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om a Retir
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Reflections From a Retiree
Reflections Fr

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uin, PLS, P
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egor
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By Gregory J. de Bruin, PLS, PE
E
So I retired last fall. All the leaves off the trees, freezing cold So what am I doing to keep myself busy? Tons of improvement
every day, dirty streets, can’t travel because of COVID, no projects around the house or at the houses of other family and
vaccine yet so can’t hang out with friends, lumber prices friends. Lots of work for our local community trust. And, as
through the roof so I can’t do some of the projects I planned so many old men with no jobs do, I give advice.
for the winter. Nice timing.
I started out giving my wife some helpful advice about how to
And, now, it’s a beautiful summer night. I’m outside with run our house. Turns out, she’s pretty sure that’s not my area of
only the birds chirping, everything is colorful as the sun sets, expertise. The paramedic who treated me at the scene agreed
and life couldn’t be better. The only sorrow that I feel is that that I should stick to what I know.
many of you readers will have to get up early to go to work More recently, a former employee stopped by looking for
tomorrow. I’ll get over it.
some business advice. She’s in her late thirties now, not in our
Much of what I did in our profession for 45 years is quickly profession anymore, but wants to be an entrepreneur. She’s
becoming a distant memory. Least squares? Nowadays, that taken some business classes but they are way too basic. She
means taking the two smallest brownies off the plate. Turning wants to know things like how to minimize paying taxes, how
angles has become turning ankles while playing tennis. to handle writing off equipment purchases, etc. Her business
A retracement involves the rigorous process of trying to is making commissioned wooden objects like toy chests, corn
remember where I left my wallet. hole sets, etc. She’s a good carpenter and very artistic.

26 EMPIRE STATE SURVEYOR / VOL. 57 • NO 5 / 2021 • SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER