@Mark Boyce posted:Arnold, I do not know if I am exactly addressing the issue you are referring to, but I think a thought provoking topic like yours is open game to rabbit trails. I am semi-retired, though that wasn't my plan. I'll only be 62 in a couple weeks. I never really liked the electronics field, but after 42 years I am now in a rather stress free position. The most stress is at times wondering if they will have any work for me for a few weeks. Anyway, when I am putting the engineering information into the goofy database they have us use (I still always draw a Visio drawing for the technicians just like when we used pencil and paper) It keeps my mind occupied how to portray a circuit in the software, then once I have one type down pat, it is rote for the next however many. I then get bored and start thinking about trains.
As far as favorite time for trains; any time I can get a few free minutes from doing stuff for 4 elderly relatives and my wife who has some health issues. I can forget about all that stuff when I am doing anything with the trains.
Things are way different now as opposed to my original comment. That was almost 2 years ago. Well, I was let go from the part-time work later that same month. I spent 6 months looking for other work, and finally found a part-time entry level tech support job. Who wants to hire a guy eligible for social security as an engineer or technician with only experience on old technology. That 7-month period at that low paying job was the most stressful in over 43 years of working in electronics. I got some respite in starting to build my new layout. I left there at the end of last October a week before getting a knee replacement. Over the recovery time, I realized I was never going to get to build the rest of the layout in the family room as planned because our older daughter couldn't get her piano and other furniture out in the near future. She and her husband's 100+ year old house developed seepage and mildew problems in the basement level, so they had to move a lot upstairs. None of us have the money to fix it, so they are in limbo.
Looking at my signature line topic, you can see I started planning a new layout in my original 11x11 foot room in the basement. I completed the main line a couple weeks ago. Being retired now the layout is the most fun when I am frustrated with things I am finding harder to do. Right now it is an elusive intermittent PC issue that takes it offline for a while. It has also been a broken riding mower I spent a lot of time and pain on and it doesn't run. Actually these are similar times as when I was working.
