75,000
-
Nope, just read they closed it out last night.
NS - did you end up taking it or passing?
I waited until the 11th hour on Feb 6th, the original deadline, hoping to hear something official from my agency. I finally got something from the Dept of Treasury stating the validity of this plan and then decided to respond to the email with Resign and Retire. Now that it is out of court and real, I feel both elated and a little worried. Elated at the free time I will now have and ability to make my recon trip to Sardinia in May without having to burn any annual leave while also getting paid, but worried that the promise made can be reneged for whatever reason they can think up. We are still under a continuing resolution that ends in March with no clear picture of whether there will be a shutdown again or not. If there is a shutdown, then both people like me and active employees don't get paid until a budget is signed. The worry is that the new budget cuts out the 75000 people's salaries as a result. I felt it worth the risk as I can retire anytime anyways. Now actively planning my itinerary in Sardinia. So now for some interesting info on the requirements for a guy like me to obtain what is called an Elective Resident Visa from Italy. This type of Visa is good for 1 year and is intended for folk like me, retirees who have no intention of working for money while in Italy, in fact it is against their law, who can show proof of their retirement annuities and any other assets that prove they are self sufficient. Another peculiar requirement is that I must show proof of at least a 1 year signed lease agreement for my housing over there as well as roundtrip plane tickets. These things must be provided at your appointment with your nearest Italian Consulate (san francisco) to apply for said Visa. I feel like I won the lottery recently as going on their website to make an appointment has proven impossible due to them being backed up for months for these appointments and thus there is no way to even get your foot in the door. Yesterday, though, I got extremely lucky and logged on to attempt again for the 100th time and found an open appointment for June 5th. I quickly grabbed it. The timing of the appointment is actually perfect in the fact that I will have just returned home from my trip to Sardinia. ln the meantime I have been on the "MLS" site Idealista to see what long term rentals are available and it is sadly a very short list. I am told there are many many more available in Sardinia but one must look for other contacts for these villas outside a site such as Idealista. So the trip becomes even more important to me than just to pick an area of the island I wish to dwell. I need to find a place and negotiate a 1 year lease that wouldn't even begin until the new year. Most homes rented over there are set up as short term leases as these are the money makers for the owners for short term vacation rentals. But some more good news, I found a villa near the capitol of Cagliari, an area I have been most interested in anyways as it has the largest population center on the island and doesn't shut down like ghost town during the winter months like most of the island does. As a musician, I wanted to be close to some urban social scene and as well as close to medical facilities and what not. I sent an inquiry to the owner of the villa and he responded quickly and is in fact an American as well! We then has a nice conversation on WhatsApp, the preffered communication method when speaking to others overseas, and he filled me in on all the particulars. When I explained my plight, he then offered me a 1 year lease that would begin in January 2026 and now I feel things are truly lining up. Of course we will meet in a couple of months so that I can look at the place, two minute walk to the beach, swimming pool, large villa that is divided into three units as the other 2 smaller parts are used as a B&B for vacationers for about 6 months out of the year. All utilities are already included to in the price which is 2500 euros a month. My only worry is the square footage of my portion is only 1400 sq ft and I wonder if it will present a problem for my 7 foot piano that would soon be purchased. lol! I guess there are bigger things to worry about than that, but right now I feel more excited how things are seemingly falling into place.
-
It's a bad habit aquired from posting on FB from my PC. For some reason, hitting enter while making a comment there doubles as Submit! Frustrating for sure but there you have it.
I love
this forum's Enter key
much better.
-
@NobodySock Exciting!!! Keep us updated. I will follow along vicariously!!
-
In case there was wonder why the percentage of respondents from a piscina of 2 milione lavoratori came in under projection,
The predominante predare has been the belief, the newwwww conspiracy theory actually! , that Trump and son will renege on you for sure if you accept it. Look at both their pasts they cry. I've heard a ton in 2 weeks. "Don't Take the Fork! The fork is the sign of the Devil!" The new conspiracy is that they are certain that the evil duo of Trump and Son, won't blink an eye if they happen to renege on their promise, based on both's sordid past treatment of employees. Me? I pondered on that possibility for the "Very Generous 9 days" we were given to decide, from an email that looked liked fried spam in a skillet. "wtf email is this? a joke?" There was no OPM officialdom in this email at all. It seemed to be written by a youth! Reading it over later more slowly picturing the person who wrote it, I could clearly see that it was Elon Musk's beautiful looking boy X AE A-12. lol! -
I’m going to strongly suggest you also try some Bechstein…. They have improved over the past 15 years… The Academy Series is damn good for the price, though I personally prefer Bosie…
-
awww, my kingdom for a booosie! There sails off into the Tyrrhenian Sea one cabin cruiser, one brand sparkling new motor bike, a fine hybrid suv to take me pets to the beach every morn. Me castle on the hill overlooking the same sparkling sea. All for a boosie in a flat. I dunno, methnks only Jon could live like that.
