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09/01/2006: "my enthusiasm will not be stopped!!!!"

Sometimes I surprise even myself. Take this whole Nanaimo thing - I get super, hyper-excited about it and exceed my due diligence by about a million percent. Then I hear nothing, and of course the excitement rapidly dissipates. Well, guess what - that enthusiasm just isn't taking it lying down. No, instead it regroups and latches onto something else. For the past couple of days I've been roughing out the overall layout for our cohousing development. Go enthusiasm, go!

Now, there may still be a chance that Nanaimo could come through. I am certainly not holding my breath, but I know for a fact that companies get tied up doing day-to-day stuff and put off hiring, especially if it's the summer, doubly so if the last long weekend of the summer is upon us. (Which it happens to be, for those of you living under a rock.) Later this weekend I'll send the recruiter an e-mail inquiring as to whether I've been passed over (which is another possibility) or whether they simply haven't moved on anything yet.

Something else that I realized the other day about this position... there may currently be a glut of people like myself on the market. Remember that I worked in Woodstock? Well, something I may not have mentioned before is that as of this past April, that plant shut down. The corporate beancounters decided that because of the increasing Canadian dollar, high steel prices, and the fact that there's a bigger plant in the US already making the same kind of products, the Woodstock plant was past its usefulness. Thus, a whole lot of engineers and hourly workers got the boot. Of course, that was this past spring, but knowing how sudden unemployment doesn't always get resolved quickly, there still might be a bunch of engineers out there just as willing to move to Nanaimo. I may never know.

OK, back on to what I'm excited about now. Assuming I'm sticking around the area (and unless this gift from God that would be the position in Nanaimo comes through I probably will be), I'm still gung-ho to get a cohousing development off the ground here in town. What that entails at this point is getting members. To get members, I need to organize an "introductory event" - basically a well-publicized public meeting that explains what cohousing is, how it works, and what the current plan is. Thus far this week I've whipped up a rough layout of the development (well, the building at least, no landscaping yet), found a workbook for attracting members and developing the group decision-making dynamics, and a PowerPoint presentation about cohousing (which I still have to review). I already have a list of where to advertise, so once I have a decent presentation ready, I'll select a location, a date and time, and start spreading the word around like mad. I really believe that we could move in within 4 years, but that means getting things going NOW. No time like the present, right?

Meanwhile, I'm still wondering what the heck to do with my career. One recent idea percolating through my head is to start a small equipment leasing company that specializes in green technology sales and leasing. The leasing end of it would be key, however, as that would enable a lot more people to be able to afford going green. The only sticking point right now is determining what makes me any different than any of the thousands of other small-time green technology companies out there. Having in-house leasing would be beneficial, but it isn't sufficient a difference to bank on. I'm thinking I need to concentrate on one, maybe two, technologies. I have two in mind, but one already has a distribution channel, and the other is pre-commericalization at this point. Still, perhaps the combination of leasing and unique products would be enough. I'll have to ponder it more.

All that is far, far in the future. Right now, this weekend, it's all about the basement. The floor is down, and now the baseboards have to go in. After baseboards it's time to install the desk, touch up any paint that needs touching up, and then for all intents and purposes we'll have a finished basement. I'll still have to touch up the stairwell and foyer walls (I did some patching and some scratching during this whole event) and then install the drop ceiling over the desk area (as well as find, buy, and install a light fixture for said area), but all that is stuff that we can live without (or live with, depending on how you want to look at it) for the time being. Right now we just want to get our electronics and furniture set up down there so we can start finding Isaac's room and turning it into a bedroom again. Ah, the fun never ends.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have a cohousing presentation to review. Time's a ticking - I need 15 committed families within two years! Hussle, hussle, hussle!