Requirements

Requirements road sign

I’ve been an engineer for a long time. In order to solve problems, my customer gives me requirements so that I can provide solutions. But the process breaks when the customer shortcuts the requirements process.

Retirement Calculator 2022 Edition

A year or two ago I decided to create a retirement calculator to help me figure out my finances for when I was getting ready to retire. It occurred to me earlier today that I have done a poor job of keeping it current, so I decided to spend a few minutes and get it fully updated (I think) for 2022.

Money and Waves

View of the Beach

After 7 months of rarely leaving the house my family headed to the Outer Banks. As much as I would love to continue to rub that in, that’s not why I am writing today. I figured I would pass along a few more lessons learned with this whole retirement thing.

Birth of the Internet

The IMP Design Team

This week marked an anniversary that most may not have observed. On Oct 1, 1969, a small team of engineers installed IMP #2 at the Stanford Research Center and the Internet was born.

A little Update

Troy From Secure Enterprise Engineering

A short update. I have officially been out of the Army for 16 days now and a lot has happened. I started my terminal leave back in mid-May, at the height of the Covid crisis. To say it wasn’t how I had planned to have my transition would be the understatement of the world.

Retiring in a Rona World

DD214 Blanket

Greetings from Fort Livingroom. I am now 35 days into my terminal leave (well 20 days PTDY and 15 days leave). I have decided to forego the “Freedom Beard” for right now (my wife threatened me with divorce) but my hair is rapidly approaching hippy level.

Time To Sign Off

SGT Ward Deployed

Yesterday I did something that has been nearly 21 years in the making; I finished my last working day in the Army. While I still have 2 weeks of out processing to complete, my time has come to an end. I will be the first to admit that this is a day I never thought I would see.

Transition Salary

A stack of change

I am now 120 days away from starting my permissive TDY as I leave the Army after nearly 21 years. Part of that process is figuring out how much money I need to make.