AUSTIN, Texas, Mar. 24, 2005 — Retirement is on my mind. I'm thinking about mine. I'm thinking about other people doing it. Other people talk about it. Social Security 'reform' is a hot topic.

As a non-worker I sort of drag around this morning over my coffee. I go outside and look at thinks budding and blooming. The wisteria has added its hue and various grasses are blooming.

When I go to the club, I take my clothes and stuff to shower and change there.

Retirement is reading a six-year-old magazine and going for over fifty minutes on the recumbent bike and then doing a few weight sets and then taking a shower and spending well over an hour eating and listening to people argue about club facilities and food. Being retired means it feels OK to take on a sub-committee to look at the club's different menus including trying to decide what really short people will eat around the pool this summer.

The rest of my day is pretty open. I review our tax return again in light of information from the CPA and satisfy myself with it. I answer e-mails and check the calendar and the tickts folder in an effort to do some social planning. I'm currently planning a trip for the summer. I drop some people e-mail about it and look at maps.

FFP comes down and says we should go to Mozart's and sit outside and drink coffee and enjoy spring. Whoa. I'd love that. But it's harder to do (justify?) by yourself. After a bit we actually do it. We go to Mozart's. There are quite a few people there, many on cell phones and laptops. We get some iced coffee and sit reading. FFP is reading Kurt Eichenwald's Conspiracy of Fools. He frequently looks up and says, "You are going to love this." Actually, I will probably only read it in the sense of his reading parts of it and reviewing parts of it. I read some old lifestyle and science newspaper sections and work a crossword or two. Around five we call Jeffrey's and decide to go have half price appetizers in the bar.

I check our phone messages on the way to Jeffrey's. Dad says he wants me to call him. I do and he says he thinks he has really hurt his back and needs to see a doctor. That will influence my tomorrow. But he says he will get along until then. Retirement means having the time and means to look after old folks. Mine (Dad, my mother-in-law and father-in-law) mostly take care of themselves. (With help from yard workers, maid, handyman.) I am very lucky. But just doing a few things is time-consuming. People who are actual caregivers really amaze me. Just like I am amazed at the time people expend on kids.

Jeffrey's pours us a couple of glasses of delicious Sauvignon Blanc. And we order up the famous crispy fried oysters, some paté and some spring rolls. It's all delicious. Then we finish off with another glass of wine and I get a glass of port. We get a three cheese plate. A goat cheese with a brown edge called The Bermuda Triangle for its shape is absolutely stunning.

At home I worry a little about my dad. We watch some TV and read. Then, fairly early, to bed.