We have bookcases all over our house, and for giggles I photographed one wall of bookcases, with those textbooks and journals, and use it for my Zoom background when doing consulting. Only ever received comments conveying wonderment and admiration :-)

Boomer here, slightly OCD, have lived my life much more like a Millenial.

My cord box is organized, with one zip-lock baggie for each type of cord. My hobby supplies are organized into labeled parts bins. On the other hand, I'm merciless when it comes to dumping stuff (actually donating, wherever I can) that is of no use any more.

We moved from a house in Michigan with a full basement to a house in California with no basement at all, and it really cut into our accumulated crap. My wife's hobby and consulting has filled almost every cubic inch of her available space with stuff, but I get up before her each day, and make sure that our common area (kitchen and family room) is as decluttered as possible.

I subscribe to the "touch once" principle: pick something up, and don't set it down until it's in its designated place, trash can, donation bin, bookshelf, refrigerator, etc.

I also have a routine for picking up mail. First stop mailbox, next recycle bin, then computer (to pay bills or scan important documents), then filing cabinet (rarely), and then shredder. We accumulate no mail detritus.

The last time I was called for jury duty, the clerks passed out a questionnaire that asked if you had any reason you couldn't participate in a 6-8 week trial. We'd already paid for international travel during that period, so I was excused.

Yup - the "Iconoclasm" was very real and very literal.

I spent some time in Breda, Netherlands, which has a "Great Church" in the middle of the oldest part of town. It's completely bare inside, except for graves of early leaders.

When Protestantism swept through the area, all of the art and altar goods were removed, probably to finance the British Navy after the defeat of the Spanish Armada nearby.

Burritos etc. at Guadalajara Market on Hillcrest, just west of Rancho Conejo.

I've got a friend who is just about to turn 81. We hike in a Meetup group together, and he does another 10-15 miles of hiking each week. The guy is really sharp, and is still licensing his exclusive software to big name companies around the world. I'm about to turn 68; he's a real inspiration.

Retired a while back. During Covid, I was contacted by a consulting group and did 6-16 - hour days of exclusively remote work for 18 months. This stressed me out, got me gaining weight, and boosted us into higher tax brackets & cost us more for health insurance.

It was interesting experience, but after Covid subsided, they wanted me to go to client locations. Nope.

Not doing consulting any more, and am delighted to be done with it.

I moved from Michigan to California and was in the throes of interviewing. I got the offer, and with the change of location and cost of living, the offer would have left our family with far less discretionary money at the end of the month. I counter-offered with a 10% higher number, with a spreadsheet comparing all costs and justifying the counter. The company met my counter-offer and asked for a copy of my spreadsheet.

We actually enjoyed the Cracker Barrel that was near us in a small town in Michigan. Then we moved to California. After a decade or so, a Cracker Barrel opened nearby (Camarillo), so we thought we'd give it a try.

Over the course of one very simple lunch, we had five different servers come by and announce that they were now taking care of us due to shift changes. Our order came, messed up, and we would ask the current server to fix it, she or he would disappear into the back, and never return. After four more iterations, a manager came out, apologized, but didn't fix it or comp our (messed up) meal.

We'll be visiting friends back in Michigan soon, so we'll give our original another visit, but never again Camarillo!

2012 Re-recording of Rick Wakeman's "Journey to the Center of the Earth".

Dark Side of the Moon

Soundtrack for Empire Strikes Back

Conan the Barbarian - complete 2 CD re-recording

:-)

We do "Gentler" hikes on Thursdays. Yesterday's was 5 miles, from Kanan Road to Encinal on the Backbone Trail. I did half of it as I'm recovering from a broken ankle. Another hiker, who is also recovering from a medical issue, and I both turned around at the same time.

If you're working full-time, we do have occasional Wednesday evening hikes, but our hike leader for those is a strong, fast hiker.

If your work schedule permits, I'd suggest signing up for a Thursday Gentler hike and seeing what it's like. We won't abandon you!

I'm also on the board of directors for the Conejo Open Space Foundation, cosf.org. You can find trail maps on our website. There's also a great book that covers trails around Thousand Oaks called "Local Multi-Use Trails", a strangely generic title for something specific to the Conejo Valley.

Please enjoy your stay!

You should subscribe to the Planetary Society podcasts. There is amazing stuff going on at NASA with unmanned scientific missions all over the solar system, and the Planetary Society interviews the mission leads. Europa Clipper will be exploring the moons of Jupiter, launch is in October 2024.

Jaclyn - Thank you very much for your writing in the LATimes, which I've enjoyed for some time. This guide is great; you picked up a couple of sites that I visit regularly, and I'm eager to find out what's beyond these nine.

Carnegie- Mellon? Our son got his PhD there in Robert Murphy's group.

Yes - there are a number of Meetup hiking groups (I run one: "The Weekday Trailblazers") in the area, and you'll get to enjoy the landscape directly.

Don't know if you're doing your own cooking, but Valley Produce in Simi Valley has a huge selection of Indian foods and ingredients.

"Do it right, or don't do it at all". Leaves no room for learning and improvement. I very deliberately never said that to my kids.

You're here in Southern California - find a Meetup hiking group with mainly retirees, enjoy their company, and relax!

My wife and I both got our company's retirement paperwork when we had 10 years of service and had hit 55. I kept that thick manila envelope on the corner of my desk, and would put my hand on it, to feel the positive vibes, whenever the BS got too thick. My wife said "we can't retire now - we need another 25% in our retirement savings" so we both worked for more years until she finally said "OK - it's time!"

We had started on the same day, and years later, left on the same day. We've been retired now for almost a decade, and have loved every minute.

They may be envious of that big retirement smile you have on your face!

I never hesitate to tell people "Retirement: I highly recommend it!"

During Covid my wife stopped getting her hair dyed, and went completely gray. We tell people it's ombré.

"Considering how stupid the average person is, just think - half of the population is stupider!" - George Carlin

Let's see. 2000 hours of work per year (or way less than that if you golf twice a week). I'd like to see 8000 hours of supervised community service, starting on inauguration day, 2025.

About three years before retirement from an IT management career, I made a commitment to lose a bunch of weight. I joined a company-sponsored weight-loss program, taking yoga classes, and started hiking a bunch (I live near the mountains around Los Angeles). I lost about 35% of my body weight. In the process, I joined a local Meetup hiking group and went on group hikes on weekends, and started running hikes on Friday evenings for the group. I'm now the organizer of the whole group.

I had already been involved in a local non-profit music performance group, and took on more responsibility with a Board position and later as an officer.

I had also already been involved with a professional organization related to my career as the treasurer of our local chapter, later chair.

When the offer to retire arrived during a downsizing, I grabbed it.

My last meeting was with the company CIO. I handed in my company laptop, phone, and badge at the top of the elevator from her office, and left the building 15 seconds later. That 15 seconds was all it took for me to adjust to retirement.

Bottom line: find things you want to do now before retirement. Get involved, stay active, and enjoy!

How about Bulldog on / adjacent to the Backbone Trail in the Santa Monica Mountains? The wildflowers are incredible right now. https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/california/bulldog-loop

Stuff that I used to do routinely now leads to occasional falls & fractures. This puts a real dent into leading my hiking group!

I have a friend who is about to turn 81. He’s a software entrepreneur/consultant, and hikes ~30 miles a week. A real inspiration to me (68M)