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taxonomy and ethology
of robber flies
as an avocation

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Retirement

February 3, 2025

I retired from my job with the Federal government last week, after 21 years and several months of working there. Friday, January 31 was my last day. I'm mentioning this here because for years my plan has been that once I retired I would try to spend more of my time working on robber flies in general and on wrapping up the revisions this blog covers in particular. I should be posting a lot more soon. It may take me several weeks to adjust to my new life. I'm very far behind in everything, and that will all take time to get sorted out.

I turned 73 on January 1, 2025. I'd originally settled on working until I was 75. My job delt mostly with Entomology, I liked it, and I felt good to be part of a team actually accomplishing something practical in the real world. But with RTO and a host of other potential changes it seemed wise to leave as soon as possible.

I've been working at home either full time during the pandemic, or two days a pay period after that, since 2020. When I started I thought that without a long commute I would not have to wait until I retired to work more on my Laphriini papers. I was wrong. I spent all the extra time either sleeping more because I was older, and tired after 8 hours of work, or walking to stave off another heart attack (I had had one in 2017). For much of that time I managed to walk two hours a day 4-5 days/week.

Hopefully I will do better at getting back in to my asilid work this time.