2016

me

my mom

my friends

my house

2016 turned out to be a very intense year. The construction work on our house hit the back burner while a whole lot of life happened...

In 2016: I left my employer to start my own business, lost my mom to cancer, composed and officiated a wedding ceremony for good friends at Yosemite's Glacier Point, attended my mom's memorial service and overcame my introverted nature enough to share some memories and appreciation, managed a thriving new business, paid off every bit of my non-mortgage debt, continued work on building my house, and grew a handlebar mustache. I'm emotionally exhausted after that year, but ready to find a new balance and move forward.

Somewhere around mid-2015, I realized that I wasn't going to complete the first phase of the forever-house project (a livable garage) within my planned budget, and that I would have to take on a significant amount of debt to get it done. In addition to the satisfaction of knowing that I've built my family's home with my own hands, a goal in this project is to come out of it owning a house without a mortgage. I realized that the financial opportunities that I needed to meet my goals didn't exist with my employer, and, upon further reflection, I realized that the opportunities I needed didn't exist with any employer. So... I spent about half a year planning my new business and my exit from my employer, and in mid-march 2016, I officially became a self-employed civil engineer, and jumped head-first into a market where my services were in ridiculous demand. I have learned more about being an engineer in the last year than I may have learned in the remainder of my career, had I not taken this leap, and I have solved every single one of my financial hurdles (at the expense of time to put into my house project).

One thing I am grateful for in the timing of this leap to self-employment, is that my mom got to see me taking that leap, and succeeding at it. One of the things I greatly admired about my mom was her businesses; she was starting and running businesses for most of my life, and I am glad she got to see me get a successful start at doing the same.

Now, I'm working to find a balance between my career and other things I would like to devote time to... like building my house!

I left this project with the framing mostly complete, but covered in tarps and needing a roof. My intent was to hire a roofer to do the job. I generally enjoy building, but the idea of working on a very-steep roof, and the associated risk of falling off of that roof, was not even remotely appealing. But, the same economy that gave me a very successful start into self-employment has apparently left roofers unavailable to accept new jobs. So... I took a deep breath and consulted the Google for "how to install shingles on a steep roof". Thus I learned about roof jacks and ladders, and step-flashing and valley-flashing, and the concept of building my roof started to seem a little more possible.

I'm about a quarter of the way done with my roof, and picking up speed as I learn how this aspect of construction goes together. I certainly won't impress anyone with the speed of my work, but... I'm getting it done, and getting it done right. The peace of mind that comes from knowing that my house was built with top-quality materials and no shortcuts is priceless.

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ps: I can't help thinking of Donkey Kong when I look at this photo...