Retiring!

Today is my official last day as an IBM employee. I am retiring after 34 years with IBM, which according to my calculations is around 61% of my life! I've had a great time at IBM, and I have enjoyed the opportunity to do many interesting and satisfying things. The best part has been the relationships I have developed with people I have worked with over the years, many of whom have become close colleagues and friends. My IBM career has been an exciting ride with some wonderful experiences, and now it's the right time for me to move on to the next stage of my life with a different work/life balance and more time for personal and family things.

I'm not completely giving up technical work. I'll still be active as a Tuscany committer and in the SCA standardization work at OASIS. I'm also co-authoring a book on Tuscany. I'll post updates here as the project progresses.

I have made some resolutions for my retirement. One is to go for a walk first thing after breakfast every weekday. I've been doing this for the last 3 weeks when I've been on pre-retirement vacation, and I'm really enjoying it. As well as making me fitter, I'm finding it really good to have some time to think about the things I want to do that day. Thinking while walking seems to be a good combination for me.

Another resolution is to write more of these blog entries! I'm not quite sure how this one will turn out. It takes more effort for me to write a blog entry than go for a walk, but maybe that will change with more practice. My thoughts at the moment are to talk about various things that are occupying me at the moment. These might be technical topics related to Tuscany or SCA, other computer-related matters like my experiences with networked printing at home, or things that have nothing to do with computers such as the Great Tree Stump Project. More about that another day...