Skip to main content

My Other Job

The new HOA Board, not me!
About 3 years ago Jan and I moved, downsized so to speak. We moved from South Tampa to Safety Harbor Florida. just across the bay. This was a change for us. moving from a big city to a small town. Leaving the home we raised our kid in to a new place. Moving from a old neighborhood where we were the masters of our domain to a deed restricted community with a HOA, a board, and a management company.
That took a little getting use to. Having to check with someone other than my wife before I did something to out home. I'll admit I bristle a little at having my autonomy questioned. And that started right of the bat when we got there. I got into a very enthusiastic discussion with the HOA architectural committee about adding pavers to the front of my home and rebuilding the screened in porch to the back of our home.
After this interaction I decided that the best way to get what I want is to join the board. I ran and in a landslide was elected to the HAO board. I served a year as a member at large and then after telling Jan I was not going to serve on the board a second year became president of the HOA.
I got what I wanted to do at my house but at a cost, 2 years of my life.
Well last night we had our yearly big HOA meeting where a new board is put in place. I had told Jan that I was not going to run, I told Bill my VP that I was not going to run for the board, I told the management company I would not be running. And I didn't run that night, instead I turned  over keys and the presidents binder to a new president and I'm confident she will do a great job.
I on the other hand will be able to focus all my energy on my new job of being retired.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Alarm Clock

Now that I'm retired each morning really is a new day. In the past most days have been planned out well in advance. Get up shower, eat breakfast, go to work, repeat till the weekend. Weekend, do what I could not get to during the week. Now I got a more open schedule. I find that my mornings consist of getting up when I open my eyes. Then fixing coffee and drinking a cup. While I'm doing that I decide what I want for breakfast. Jan is not as infatuated with breakfast as I am and can get by with just a bowl of cereal. But I need something cooked and more coffee. So I start the morning with no more plan than to fix a nice breakfast and have coffee. I watch the news, read the paper, and eat breakfast. Some days I mix it up by eating out on the patio. My signal now to start my day is when I reach the bottom of my cup of coffee. As you can see I'm now at that point. Today my plan is to get out all the suitcases out and see which ones we will be taking on our upcoming trip t...

Finally Hot Springs Arkansas

 Day 6 , October 15, Hot Springs. Here we stayed at an AirBnB on Lake Hamilton. It was very nice but before we got to our new residence (If you are keeping track this is the 5th place we've stayed so far on this trip) we stopped by downtown Hot Springs for a tour.  We started at the Fordyce Bathhouse Visitor Center. This is the park headquarters and has been beautifully restored. We were able to tour the bathhouse and see how it looked in its prime.  The sculpture of the Spanish Conquistador  and the Tiffany stained glass ceiling were in the men's tub and steam room. The ladies section was not quite as well appointed.  Here is the women's dressing room . While nice and functional it was not quite up to the standards of the men's room. Down the hall from this room was the third floor sun deck where the ladies could catch some sun without any prying eyes. I'm not sure how much sun they got because the outfits displayed there were long sleeved, ankle length dresses...

Joy 3/09/22

Going out for lunch with friends and family. Something I have missed doing for the past several years. Now with the pandemic seemingly under control we all can start getting back to normal. Today we visited Hellas Greek restaurant and bakery. We started with Saganaki . I had one of my favorites, grilled octopus. For dessert it was chocolate covered baklava. Overall a great way to spend lunch.