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blackbird
Trad climber
the flat water trails...
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Jun 17, 2011 - 07:43pm PT
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I just want to start living life like it was meant to be lived...outside a cubicle.
Well... Then DO IT! Life is short, you only live once and there are myriad options for relocation which, if you're open, can take you to some incredible locales that you may otherwise never consider.
As has been reiterated several times: balance is good. Find yourself and your balance in your adventure. You've done that once with the whole cancer deal (been there, done that and it DOES give one a different perspective on life), now go do it again.
Think. Be smart. Find peace, listen for it, wait for it, and all the while, HAVE FUN!!
BB
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NigelSSI
Trad climber
B.C.
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Jun 19, 2011 - 02:09pm PT
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Hope to see you down there in September!
Say hi to the overly skinny Canadian, and his Norwegian partner. We'll both be on a long road trip to 'shake things up', and fully enjoy life for a while.
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happiegrrrl
Trad climber
www.climbaddictdesigns.com
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Jun 19, 2011 - 05:04pm PT
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Well.... RJ went the "buy property" route himself, and for the last year, at least, he has been desperately trying to hold onto at least one of the places - bitching up a storm about the tenants he brought in who don't pay the rent and such...
I empathize with RJ because he is an old guy(well, he IS!). His choices are limited and in this economy, people lots younger than he are getting passed over just because buyers can be picky. But why he would suggest going the landlord route when he himself has suffered the path, I don't really understand.
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matlinb
Trad climber
Albuquerque
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Jun 19, 2011 - 05:18pm PT
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Don't know what specifically your area of expertise is but look at Sandia (Albuquerque) / Los Alamos. New Mexico has decent climbing and you can get to Tucson, Boulder, and Moab in 6 hrs.
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BooYah
Social climber
Ely, Nv
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Jun 20, 2011 - 12:24am PT
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Life is NOW. Make your choice.
Classic Lady & the Tiger dilemma. Rarely works that way, but who knows?
How do you FEEL?
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gonzo chemist
climber
Crane Jackson's Fountain St. Theater
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Jun 20, 2011 - 02:25am PT
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78Westy,
I'm now finishing my PhD in Organic Chemistry. My defense is July 5th, in fact. Few people in the "regular world" or even most other physical sciences really understand how difficult and demanding organic chemistry is as a field of study. After spending a HUGE percentage of my time performing lab work and publishing papers over the last ten years of my life (industry as well as academia), I've come to learn that I deeply cherish what I've learned in this scientific discipline; however I regret my choice of study. Many other fields of study can be be fulfilling intellectually, yet provide the balance in life that we all strive for. My advice: leave the lab. Climb your heart out. Seek out all the adventures you desire. If you get tired of that nonsense, get into consulting. Bit of a hectic travel schedule, but great money and no lab work. Plus you get to stay intellectually involved by mandatorily keeping up with all the new advances in the field. Or become a lecturer. Kind of crazy and hectic at first, but teaching can be awesome!
Full disclosure: I plan to post-doc, so I'll still be working my ass off in the lab. But after that.....who knows....I have too many bitter views to believe that this is worth the time and energy any more.
Either way, ENJOY LIFE! you don't get a second chance. And there will ALWAYS be work of some kind, when you need cash.
best of luck,
Nick
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drljefe
climber
El Presidio San Augustin del Tucson
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Jun 20, 2011 - 11:10am PT
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The thing about the rat race is-
Even if you win the race,
You're still a rat.
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Wade Icey
Trad climber
www.alohashirtrescue.com
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Jun 20, 2011 - 12:00pm PT
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seems like you're edging ever-closer to sanity.
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bergbryce
Mountain climber
South Lake Tahoe, CA
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Jun 20, 2011 - 07:54pm PT
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You're not crazy at all. I think there are a lot of people on this forum who feel similarly. I know I sure the hell have and still do somewhat although my situation has currently changed significantly for the better.
My GF had been laid off and I was ready to quit my job and go on a radically different path which would have involved both taking low wage jobs in a very rural area and slowing life way the hell down. I/we were ready to take that plunge. As it turned out though, I've kept my job and was able to relocate and am currently living what I consider a very nice lifestyle.
If you think you're job is giving you illnesses and cancer, I personally wouldn't spend another moment thinking that $hit over. Put in your two weeks and do something else.
No kids, no mortgage?? Time to live life instead of doing what society has programmed us to think what we are supposed to be doing, like earning a lot of money and only getting 2 weeks of vacation a year.
Your work is probably in high demand, you can always come back. I don't buy that "in this economy" bs although it's probably got some truth, but a lot more for some employment sectors than others.
Good luck, write us a TR ;-)
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nutjob
Gym climber
Berkeley, CA
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Jun 20, 2011 - 08:21pm PT
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I've done everything from washing dishes, digging ditches, making pizzas, and painting, to mist netting birds and voice/data network consulting for high-tech, finance and healthcare industries.
The only reason I did not apply to a management-level IT job in Yosemite this winter is because of non-work commitments (i.e. kids primarily living with my ex in SF Bay area, and girlfriend who can't work in her chosen field while in Yosemite). Even with my reasons for not applying, it had me dreaming.
Follow your heart dude, and live the life you want to live. If you have no other life conflicts aside from money, DO IT.
About insurance and your prescriptions: check if you can get your stuff mail-order, or if you need to go in-person to pick it up. This could be a major hassle-factor for living in Yosemite. Even if it's a refrigerated prescription, you can probably find a specialty mail-order pharmacy; just do that layer of homework when you identify different insurance policies.
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78Westy
Trad climber
bored in my office
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Topic Author's Reply - Jun 20, 2011 - 08:30pm PT
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So whats this about chemicals? As a chemist or whatever about half your expertise is supposed to be in handling that stuff WITHOUT it killing you. Fume hoods, isolation boxes, a ton of equipment is supposed to be used to keep the chemist alive. WTH you doing? Stirring cyanide with your index finger?
My trade is synthetic organic chemistry with the intention of building small molecules in order to give people a few more months before they die of cancer. While doing my job, I make a bunch of compounds that the world has not likely seen. They could be super dangerous, they could be safer than sugar, but the bottom line is I don't know. Anyone who has worked in a lab will tell you that in practice, you get exposed to all sorts of stuff, whether you like it or not, just like you get exposed to all sorts of crap in everyday life that isn't so good for you, like the exhaust pipe from your car. You know it is bad, and in really small doses it is probably OK, but I don't go to work and want to shove my face in an exhaust pipe, whether I have a facemask or not.
I take the necessary precautions, but the fact is, you get exposed. No getting around it. Ask anyone else who has worked in a lab. I know plenty of people that have lived to 90+, but also plenty of people that have had severe heath issues. I can identify solvents based on what they smell like(dichloromethane, methanol, isopropanol, ethyl acetate, heptane, toluene just to name a few), and we have beautiful facilities.
RJ - your idea of compounding interest is not lost on me. It is true, the more money you have the easier it is to make more money. Where do I stop though? Is 50k enough? Is 200k enough? Do I trade my mid 30's to get enough money to be done? If I have it invested, is there going to be market crash I can weather? I don't know.
Buying property is one of the things I've thought about. I look at the foreclosure pages in Tahoe regulatory. It is a pain in the ass if you don't live there though. That means carrying a mortgage and rent at the same time.
Tough decisions all around.
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78Westy
Trad climber
bored in my office
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Topic Author's Reply - Jun 20, 2011 - 08:34pm PT
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By the way, I got out this weekend to the Grotto at Table Mountain with the GF. Climbed a few cracks, clipped a few bolts. It makes my Monday a little more bearable.
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golsen
Social climber
kennewick, wa
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Jun 21, 2011 - 02:04pm PT
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78Westy,
you have to decide upon your future, only you can do that. You obviously have a lot of drive or you would never have received your PhD, or got through some of your health issues. I have a hard time personally with going from Research Chemist to Dishawasher in Yosemite, but thats just me.
I suggested the Federal Government as a potential:
Here is a Website:
http://jobsearch.usajobs.gov/search.aspx?q=chemist&where=&brd=3876&vw=b&FedEmp=N&FedPub=Y&x=51&y=10&pg=1&re=3
And if the Gov sounds bad try this:
http://www.bendres.com/about-careers.shtml
There also was a place in Butte, MT that did SBIR work (thats, Small Business Innovation Research Grant) and sounded pretty cool but I could not find that. If you have questions about the above then you can email me at gbohome at yahoo, or here through ST.
There are a lot of opportunities for someone with your education and moving to a more rural area with a steady income and less lab work might do wonders for you.
Goood Luck,
Gary
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couchmaster
climber
pdx
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Jun 21, 2011 - 03:26pm PT
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Read this whole thread. Here's my contribution: "Organize and execute around written priorities".
This is harder than it seems. Figure out what is important for YOU, then resolve to make it happen. Write it down. Review it periodically.
As I've defined my life, (for me) money, relationships and health are like a 3 legged stool that would become unstable without any single leg. Fortunately I've got what I consider important going very strongly now. Climbing and working out falls under "health" for me. I'm fine with what I have, so it's really for you to figure out what you need, for you.
Good luck.
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bergbryce
Mountain climber
South Lake Tahoe, CA
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Jun 21, 2011 - 04:09pm PT
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FWIW too...
I know some chemists who have some pretty cool gigs in AK. They spend most of their summers collecting field data and the winters analyzing the stuff.
They aren't Phd's but certainly aren't slouches either.
Lots of consulting firms and various government agencies need chemists to do work like this in the Great Land.
Score a gig on the north slope too and you might get two weeks on two weeks off with great pay.
You can pm me for specs, I lived there for 6 years.
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Ricky D
Trad climber
Sierra Westside
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Jun 21, 2011 - 06:10pm PT
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Ready for a point of view from the other side?
Quick backstory - married, homeowner, only child grown and gone, Fortune 100 mid level exec making six figures. Bored, tired of 60-80 hour weeks, tired of flying to meetings around the country, tired of getting fat, tired of health issues - simply tired of being tired.
Mostly, I couldn't shake the daily daydreams of younger days when being alive was the only goal. The days when snowfall meant time to ski, warm days meant trips to the crags, when being outdoors was the whole reason for being in the first place. I was haunted by this day and night.
As providence would have it - my company downsized and I had two offers to consider - one being relocate from Cali to NJ for a year of "transition" as I duplicated my NOC system on the East Coast, or two - take the money and run. Knowing full well that after the transition, I would be dumped on the curb - I took door number 2.
I thought I had found heaven without the dying part - my wife and I decided to self-build a simple place on some land we had bought years earlier near the Valley after which we would sell the over-inflated house on the coast and spend the rest of our days living off-grid and off-treadmill.
And it worked - for 5 whole years!!!!
We skied in the winter, climbed in the summer and hiked in between.
We lost weight, got healthy, and got sane again.
Then reality hit - one of us got sick. Found out that Health Insurance gets REAL expensive when you actually have to use it. That eats up savings real fast.
The house on the coast - fell out of escrow right as the market crashed - back living in the upside down pig. Upside down mortgages eats up savings really quick too.
Work - try finding a 100k plus job when you are on the wrong side of 50 in this economy. Landing a gig for a third the money eats into savings real quick as well.
We thought we had a plan and to be honest - had the economy held on one more year - we could have pulled it off and I would sitting on a rock in the meadow instead of sitting in a work truck.
If you have the freedom from things that you owe money upon, if you have no significant others, if you can really see yourself being on the out skirts - then do it now why it can be done. Because the truth of the matter is - to pull it off later in life takes a lot more things going "right" than you have control over.
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Spider Savage
Mountain climber
SoCal
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Jun 21, 2011 - 06:58pm PT
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Following Ricky's note above.
Trying to get a "job" over 50 is worse than trying to get a job under 22. IMO
My advice to those 40 and up, get a lifeboat business going on the side that you could jump to if the ship sinks.
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Radish
Trad climber
SeKi, California
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Jun 21, 2011 - 08:08pm PT
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I quit my high paying job of 27 years when I turned 50. I wasn't into working 14 on and 2 off inside of a building under pressure situations anymore. I could walk out back and see the Sierra and it just killed me. They were calling. I starting a low paying job in Sequoia soon after and havn't looked back cept to remember how the old life sucked. Yea, I lost my marriage and all that, but my X and I are good friends and the girls are grown up and moved out. I don't regret it at all!! Don't fall for that working everyday every week sh#t. I'm only seasonal but somehow I make it through the winter just fine. I can climb and bike when I want to. Go for it dude! You health insurance is your mental state. With your quals you should go check out USAJOBS.Gov and tailor your search where you want to go. You could find field work......its there for you calling NOW.............
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