No, I didn't retire (though I keep saying I'm getting out of the consulting business). I went to the retirement dinner for my old science department chair at SLUH. It was like a blast from the past, because he invited all the teachers I used to work with.
SLUH always does a little speech before they give the retiree a gold watch (or Apple watch these days). But rather than do something maudlin, several teachers from the department decided to do a comedic roast, complete with props. I'd totally forgotten that the kids used to call Eric,
The Sheriff. When I was at SLUH, the students literally wrote a Wikipedia reference about Eric being the Sheriff and posted it on the internet, but Wikipedia discovered it and made them take it down since he wasn't a "real" Sheriff.
Eric was Brian's physics teacher when he went to SLUH (that was before I taught there). Brian's senior year, he took all the physics students to Chicago to see the reactor at Argonne National Lab. Eric doesn't mind driving long distances. He lives in Washington, MO and drives about 100 miles back and forth to school every day. Over his 27-year career, that's about the equivalent of driving to the moon and back. Luckily when I worked at SLUH, I was close enough to ride my bike.
Eric and I went to a few Physics Teacher conventions together, but one year, I ditched the workshops and went shopping with his wife. We had such a good time that we became really good friends.
Bruce and I rarely dress up, so I was hoping to take this opportunity to get a photo of the 2 of us for this year's Christmas card. Unfortunately, they started serving dinner and the idea flew right out of my head. We're probably going to end up with more hiking photos like last year's card.
