Ask Ryan 2

I think what I’ll do is keep the AR posts on the front page for a couple of days before they go exclusively in the AR section.



Alex A. of Kingston/Toronto, ON asks: How do you want to spend your retirement?



This is one of those questions that I had given zero thought until it was posed. (That’s my way of warning you that I haven’t fully thought this through, yet.)



I hope that my retirement will not be an escape from my career. By that I mean, I hope that I am lucky enough to really enjoy my career, from beginning to end, and that I do not fall into the trap of many today who count down the days to its end. I suppose, if I think about it, I’m sort of in the latter case right now; inspiration enough for me to make a change? We’ll see.



I would like my desire to retire to be driven by my family; more specifically, to create time for me to truely share in the lives of those I love in the latter years of my life. Hopefully my parents will still be around, as well as my wonderful wife (who I am not, as of writing, married to, engaged to, or even dating yet), our child(ren), and maybe grandchild(ren). The point of me sharing all of that: I don’t expect to retire to the Bahamas or Hawaii; I expect to retire with my family.



Things may not work out this way and, in fact, I may not want them to. When, and why I retire will be largely affected by my wife so things may be different. It isn’t even fair for me to say that this would be the perfect retirement because of unknown factors (for example, if I even get married, and have kid(s)). I suppose I could paint a perfect retirement picture but it would be very, very vague.



So, coming back to your original question: I want to spend it with family, first and foremost. Oh, and I’d like to have a small job of some kind. Be it teaching the occaisional night course at a local college, or acting as a consultant. Basically just a little something to keep my mind active, and to give back.



Stephanie C. of Toronto/Hamilton, ON asks: What are your plans for summer?



Well, I hope I’ll be working full-time before the summer beings so my plans won’t be overly dramatic. No backpacking in Europe, or interesting summer job (hopefully my full-time job will be interesting). But I can say that I will be attending this year’s NASCAR Nextel Cup race at Watkins Glen International. Last year I did not attend the race because good ol’ A was getting married, and I wouldn’t miss that! (Alex, the answer is “no”.)



Apart from that, I have no real plans or expectations. But hey, Stephanie, what would you say about some camping?