Countdown to retirement (or whatever!)

Ok, this is some admitedly geeky stuff, but you can't help but want to get some yourself once you see it (or maybe it's my inner geek just coming out). So, some of you know that I am running Windows Vista on my laptop and one thing that it lets you do it to pick amongst a number of "gadgets" that you can place on your desktop that provide you live updates over time. Things like clocks, weather, stock updates, etc.

As I was browsing through some of the available "gadgets" that are available, I came across a gadget that lets you "count down" to any date of your choice. Naturally, I added the gadget, set my retirement date goal and promptly labled it "until FIRE", meaning "until [I'm] Financially Independent and Retiring Early". I set it to count down in weeks, but you can also set it to days, hours, minutes, or even seconds.

You can see some of the gadgets I have on my desktop to the left, including my retirement countdown timer on the bottom -- only 226 weeks to go! (Also, as you can tell, we're having a pretty nice day in Seattle today!)

If you're running Windows Vista, you can get your copy of the gadget here.

Retiree kills mugger with bare hands!

Smart or stupid, this story is pretty amazing. A 70+ year old ex-military retiree on holiday in Costa Rica was part of a tour, whose bus was apparently held up. The story reports that he fought back, getting one of the attackers in a headlock, breaking his clavicle and essentially choking him to death.

WOW. I've been to the Atlantic side of Costa Rica through the shipping port of Limon, and I have to say, it's not a place to linger. The coast is an undiscovered gem, but getting there through Limon can be dangerous. All I can say is: I hope I retire with as much go-gettum as this guy!