The benefits of self unemployment

Many times I just do things because I can.  I decide whether I can do something and if I can I usually make the jump and head in that direction, so is the case with self employment.  It takes discipline, commitment, and a strong work ethic if you want to be your own boss.  I realize these things reflecting on what it has taken over these last twenty some years.  I love what I do and just never considered it work, it is an integral part of my life.  It is me.  I don't separate work and pleasure, because my work is my pleasure.  I still think it is fantastic that I can can create something from nothing but a verbal description, and sometime I have to struggle to get that description from a potential client.  The challenges of architecture and business energize my motor.  Sure I get tired and worn out, but once rested I want to jump right back into the fray

So yesterday, Sunday, because the weather was a warm 50 degrees, I went to a job site to measure a building.  It is a new project.  The owner of a small house wants to convert it into a business occupancy.  He has a tenant that operates a small frame shop.  It is a small house, but a neat house.  There are tons  of new apartments going up around Durham, and this little house sits right behind a new project.  It reminds me of the movie "Up" and the book I recently read "Under One Roof"

Isn't this how most people imagine spending their relaxing Sunday afternoons?  Clip board with quadrille paper, tape measure, laser measure, and a portable speaker with a small MP3 player inside attached to my belt loop with a carabiner!  

Some times you get to see some neat things as this house was built with "real" 2 x 4s, yep I measured them and they were actually 2" x 4".  No insulation in the walls, as it is being stripped and renovated on the inside. Wood slats and plaster.

Field measuring to me is fun, it is sort of like trying to put a puzzle together.  Once you get back to the office you have to make sure all the parts fit.  Usually they don't and there is some errant dimension that just doesn't make sense.  I always tell the client, I will be back out a second time.  I am experienced enough to know that.