Well as a colleague put it, today is my work-iversary. I became a full-time Federal government employee 32 years ago today and 6 years ago today I started my current job. Well I decided that today would be the start of my transition to full-time retirement. I have informed my bosses that I will retire at the end of the year. In order to start the wind down I am going to take the next 10 days to float down a river in western Alaska far away from anything resembling modern communications. Once I return, the flyway meetings will be over and we can start the process for setting the 2018-19 migratory bird hunting regulations and attend a few more business trips and take a bit more leave and then I am done. I am looking forward to getting back in the shop and undertaking a few projects that have been shelved over the last 6 years.