance of the ability to express thoughts clearly in writing. Over the years, I’ve use...

Dalcon International, Inc. was founded by David L. Condra in 1978, and incorporated in 1979 in Nashville Tennessee. The company initially did business as Nashville Computer Center, subsequently changed the DBA to Dalcon Computer Systems in 1981. The product focus of the company was business computer systems designed to meet the needs of small businesses. As an indication of how early Dalcon was in the Nashville market, it was the first company to be listed under the then new Nashville Yellow Pages listing, “Computers”. Although personal computers were just coming into businesses for use by individuals, Dalcon’s focus was on systems to run an entire small company, which required multiple simultaneous users accessing a common database, which was not then supported by personal computers. Consequently, Dalcon based its solutions on the Alpha Micro , which enabled the development of multi-user application software such as would be required for a business that had a number of peopl...

This blog is a continuing chronicle of our transition from a working life to retirement—with odd other posts as something comes up. I write it to crystallize my own thoughts and also for the few folks reading who might be contemplating their own retirement options and plans. As I hit 70 and decided to fully retire, Estelle and I conceived the idea that it would be an adventure to spend six months living in South Africa. It is a comfortable second country for us, given her upbringing there and our short visits over the years. A secondary benefit of living somewhere else for six months, particularly in different rental apartments and homes, is that we get to try out a different lifestyle than the one in our home we’ve known for the past 36 yrs.   A chance to explore some questions such as how do we live in a one or two-bedroom apartment? And, what do we miss compared to living in our house and living in central Nashville? The preparation for a six month stay involved fi...

Introduction As an old engineer/gadget guy who has gone a bit overboard in my retirement implementing smart home technology, I get questions at times about what I recommend. This post is my current thinking on smart home technology implementation and I’ll try to post updated versions as the world keeps changing. Of course it's a bit techie but my main point is, if you are building or remodeling, you should consider at least some of this and you need some level of understanding to make sure your contractor is designing/recommending appropriate pre-wiring and equipment location planning so that your home is ready for technology when you are. You are welcome to point your contractor to this post and ask them to give you feedback and recommendations. There are a multitude of options available today for smart home technology. You can naturally google around to see what is recommended but unfortunately most of the links, websites, books, and videos were created in past years,...