It's six a.m. and I should be moving to go to work but I must tell you about an adventure I had last night.
I went to the Sheboygan County Jail to attend one of my twice-monthly AA meetings. On the way in, there were two Latino women sitting in the external area where you have to wait to be let into the lobby.
When we came out after the meeting, they were still there. We asked if they needed a ride somewhere and found that they could speak no English at all. All we could make out was "taxi" and "Milwaukee".
My friend, Tim, thought he had a tennant who could translate. He was not able to get her on the cell phone.
I remembered my old colleague, Chuck, a retired Spanish teacher whom I worked with for 27 years. I called Liz and she looked up Chuck's number in the phone book. I called Chuck and asked if he would translate. I told Chuck that I would take them to Milwaukee if I could find someone to go along. I was a little leery about going alone with two people I did not know. Eventually, I decided that I was not likely to find someone to ride along so I decided to do it alone.
The two ladies got into my car and we started down for Milwaukee. I called Chuck again, to ask him to try and find out an address where I needed to take them. One of the ladies produced a business card from La Esmeralda, a restaurant at 1801 S. 11th Street. I don't know Milwaukee but I trusted that the ladies would tell me which exit to take and point directions to turn.
As we got to Grafton, it began to snow. The snow got heavier as we entered Milwaukee county and I had to slow down considerably. We approached the Highrise bridge and crossed it. I expected that this place was somewhere on the near south side but have no experience with that part of town. By the time I asked about which exit to take, all I could get was "Mitchel" out of the ladies. By that time, I was past any exit that got me close to Mitchel Street. I ended up getting off at Holt and heading what I thought was north. Actually, I was going west on a city street. But I did cross 11th street and asked if I should go back to that street and the lady said "yes". I begun to go north on 11th, a narrow, car-filled street. The snow was coming down hard and I had to stop at every cross street. I could not read the numbers on the houses so I did not know if I was going the right direction. Eventually, just after I crossed Oklahoma, I asked the lady if I should turn around and go the other direction and she said yes. Just as we reached a dead end in 11th street, my son called. I had called him on the way down and asked if he was near his computer. At that time, he was not and he said he did not know where this restaurant was. As we turned around on 11th street, he called back and began to lead me in the right direction. As we got back to Oklahoma, I went two blocks left and hit 13th street, a major artery. Geoff named the streets I was crossing and in a short time, we were at the restaurant.
The ladies gave me two 50 dollar bills and I tried to give one back but she would not hear of it. They expressed their gratitude and I left for home.
I arrived home at about 11 p.m. knowing I had been given the rare privilege of being able to do something entirely selfless for other human beings. It feels so good to know that even though we could not communicate via language they understood that my only motive was to help them.

Gotta get to work.

Ciao, babies!

THE Rule of 85?

Here's a letter I sent today to a former colleague who retired when I left teaching: I thought you might be "negatively amused" to hear this little tale. I have been telling everyone for the past several years that "I can start taking my pension at age 58 when I reach the "rule of 85"". In anticipation of this, I learned that I can apply three months before my anticipated "retirement date" which I assumed was July 4, 2005. I took a week's vacation the week before last to try to get the application process going. I attempted to call the WRS several times during that week but got a busy signal each time. I had previously sent them an email and was referred to a document that I needed to file to request a retirement estimate. I filled out the application and sent it in by mail. I really thought I needed to make an appointment to talk to a representative to help make the decision as to what kind of annuity to opt for. Last Wednesday, March 9, I did call. Imagine my surprise to hear that "there is no such thing as the "rule of 85""? The representative said she had worked there for 5 years and that there never had been such a rule. She said that I could have begun my pension payments at age 57 without any reduction due to age. She further told me that if I got my application in by March 31, I could get back payments to January of 2005. Since my estimated payments (from a report that I received in April of 2004) indicated that my monthly benefit would be about $3000, I figured that the good news was that I could get six more months of benefits than I had originally though. The bad news was that I had already lost 15-20 thousand dollars in benefits. The representative told me that she knew I had submitted a request for a retirement estimate, that she would change the date on that request to January first, 2005 and that it normally takes 4-6 weeks to receive such a request. She said she would see that my estimate was sent out right away. The next day, Thursday, March 10, I called again. After several repeated attempts because of busy signals, I spoke to another representative. It got worse. She told me that I should have begun my benefits at age 55 and that while there would have been an age-reduction, it would still be monitarily better in the long run to start benefits at that age. Now we are talking about the better part of a HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS that I have missed out on. While I confess that I have not read every word of every document that was sent to me back in April of 2004, I found few if any references to "inactives", people like me who left employment with a WRS employer before the "end of their working life". I found NO information relative to reduced benefits because of age. The Thursday lady did say that the "rule of 85" had only ever applied to people who took the "formula benefit". That's the one based on the average of your top three years of salary. In my case, the estimate given to me last year indicated that the higher benefit would result from the "money purchase" option, the one based on how much money you actually have in the account. The "rule of 85" never applied to me. So, it appears I have fallen through the cracks. Nobody calls you up and tells you that you are losing money. Nobody tells you. There is apparently nothing I can do but get my application in asap and get over it. I'll feel a lot better when my payments start coming in. For that to happen, I have to wait by the mailbox for the "indeterminate" amount of time it will take them to send me my "retirement estimate/application for benefits". Considering my ability to opt for "accelerated payments", that could cost me another four grand before taxes if they don't get that application to me by the end of the month. Bottom line: I can whine for awhile. Eventually, I'll probably shut up about it but it's a bitter and huge pill to swallow. Well, thanks for listening. Spring is on the way. Have a wonderful day! - George

This is where all my stresses go to die. I wish.
I found out today, following a call to the Wisconsin Retirement System (yeah, a call where they actually answered this time instead of the unending busy signals I got when It tried to call last week)that I have some good news and some bad news.

Good News: If I can manage to get my application in by the last day of this month, I start drawing my pension payments as of January 1, 2005. That's a full six months earlier than I had imagined.

I was told years ago that there was a "Rule of 85" that determined when you could start drawing your pension annuity payments without a reduction penalty. This, I was told by my insurance agent (a man who retired the year I got kicked out of teaching) meant that there would be no reason why I should not begin receiving pension payments when I turned 58.

Bad News: The lady at the WRS that I spoke to today said she had been working there as a customer service rep for the past five years. She had never heard of the "Rule of 85". She said that you stop incurring a reduction when you reach age 57 regardless of your years of service. This means that I have lost between FIFTEEN AND TWENTY THOUSAND fucking DOLLARS because of this lack of knowledge.

Anyway, It's spilled milk, isn't it? Is spilled milk any worse when it's a tanker truck? It's still spilled milk. It's meant to be. There is nothing I can do about it now. I accept it. But is this the last time I'll whine about it? Doubtful.....so did that pronouncement mean I'm just reserving the right to continue to agonize. I hope not. But probably.

Oh, for those of you who don't know, Cuddles had four little blind baby kitties last Saturday. I wonder if mother cats choose when they want to give birth? Saturday was a marvelous, Sunny, warm day about 40 degrees and Sunday was about 10 degrees warmer and just as glorious. Ever since Monday, it's been downright cold. It looks like Cuddles is being a good mother though. She stays on those kitties most of the time. She gave birth in the little kitty condo right next to our front door.

In 5 or 6 weeks I will need to decide whether to take just the kittens or the kittens and mother too to the Sheboygan County Humane society. Won't that be unpleasant.

I never wanted to feed Cuddles in the first place. She was wild at first and would not come to be petted. Murry was all I wanted. She is totally clawless and most likely already neutered. I say that because there are plenty of wild male cats around and she has not given birth in the past two springs.

Cuddles, however, has grown on me. You knew that would happen, didn't you? She snuggles against the dogs every morning when we go for our 5:15 a.m walk. She does allow herself to be petted when you are about to feed her. She does NOT like to be held though and I've got the scars to prove it.

I advertised the kitties for adoption on the college's classifieds mailing list. A woman who works in Advancement or someplace like that, took the opportunity to talk down to me about allowing cats to propagate outside. She maintains that I was irresponsible to feed these outside cats. I deleted her email before I even memorized her name lest I trouble myself too much about what she said.

So, back to the money. My pension payments are gonna be more than I am currently earning in my present job. Does this mean that with all that income protection I will tell my boss to "sod off" the next time his obsessive nit-picking drives me over the hill? Don't put it past me. Why should I fear getting fired? All I have to lose is a job that I enjoy. It is one that stimulates me, challenges me, and provides me with many satisfying human relationships. Do I really want to sit home all day, every day washing floors, doing laundry, cooking, dusting, remodeling and watching TV? Not at all. Unless diesel fuel gets to be 5 bucks a gallon, I'll be putting up to DePere for a few more years, I suspect.

So Geoffie thinks I should build a garage....with a workshop....and a new basement entrance....yeah, so I should put my "windfall" into the property that he expects to inherit. See, I'm daydreaming about splurging because I will have six months of pension payments that I didn't expect to get. Big Screen TV? Power golf cart? (I prefer walking), travel?, more home remodeling? Invest for the future?.........fah!

Caio, babies!!

Pretend that this is great art
Pretend that I moved you to tears
Pretend that I am something
Pretend I have no fears.