I realised I had two choices: get serious about running a proper business offering full-service Website development and management where I had more control over the infrastructure, or give up.

I have chosen the business.

Announcing Overall Web: Website Management for Business

I wrote about it here: The Beginning of Overall Web.

Today I launched our first project, a re-design of a Website that I did for free for a good cause: The Marysville Cookbook.

Check it out.

I enjoy most aspects of not going to work in the city each day: I get to spend a lot of time with my kids; I can dress as I please; I have fresh air and natural light; I have time to think and write and garden and cook. While I’m friendly and enjoy working with people, I’m comfy living with my own company most days. In many ways, it’s an existence that suits me well.

The problem is of course money. As with most couples, we can’t live on the one income. Inevitably we slide further into debt each time I’m out of work. And the further in debt we get, the more money we require just to survive, let alone improve the situation.

Then things get really tight. I survey the pile of bills that are due and overdue and wonder which to pay now and which I can let slide for a bit longer. I now live in a survival state of mind: how can we get through the next week; what about the end of the month?

And here’s the thing: that state of mind becomes self-fulfilling. When all I can do is think about the minimum amount of money I need next week to survive, I forget that anything more than that is possible.

Sure it’s a good thing to live more simply on less money. There is a whole downsizing movement and I embrace it enthusiastically; my own needs are simple. But there’s a difference between living comfortably on less money and struggling in the face of scarcity.

This time is going to be different. I have started a business, which will be the subject of a post soon. I have clear financial goals for that business. Life is going to get better.

I am looking beyond scarcity and survival to a time of sufficiency.

On 18 March 1910, Harry Houdini—yes, that Harry Houdini—made the first controlled, sustained, powered flight in Australia. He did it at Diggers Rest in Victoria, which is about a ten-minute drive from here. He flew a Voisin biplane. As part of the anniversary celebrations, there was to be a Centenary Air Show at nearby Melton airfield.

I love aircraft. We don’t have many air shows and they’re never less than an hour’s drive away. Having two children means that I rarely get out on my own. But for once there were no sporting or family commitments, no urgent need to shop or drive anyone around. I was actually free to go. And so I did.

It was a modest show and a slow day, one more for enthusiasts than general public. Every little while, another aircraft would take off, or fly in from elsewhere, and perform a few manoeuvres. That was fine; I enjoyed walking around on my own, looking at the aircraft on display, watching the flying. Aerobatics still do little to excite me, even when performed by a national champion. I find a smooth, banked fly past much more exciting, especially performed at high speed. Similarly, most old biplanes and ugly warbirds don’t turn me on despite the sound of the engine; I like elegance and grace. A yellow De Havilland DH.92 Moth Minor was a pretty sight in the air.

I don’t know what the aircraft above is but it was a beautiful thing in the bright sun.

The DC-3 was the largest aircraft there and one of the few we were allowed to walk around and touch. The wings provided welcome shade from a hot sun. I was slightly surprised to find that the control surfaces were fabric-covered. In the air it seemed to fly and respond to control input the way a bus might drive through deep sand.

The only camera I took was my iPhone, despite my wife’s kind offer to lend me her Nikon D200 or D700. That limited me to close-up shots of static aircraft, which was fine by me because I’d rather be watching the flying than taking awful photographs of it. Carrying a dedicated camera, especially a DSLR, almost obliges one to take Photographs. I’d rather feel free to just snap stuff that interests me. The iPhone camera is more forgiving thing than a DSLR, good for people like me. It also has an advantage over many compact digicams: it’s a lot more responsive. As other people have discovered, the iPhone seems to continually buffer images so, when you take the photo, it has already captured the image from the moment before. You get the shot of the moment you wanted, not the shot after. I see it as yet another example of Apple’s deep and subtle attention to UI detail.

Welcome to what must be at least the tenth incarnation of my site. It’s a little rough but it will evolve.

After a long time of not writing any piece longer than 140 characters—albeit over 37,000 such pieces in 3 years—I find that I once more have the desire to write in the longer form. Perhaps it’s a time-of-life thing, for I notice that I’ve begun to look back over my life and also forward to when I’m no longer here. I have felt numb, but now there are things that are important and that I care about.

Firstly though, I shall be focussing on finding work. I used to do Oracle database development for large corporations; I was pretty bloody good at it. Lately I do freelance Website management: everything from coding a WordPress theme to setting up an online store. Working from home on my own schedule makes life with kids much, much easier. But the work is more sporadic and less lucrative than I would like. I’ve decided it is time to get more serious: I am establishing a full-service business, likely aimed at industry and trades.

In the meantime, I am available for hire.