I retired 10 years ago and time is flying by way too fast now. I'm a retired therapist and I eased into retirement so the change was not too jarring for me. I had a full time, private practice and then, during my final 11 years. I cut my private practice back to 50% and took on a half time contract with Sacramento City College providing mental health services to students. I enjoyed doing both. In my final 2 years I closed my private practice but kept on with my job at SCC.

It was hard for me to leave my work at SCC. I loved working with underprivileged students and all the different cultures, ethnicities and religions that they came from but my wife had retired a year earlier and we wanted to take long trips so I pulled the plug. We immediately left for Peru to travel for 6 weeks with our son who was studying in Lima and that helped me transition nicely into retirement. I still miss doing therapy at times but I also love the freedom we have to travel and enjoy many other things we didn't have time for when we were both working.

My wife and I have settled into what's become a pretty predictable routine each day during the pandemic. We usually have a leisurely, light breakfast and coffee and catch up on email and read the news online. My wife is still devoted to the paper copy of the Bee but I tend to read it online. We also have online subscriptions to the New York Times and the Washington Post. We both read CNN and Politico a lot also. We're both news junkies and, even though all the political stuff and the Covid news can be emotionally draining, we seem to handle it pretty well. We keep ourselves busy with household chores and our hobbies during the day and we watch various series on Netflix, HBO, Amazon Prime and Hulu in the evenings. We also take long evening walks after dinner when it isn't too stinking hot!

We have hobbies we enjoy that include reading, gardening and travel for both of us but, of course, travel is out now during the pandemic. She is an excellent pastel artist and a great cook. I have taken up wooden ship modeling, got back into photography, play my guitars at my leisure and started learning to bake bread.

I'm also an avid road cyclist. I took it up 2 years before I retired. Before that I did a lot of rock climbing, backpacking, mountain biking and running. I thought road cycling would be boring compared to mountain biking but I found it has it's own beauty and excitement and it gave me an aerobic activity that was much easier on my knees and back than running was. I bought my dream bike last year and it's a pure joy to ride. I log a ton of miles on the American River Bike Trail but I ride a lot on the road too. I like to ride in the big hills outside of Winters, up in the Amador County foothills and over in the the Napa and Sonoma Valley areas. I have been ticking off some of the big, classic rides in northern California the past couple of years. I figure I need to do them while I can since the clock just keeps on ticking and I enjoy the challenge.

My wife was very regular at going to the gym to workout before everything closed. So I bought some dumbbells and a bench and she works out in the garage now. I need to do weight bearing exercises as well but I'm more motivated to ride my bike. We both miss not having sports to watch or go to and are happy to see the Giants playing even if it is without any fans in the seats.

So for us, enjoying our hobbies and engaging in regular exercise plus keeping in touch with friends and family via texts and zoom calls helps us during these trying times. We try to keep our heads up in the midst of the Covid tragedy and all of the divisive politics by remembering that, although these are tough times, we've got a whole lot to be thankful for...carpe diem...

Edit

Nice find. Plough recently tweeted that we had a "huge commitment out of the 415 area code also but I haven't been able to find him yet.

George Moreno 6'0 190 transfer from Sierra College with 3 years left to play 2.

The University of Northern Colorado has suspended athletic workout activities after a spate of positive cases of COVID-19, including among football players who have been advised to quarantine.

https://406mtsports.com/college/big-sky-conference/big-sky-conferences-northern-colorado-suspends-sports-workouts-after-spate-of-infections/article_52c51594-2ad8-5ddf-85d7-43ea410d56cb.html

Brother (sister), just trying to save you from a potential libel suit. — movielover

Your comments aren't even rational anymore...unbelievable...

You've got the Trump playbook down to a science...when you are wrong and been have been called out for it and will not own up and take any responsibility...just fire off a snide remark...

I did go back and edit my post and removed the athlete's actual name. You're right that I didn't need to state the athlete's name in order to make my point about possible forum censorship. I should have thought more carefully about that.

Nice pivot though, movie, and just like Trump's Press Secretaries have done on a nearly daily basis, you are now deflecting, spinning and blaming, however overtly or thinly veiled, in order to divert attention away from the fact that your original comment was racist, homophobic and sexist.

.

Forgot about that...would be better if it were later in the spring...

Do you think they might delay the season until early next year, Mike?

We're on the same page, CA Forever. I was just acknowledging the balance that the moderators must consider carefully before taking any action.

Years ago, aggie6thman sent me a PM asking me if I would consider becoming a moderator. I had just been flamed in a very vulgar manner by a new member who had just joined the forum and had posted that he had inside knowledge that a star Aggie athlete was suspended for some sort of sexual assault. He had no factual information and so I called him out on it and said there was no place for that kind of rumor mongering on a public forum like this. Stuff like that can spread like wild fire and have lasting damage on an innocent person. He angrily replied to me and, even though he was way out line with his comments, it didn't feel good to have that kind of misguided anger directed at me.

I sent a PM to 6th asking if the member's comments could be taken down. He said that he, and the other moderators, really did not want to get into any form of censorship. That's when he asked me if I'd like to be a moderator since he appreciated the way I had handled the inflammatory comments in the thread. I was still upset at the level of anger that had been directed towards me so I told him that I didn't feel like it was something that I wanted to do at the moment. He said he understood fully.

One thing the BLM movement has reawakened in me is that to be silent about issues of bigotry, unfairness and injustice is to be part of the problem. I'll be appropriately respectful to others within reason but I won't be silent. I can't live that way. We need fair minded people continually speak up.

I read the article about this extraordinarally talented, young woman yesterday on the Aggie Athletics website. It gives me hope in times like these that we are actually making meaningful progress towards equality and acceptance of all people regardless of sexual preference or gender identity.

Link: https://ucdavisaggies.com/news/2020/7/15/womens-soccer-hailey-rittershofer-nominated-for-ncaa-woman-of-the-year.aspx

Yes, movielover's comment is "severely inappropriate" to say the least but I'm not surprised by it given a lot of what we see him post when he quickly reacts to any comment that he perceives as slanted against his right wing ideology.

However, it's a tricky position for the moderators when it comes to censuring comments made on the forum. I know there are members who probably feel like it would be best to not even have topics like this discussed on the forum but Covid-19 affects everyone including our Aggie athletes and all the Aggie sports that we support and enjoy. I would hate to see the entire thread shut down because an inappropriate comment of a single member especially since this is the Off Topic category.

You're absolutely correct. I had the same reaction as you but I was trying to tone down how I worded my comment. Thanks for your honest reply.

If Biden wins, who leads the country? AOC, or three angry Marxist BLM lesbians? — movielover

Generally speaking, your politically reactive comments on this forum are similar to the mind-boggling, defensive spin we have been hearing from Trump's Press Secretaries on a daily basis for the past 3 1/2 years but, with this comment, it appears that your true self has bubbled to the surface and it's tinged with racism. I agree with, CA Forever, you stepped way over the line with this comment.

He looks outstanding on the highlights video. He's very athletic on both ends of the court. I look forward to seeing him play.

"...graduated magna cum laude" from Skyline CC...a scholar baller...perfect fit for us...

How is the graph "skewed" since it is simply quoting things that were actually said mostly by Trump but also others and placed them on the graph of the Covid19 infections across time?

Yes, I do understand the objective of The Lincoln Project is to defeat Trump this fall and Kellyanne Conway's husband, George Conway, is one of the driving forces behind it. What an odd couple! My wife and I would not be together if were that politically divided. Can you imagine some of the conversations that go on in the Conway household? :yikes:

Maybe we could just balance things out and have a couple of other teams change their mascots to the Pale Faces or the Whiteskins...