Setting up shop

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My family and I finally moved into our new old house on Sunday. We are slowly gaining the upper hand in the battle of the boxes. The kids have got some of their toys back and are finding their way around the place. I can find most things by looking in only about three cupboards. 

And my new office is almost finished. The last occupant of this place was a boat-builder, and he had a great workshop in the back yard (see pic). I would love to have kept it as-is, but a couple of days of trying to work in the house made it clear that I need a workspace outside the house. 

So I've partitioned off half the space, added a long landscape window, and a floor, and a built-in desk, and it should be comfortable enough to work in for a few months at least, maybe even years.

Even starting with some constraints, it was surprisingly hard to put my finger on exactly what would make my ideal workspace. Here are some of the things I decided I wanted, in no particular order:

  • Some sort of view
  • Natural light, ideally from a north-facing skylight
  • A long desk with no cable clutter
  • Plenty of space to tidy hard drives, printers, routers, etc.
  • Plenty of space for books and papers
  • Somewhere comfortable to sit and read
  • Somewhere to work on non-computery stuff (like another desk)
  • A wood-burning stove
  • A kitchenette and a toilet

The skylight, stove, and sanitation will have to wait, but I think I got most of the rest checked. I'll post a follow-up when it's nearing completion.

 

Landed!

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After a predictably exhausting trip across Kensington, then across Calgary, then across Canada, then across Nova Scotia, we have landed in our new town. Next week (we hope) we make the final move across the village to our house. Before then, we have some painting, planning, repairing and replacing to do. Fun stuff, but I am going to be trying to make myself useful to present and future clients while we do it. We'll see how that goes!

In the meantime, I got my new business cards just before we left Calgary. They are a bit home-made, but I like it that way. The geeky 2D barcode thing is a QRCode, and very easy to make online (just Google make qrcode). This one points at this website. You can encode more or less anything in them, but the more text you encode, the bigger they get. They max out at 255 characters.

Packing our bags

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We fly to Halifax in a week. Before that, we have to pack up our house... or, rather, watch some guys come to pack up our house. Supposedly it will only take a day, and they'll be ready to load the truck on Tuesday. Unfortunately, it has become very cold and snowy, so it won't be much fun for them, trudging between the house and the truck.

Relief all around this week as we have finally sold our house, after it was on the market for about ten weeks. The buyer got themselves a good deal, and we got some peace of mind. The transaction doesn't happen till 1 February, but once we get to Nova Scotia, I think time will start to fly. Just as well, since we'll be paying for two mortgages till then. 

Only 7 more sleeps in Calgary.

Welcome to Agile*

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In late August, my family and I spent a week in Chester, Nova Scotia. Beautiful little seaside town. Incredible weather. And the Multiple Listing System. We decided to look at some houses, around Chester, Mahone Bay, and Lunenburg. So gorgeous! So old! So inexpensive! We'd already looked at a few online, of course, talking about the options. Reduce our mortgage(s). Work from home, Enjoy the outdoors, the sea, the community. 

Next thing you know, we've made an offer on an amazing house, had it accepted, talked to a mortgage broker, and changed our lives completely. Our happy, safe, healthy, wealthy life in Calgary, Alberta. In our beautiful, much-loved, unique house. Where my fun, exciting, interesting, well-paid-with-great-benefits job is. Or was, because I quit last Thursday and in two weeks we're moving, jobless, to the other side of the continent to see what life is like in the slow lane.

And I can't wait!