TEDx talk

At the end of February I will have the honour of being a presenter at a TEDx event.  tedxchilliwack.com  The theme of the event is 'Stories that empower us.' My talk is the last of one on the schedule. As I considered the theme of my talk, one subject struck me as really important.  'It's time to retire!'  I retired at age twenty-three and firmly believe almost everyone could retire early if they chose. My definition of retirement is as follows...  I'll get up when I want. I don't commute. My schedule is flexible. We have enough to be comfortable. We stay home or travel for fun. We do what we love every day, surrounded by family. We have fun. We have a backyard shop where we build cool stuff. And the list goes on...  

I see so many people around me putting off these things for decades while they work at something they don't enjoy. Their hope is to be wealthy, healthy and fit enough to be able to do these things when they are too old to work. They trade away their best years against the future few. Is that really logical? So how do we retire early? My talk will show how I did it at age twenty-three and stayed happily retired ever since.

I strongly believe that the small choices we make every single day effect our lives and future in a profound way. We are tomorrow what we choose to do and be today. It sure beats working!

Some day

For every project we build there are three or four more that never make it past the design stage. The reality of budgets, permissions, timing and many other factors sometimes delay or defeat many great ideas. We keep every idea we come up with on file and handy for possible future reference. Inevitably, when they do surface again they are reworked to suit the current application. And once more the ideas presented await their turn at becoming real.

Rusty beauty

Before the gates were pulled from the shop we gave them a quick spritz of mild reactive acid. They were then set out in the weather to gather a rust patina. In a couple of days the rust colour evenly spread over the entire surface and the gate's look changed in a large way. Once they are welded into place we'll use some dyes to make the layers slightly different hues and in the process separate them visually.