Not long after I turned 25, I graduated from the university and went to work for an architectural firm in Albany, OR.  Within two years an economic recession hit the country and I was soon on the street looking for another employer.  In the next eighteen months I worked for four different firms.  Two offices hired me for the duration of a specific project only; another firm I abandoned after six months because the driving distance was too great; and the final firm I said my goodbye so as to begin work at Hewlett-Packard.  I took the position with Hewlett-Packard (HP) thinking, when the recession ended, I would go back to the nomadic profession of architecture.  But, the golden handcuffs of HP held me tight for the next 24 years.  

While working for HP I sprouted another interest: flipping houses.  What started as a hobby eventually became and overwhelming housing development and I finally had to step away.  While my colleagues at HP were making money in the stock market, I was making money in the housing market.  I used to say to them, “I don’t play the stock market, I play the HP Credit Union.”  Meaning it was so easy to get housing loans from the credit union at the time I didn’t need to invest in the market.  How times have changed. 

When I left HP I went back into real estate and began to design and build our own projects.  Our timing was off target and just as the first project completed the next economic downturn, the housing bubble, collided head on with us.  Inside of a few years I was back to a nine to five job working for the federal government.

Last year, after severing employment ties with the government, I began working with the City of Adair Village to gain approval for a new housing development on our property in Oregon.  And, as always, Lisa and I have been searching for the next opportunity.  We found it.  We have decided to purchase a home in Anacortes, bring it up to date, and then rent it to Ian and Kaylene when they move to Anacortes later this year.  When the kids move out, we will rent the home or sell it if the market is good.

The current owners of the home are members of our church.  When we learned they were moving to Arizona we approached them about buying their home.  We worked out a deal and we are set to close on the purchase May 15. 

Another opportunity has come our way.  And this is an opportunity for both Ian and me, our next career so to speak (my final career).  We have chosen to go into business together as On-site Sewage System Design professionals.  As stinky as this occupation sounds it really is a great opportunity, more so for Ian because he has more years of work ahead of him than I. 

Most homes on the islands are connected to on-site septic systems (other than those homes located in a couple of cities and hooked up to municipal sewage systems), and those home septic systems are designed by sewage system designers.  We are told that over 50% of the current designers will be retiring in a few years and this will leave an unfilled void.  I hope to be licensed within a year, Ian in two years.  Designers today are making $150,00 to $300,000 per year.   

Ian and I took our first design class on Wednesday through the Washington On-site Sewage Association (WOSSA).  It’s not rocket science, but we have a good deal to learn before we’ll feel qualified to take the state exam.  The business name we have chosen is, “Timian Environmental.”

If things go well, Lisa will be retiring in a couple of years.  Yahoo!