Thomas Adams:  

At long last... After 32 years of being a political football / civil servant, I've finally RETIRED!!! I'm not alone in that; it seems like EVERYONE who can is currently retiring from the State of Wisconsin. The reason is "Governor" Scott Walker. Personally, I've held a grudge; ever since his stealth legislation, Act 10, stripped collective bargaining rights from State employees (after a protracted period of bargaining for a new contract in bad faith), this cross eyed weasel had the BALLS to say that he'd put the Wisconsin National Guard on alert in case of "violence by state employees". How insulting. I haven't had a wage increase in 6 years, except for a "generous"" 25 cents per hour that Scotty's budget gave us in the last state budget; no negotiation on contracts or consultation with what's left of the state employee unions, just The Emperor spreading largess in proportion to what HE considers fair. Never mind that mandated employee contributions to retirement have increased far beyond his quarter an hour, plus the cost of medical coverage (which contract negotiations have for YEARS been using to buy off state employees instead of giving a decent boost in wages). This doesn't matter to Walker. Scott Walker has been literally selling the state to the highest bidder (read that as the highest campaign contributor). MANY state facilities have been sold outright to private corporations and put on a "for profit" basis, with the state as the sole customer. Women have lately been stabbed by Scotty; besides refusing to sign legislation that would have given them equal pay, Scotty has eliminated the state funding for health services offered by Planned Parenthood. Ever since before the recall effort, Scott Walker has consistently made it HARDER to exercise the franchise of voting in the state. Scott Walker has implemented MASSIVE cuts to education funding at all levels, and is currently trying to dismantle the K- 12 system statewide, in favor of profit based "charter schools". Scott Walker is currently pushing legislation that essentially makes politicians immune from investigation and prosecution for political corruption, and allows unlimited anonymous money to be poured into campaigns. Would YOU want to continue working for an employer like this? I didn't, so I got out and took my pension... while it's still available. One reason I left Illinois was because I was tired of rampant political corruption. Wisconsin has a long history of clean government. And now, Scott Walker is pissing all over that reputation. I got out because if I don't retire NOW, Walker will finally succeed in getting his hands on the State Retirement Fund. If I leave now, there will be a contract in place to prevent that from happening in my case. SO... My life is my own once again, no longer dictated by the constraints of a working schedule. It's like summer vacation for a grade school kid, and I'm LOVING it! I have enough intellectual stimulation to keep me going; ham radio, astronomy, movies, books, photography, my motorcycles, hunting, fishing... and a myriad of other activities. I'd LIKE to go back to school and finish my Masters degree... but at present, the University of Wisconsin is in turmoil, in addition to being ridiculously overpriced. I'm holding off on that one right now. _____________________________________________________________________________________ Life is about change, I guess. On April 5, 2012, I suddenly lost the love of my life, Anne Mary Schilling, Northland College class of 1976. Now, it's all about picking up the pieces and moving on, I guess. So far, it's been hard to do. ________________________________________________________________________________________ Life is weird. Some things never change. I was the odd peg that never quite fit while I was in school, and I still am... and frankly, I don't give a rodent's rectum about WHO thinks I'm an oddball... I never did. I've always dealt with Life on my OWN terms, and that's the way I like it. I offer apologies to no one. At the age of 57, I decided to buy my first MOTORCYCLE... how weird is that? Bear in mind that I've NEVER been on one in my entire LIFE! And not just ANY motorcycle... I'm surrounded by Harley Headed Yuppies at work, and after listening to THEM moaning and whining about their bikes for far too long, I went my OWN way; I got a Russian built URAL with a sidecar! I don't sweat the huge repair shop bills the Hawg freeks do; I keep the thing running MYSELF. I still hunt, but not as much as in the past; no time. In addition, I've toyed with competitive shooting in the Practical Pistol combat shooting arena... I'm not all that good with .44 magnum revolvers and .45 ACP automatics, but I can hold my own. In the combat realm I'm good enough to get 'er done. Of late I've been developing a NEW passion. While I still hate sports of every description, I find myself oddly fascinated by the audience and social interactions that are going on in the realm of WOMEN'S ROLLER DERBY! Somehow, I just can't see a bunch of scantily clad young women trying to kick the crap out of each other for three 20 minute periods as a "sport". I've become a season ticket holder, and on a typical Saturday night you'll find me, along with a few friends (a bunch of female prison guards and other staffers from the Department of Corrections!) down at the rink, watching the Dairyland Dolls stomp the hell out of the visiting team. Roller derby draws a large and very enthusiastic but very ODD crowd here... everyone from grungy bikers like me, to bored (and usually drunk) female grad students, to refined Ladies who would seem to be much more comfortable at a University faculty tea party. Most interesting are the grade school kids... they're filled with hero worship for skaters with track names like Chop Suzy, Dutch Oven, and the most popular of all, League top scorer (and team co-captain), The Mouse. The idolotry for this crew of hard skating, hell raising demolition experts is the same as these little girls would have for female astronauts, Nobel prize winning scientists, or Olympic athletes... every one of these l...Expand for more