The Doctor is in.

January 2021

My Retirement Date Set

In my monthly meeting with my Dean, it was decided my 32 years with Seattle Pacific University would conclude at the end of this budget year. Setting the actual date removes the anxiety of uncertainty. June 30th will be a life's red letter day.

To understand the main reasons for what feels like an early retirement to me, one need look no further than the pictures of the grandchildren below.

I had long hoped to retire in 2024, but I have to admit to being tired with the daily grind, even if that's been muted during this pandemic. The stress of needing to be ready for lectures and office hours, and to respond to random requests from faculty, staff, and students nearly hourly is a weight I look forward to feel lifted.

I hope I can find the time and discipline to document what I do, so I can pass on some of my methods and advice to those who will cover my diverse duties.

Still, there is a sadness about this ending, like all endings.

January 23, 2021

Gary Womelsduff, Director of Human Resources

Cc: Becky Tindall, Associate HR Director, Employment

Matt Alvis, Associate Human Resources Director, Benefits

Dr. Ross Stewart, Dean, SBGE

It has been my honor to serve SPU and especially SBGE students, faculty, and staff for the past 32 years. When I also recall my prior 12 years on the University of Washington College of Engineering faculty, I feel it is time to bring my 44 years in the academy to a close.

By this email I am informing you that I plan to retire from SPU at the end of this contract year, June 30, 2021. This plan has been discussed and agreed upon in consultation with my Dean, Dr. Ross Stewart.

I look forward (with some anxiety) to negotiating with HR all the needed steps toward my retirement.

Thank you,

Richard (Dick) L. Sleight, Ph.D.

Instructor / Manager of Information Systems

School of Business, Government, and Economics

Seattle Pacific University

The Dishers' Visit

Bob and Kim Disher finally made the trip north from Dallas, Oregon, on the 3rd to meet their second granddaughter Valerie, and to extend the Christmas holidays with Charis.

The new big room upstairs became a party/playroom as the Dishers camped out on their air mattress.

Bob returned to Oregon, leaving Kim to play with the kids and to give us a breather. From the night Valarie arrived, I'd been sleeping with Charis to give Annie a better nighttime rest.

They arrived with a U-Haul truck filled with furniture for the girl's room. Kim also had presents, toys, and a big homemade gingerbread house to build and decorate with Charis.

Their visit overlapped with the first few weeks of my winter BUS 1700 course, giving me a chance to head for my basement office to give lectures and hold office hours via Zoom.

Here Kim holds Valerie and her first letter from the Social Security Administration.

All the Cuddle Time a Grandpa Might Want

Charis now has competition for, "who is cutest of them all?" I get to hold Valerie often.

Charis inherited one of our point-and-shoot cameras and she began by shooting everything in sight.

I may not need all the toilet paper tubes I'd stored up for indoor planting.

I ordered 100 16 oz. clear cups from Walmart and bought 50 more 20 oz. ones from Smart Foodservice here in Bellevue. Charis has helped me plant twenty tomato plants so far, in five different varieties, from seeds. She's also helped me get more green onion seeds and Walla Walla bulb onion seeds started.

Charis seemed to skip the terrible twos, but she's saved some of that for her third year. She seems to be able to scream and laugh in the same breath. But, while she occasionally fusses at mealtime or in the prelude to a diaper change, she is also incredibly affectionate.

I fell asleep in the big room while on duty with Charis. Even on cold winter days, when the sun is shining, that room still warms up naturally. While I napped, Charis quietly continued her independent private play. Her active imagination, combined with a big room full of toys, keeps her entertained. But she would drop everything to watch Mickey Mouse on any screen large or small.

Getting an Early Jump on Spring Planting

My sophomore season as a backyard farmer has begun. I hereby thank all the entrepreneurial gardeners on YouTube, whose advice and examples I've taken to heart. Here is the record of my indoor efforts in January.

I have five varieties of tomatoes starting in clear Solo-style cups. They are all designed as mini-terrariums that water from the bottom. When these come up, I'll begin a second set. (The Sweet 100's and the Beefsteak ones have been the first to show themselves.) I am only limited by the space on the dining room's south-facing granite bench, and by the number of holes I plan to dig and the number of big pots and 5-gallon buckets I have.

The Walla Walla bulb onions have already begun to put up tiny shoots, and the bunching green onions have followed. I plan these to replace the bush beans that were a poor choice in 2020.

I learned that peppers need special warm conditions to germinate. So clearing off the top of the freezer, where it transfers its heat to the air, I placed my pepper seeds in moist paper towels inside plastic bags and under dinner plates. Within a week, the long sweet pepper blend seeds had sprouted. These are Corno di Toro and Sweet Banana peppers. The hot Serrano Chili peppers took a week longer to germinate. I've also added some seeds from a COSTCO-bought orange bell pepper. It will be very nice if those come alive.

I will start more tomatoes, especially if the ones I've planted already do not all come up. But some of my plastic cups have up to three tomato plants coming up.

I put two pepper seeds in each cup, as I intend to grow two peppers in each 5 gallon bucket.

On My Diabetes

I was not surprised when I learned on the 26th that my A1c number had climbed a bit to 8.8. I'd done some picking up in my basement office after Christmas and was not happy to see all the candy wrappers and other evidence pointing to my bad snacking habits. And the many chocolate chip cookies Charis and I baked in November, December, and again this month did not help at all.

On a hopeful note, I'd gone from 191 to 187 pounds. But I'd actually gotten down to 184 and just crept up recently.

Dr. Farideh Eskandari, my Endochrinologist, did say something that got my attention. It was something about being too old to expect that diet and exercise would work for me. I mentally took that as a challenge.

My insurance changed from Cigna to Aetna on the first, so prescriptions all need to move from COSTCO to the CVS Pharmacy at Bellevue Way and Main Street, sixteen blocks southeast of us.

Earlier in the month, I imagined walking from the basement to the attic and back for exercise. I timed my first round trip at 1:30. Then on the 26th, the day of my most recent meeting with Dr. Eskandari, I started exercising again. (This stay-at-home COVID-19 year had made me lazy.) I made four round trips in 5:49.

This Accidental Investor Wins Again

I am convinced that the Bull Market will arrive very soon at the butcher shop. The long expected bubble is due to burst. In December, I went to all cash, and I was at first reluctant to get back in. But I bought 4,000 shares of Nokia (NOK) at $4.08/share and 1,500 shares of Ericsson (ERIC) as a 5G play. Both companies are major telecommunication equipment manufacturers. But I sold them eight days later to lock in a surprise windfall of over $15,000. My sale price for Nokia was $7.64/share. Wild volatility this last week of January had doubled the value of the Nokia stock. Little did I know that I was the beneficiary of a battle between a hoard of small investors taking on the hedge fund millionaires.

From CBS NEWS Moneywatch / January 29

"Cellphone throwback Nokia had a one-day rise and fall in its stock price Wednesday, opening the day at almost $5 a share and growing almost to $10 a share around noon. The last time Nokia had a $10 stock price? December of 2010.
The Finnish electronics company released a statement this week saying that it didn't know what caused its stock to surge. Nokia is also on the current list of companies Robinhood has blocked its customers from buying.
Nokia is currently entrenched in several partnerships with various mobile technology companies including Google Cloud and T-Mobile to help build and expand upon 5G technology. However, the company faces fierce competition in the U.S. and abroad with Huawei of China and Ericsson of Sweden. Nokia's new CEO Pekka Lundmark said in October that the company will do "whatever it takes" to be the global leader in 5G."

I caught a big break, selling during the Stock Market craziness of Wednesday, January 27th. Had I not been checking my stocks, I would have missed the huge one-day spike. See the chart.

Other stocks (British Petroleum - BP, IBM, and GLENCORE PLC F - GLNCY), were not as fruitful and are down. I expect to hold them for a good while anyway. I have limit buy orders "good until canceled" pending for three stocks which have been winners for me: 5,000 of NOK at $4.21, 3,000 of MRO at $6.00, and 2,000 of ERIC at $11.21. This stay-at-home season has turned many into day traders.

My Quote from January

CHAPTER XXIX

THE BLACK SPOT AGAIN

"The black spot! I thought so," he observed. "Where might you have got the paper ? Why, hillo! look here, now: this ain't lucky! You 've gone and cut this out of a Bible. What fool's cut a Bible?"

"Ah, there!" said Morgan, "There! Wot did I say? No good'll come o' that, I said."

"Well, you've about fixed it now, among you," continued Silver. "You'll all swing now, I reckon. What soft-headed lubber had a Bible?"

"It was Dick," said one.

"Dick, was it? Then Dick can get to prayers," said Silver. "He's seen his slice of luck, has Dick, and you may lay to that."

from Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson

“One moment of patience may ward off great disaster. One moment of impatience may ruin a whole life.” — Chinese Proverb

“You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, smarter than you think,
and loved more than you'll ever know.” — A.A. Milne

"The secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new.” — Socrates

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