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My wife and I are not accomplished cruise ship patrons. We've only been on three - each by a different company. My favorite was The President, up the Yangtze River in China. We recently got back from Curacao and nearby ports via the Carnival Miracle. I had been told negative things about...

If I can recall college psychology correctly (it's only been 40 years!), what you're describing is known as "compensatory consumption" -- where folks who can't afford much splurge on high-prestige items they hope to be associated with. A common example is a ghetto street - rundown houses, high...

My PSA results have consistently been in the range of 1.0, plus or minus a tenth or so. Yet, I have active-surveillance-level PC found as the result of a TURP. My view is that the PSA has little validity.

I live in a 55+, gated non-golf course community in San Antonio. For my wife and I not having a golf course was a plus. We don't play and didn't want to have to support the course in our monthly fees. Generally, it's safe and a highly pleasant place to be (even in the atrocious summer heat of...

My wife and I have lived in an "active adult" community in San Antonio for the past three years. It's not perfect, but we like it. People self-select to live here, tending to be outgoing/social and fairly affluent - so there are neighborhood parties, cruises, and activities in addition to many...

My wife and I just returned from the "grand tour" of China and found it most worthwhile. The travel tips given above are valid, particularly about pedestrians having no right of way (traffic is insane!). Couple of other things to be alert to: pickpockets are said to be a problem in many...

If you are going to retire in Costa Rica, be very careful about what part of the country you choose to settle in. The best medical care (and it is quite good) is in the major cities, but the cost-of-living to maintain an American-standard level is not all that much lower than the States when...

My third anniversary of ER is a matter of weeks away. At first, I wasn't sure what to do with all my free time, even contemplating going back to work at least part-time. In the interim, however, I've learned to relax, to slow down and to enjoy what I'm doing. If I get bored, a nap always...

I took a one-month long Spanish immersion class in May 2010 in Manuel Antonio-Quepos, Costa Rica. Four hours of class a day and then the rest of the time with a family that didn't speak English and a handful of mostly mono-Spanish-speaking folks. It was a really positive experience and I...

I was in Costa Rica the past two weeks, so am just now seeing this thread... the point being that I would never have had time to go out-of-the-country just for fun for two weeks before I retired! I was somewhat apprehensive about retiring a year and a half ago but today can't envision going...

I saw "Avatar" in 3-D IMAX a week ago and liked it so much that I'm taking my holidays-visiting daughter to see it again. Yes, the story is weak, the dialogue predictable, and the moralizing a bit heavy handed, but it is a technological work of genius. Totally amazing, and I highly recommend...

I get summoned every few years but haven't served since I got a law degree (which I never have used). Pre-law degree I was on a couple of federal criminal cases, each of which was most interesting.

My 45th reunion is in June 2010, and I plan to attend. Having retired one year ago and returned to my "home" state, I now live in the same state at least. I went to the 10th, 30th, and 40th and mostly enjoyed myself. What struck me most at the last one was how much older (worse?) the men...

I'm going with some friends on a 10-day escorted Caravan Tours Inc. trip to Costa Rica in early spring 2010. A couple of months later, I plan to return and enroll in a month-long Spanish-immersion class in Quepos. It's always irritated me that my "was-it-really-40 years-ago college Spanish"...

Like Grumpy, I live in an "active adult" community, about which I have posted several times. In general, my wife and I like it - the quiet, the upkeep, the amenities, the activities. There are some negatives - a premium on housing prices, overzealous HOA's (still run by the builder), some...

Funny you mentioned it, REWahoo. I actually saw my first "feral pig" last week while hiking at Government Canyon State Natural Area nearby. Several people have reported seeing them in the subdivision too. I haven't but they're here (the HOA pays somebody to trap 'em). Ugly/mean critters ...

I live in a Del Webb "active adult" community in San Antonio (called Hill Country Retreat). It's not perfect, but my wife and I find it both friendly and inviting. The people who live here all tend to be outgoing and fairly gregarious -- in truth, I think they self-select themselves for this...

I wish I weren't a member but will be for some time yet to come I suspect. Good news, though, is that the portfolio has rebounded somewhat in recent weeks.

I just now got around to reading the WSJ article and found it to ring really true. Should it come to pass that I needed to go back to work (I'm in my seventh month of retirement now, terrible timing), I truly doubt I could find anything worth having. But that might be an opportunity to do...

I am now into my seventh month of retirement and finding not having to go to work becoming sweeter by the day. Today I went to a meeting of a professional society to which I've been a member for 30 years. As I looked around the room, I kept thinking "I'm so glad I don't have to do this...

Drive. By coincidence, I have to go to St. Louis next week (as part of the last remnant of my working career) and have chosen to drive rather than fly. Why? So, my wife and I can visit friends and relatives along the way. One of the advantage of having FIRE'd is having time to take the time...

Watching Mr. Bush deliver tonight's speech was painful. His heart wasn't in it, almost as if he perceives the American people are mostly ignoring him these days. Perhaps they are. By W's standards, it wasn't a bad speech, but totally nonmemorable.

I don't sympathize much either with fellow baby boomers who are allegedly delaying retirement. My portfolio is down more than 1/3 and my stock options are underwater, but I don't really care. My wife and I "lived below our means" for years, anticipating a market meltdown could take place...

As a former professor who has chosen to retire in San Antonio (close to where my wife and I were born so we're prewired), I can attest that this is a great city in which to retire - but it too has its faults (but what place doesn't?). Summers are miserable; prices are low vis-a-vis most other...

I have lived in Houston at three different times in my life, and it was among the first cross-outs when it came time to decide where to retire. All of the previously noted reasons apply, but there is one no one mentioned: with the exception of the Downtown area, Houston is just not a pretty...