I survived another trip to the Social Security Administration offices this morning. I had expected to wait a long time, but surprisingly got in right away. Unfortunately, I got little resolved and had to fill out a form for review. As a result, the hassle still lies ahead, as I got stuck with a huge premium on my Medicare Part B insurance. I’m scheduled to now pay almost as much as a COBRA based on our income tax returns from two years ago. It was the peak of our income, before my wife’s retirement and included several performance bonuses. Our current income is less than half this amount, so hopefully I will be approved for an adjustment. Otherwise, it’s a big chunk added to our monthly budget and less to spend on travel. 

We saw the movie The Way Back yesterday, as part of our annual Regal movie pass. It’s the 14th show we’ve seen since mid-December when we bought the $560 package. In another 3 months we will have gotten our money’s worth, with six more months to go.  Also, with our apartment within walking distance of two theaters, we’ve also saved on parking and gas. It looks like it will be a great retirement investment even at one movie a week when you consider less than $5 a ticket. 

The daily routine is now temporarily under construction. Tomorrow, we’ll pack and get things set-up for the dog sitter, including clearing a parking space for her in the garage. We’ll move my car to my wife’s daughter’s house and take an Uber to the airport the next morning. Tomorrow night is another tourney-do-or-die IU basketball game, replacing “Date Night,” but I’ll watch this one from home. In two days, we’ll be in Phoenix, but many of our friends have decided against the trip. We’re there for three nights, including two Spring Training baseball games and a couple dinners. 

We’ll see an Arizona sunset from an old client’s Camelback mountain-top home. I got together with his wife while she was in Portland on business a few months ago, but it’s been at least 20 years since I’ve broken bread with him. On the phone, we joked about a chicken wing incident where another friend was piling his bones on top of mine. I used to go through mine a second time to get every remaining morsel of meat and was unaware that my pile had grown. I don’t do that anymore! Needless to say, he’s not preparing chicken wings as part of his appetizer menu. 

To further disrupt our normal boring routine, we’ll then head to Tucson for the last three days of this adventure. The home where we’re staying is familiar, and was an inspiration for our Florida building plans in a similar 55-plus community. Our overall Florida plan is still under construction and should come-together when we travel there in a few months. It should take about six-months building time, to be completed by the time our Portland apartment lease ends. In the meantime, there will be lots of packing, planning, and preparing as we construct our new life together and return to a final retirement routine.