Life got real busy in 2019. I left a struggling startup in the valley, then moved back to LA to work for an aerospace company.
Finally out of storage units. 
And straight into the new garage.
Shortly thereafter they ghosted me, and I was here, in rural LA, with no job, a fresh lease. And no time to think about that.
My mom got cancer.
I drove across the country, to Florida, to be with her before chemo started. I’m glad we could hang and she could meet Servo.
Times got dark.
But, sometimes, you catch a little break. A former colleague offered me some remote contract work to help me get through, and I’ve been coding up simulations in python for a couple months now, part time. It’s real fun to dive into code, making pretty pictures from math, that are pretty useful too. Can’t get too far into what it is 😛
Of course, on the way back from Florida, I bricked my laptop, caught a rock in the middle of my windshield and found out I may carry a rare genetic mutation that affects my chances of getting cancer. ( I can’t really afford the test ). 2019 wasn’t done with me yet.
But I also met a wonderful person, and they helped me through the journey, along with all my olde friends and my puppy Servo.
Casey helped with burn trailer upgrades! 
Matt and Adelle <3 roomie family 
Colin at the nug n chug 
Rachel and the puppy family 
Syd in the desert 
Elliot came up with our rad cyberpunk jackets! 
Off the chain cali life. 
Ninjula on the decks. 
OG prop components crew.
These have been the hardest few months so far in my life. I can’t overstate how much I appreciate all the love and listening to me being a sad sack my friends put up with. My crew really are the best. I dunno how I carry on in the days when I’m not leaning on them.
Here we are, in a new year. Time to get back at it. The slog.
On the 4th this showed up in my driveway :D, a (practically) brand new Haas TM2P, CNC mill. A former colleague from SpaceX moved out of country and gave it to me ( for the time being)
I’d wanted a milling machine basically as the only major purchase goal I had when I graduated from college, but I’ve never managed to have the space, time, or money for it. But right when everything was way down, it showed up out of nowhere. All tooled up. I just gotta figure out power, get it leveled, and swarf.io (my machine shop business idea) is back!
Next, my mom’s tumor is totally gone now. There’s still chemo to go, and it’ll be a long fight, but I’m counting this a big win.
I’ve got a big project list for this year. Let’s see how many I can do 😀
- Get full time employment (or equivalent)
- swarf.io – set up a small prototyping / engineering services business
- Upgrade my house – ( projects: flower pot, picture frames, Desk )
- Get magnetic encoders working with O-drive
- Build a plotter robot
- Develop a machined product 😀
- Start a construction / infrastructure startup company ( mayyybe :D)
- Find a girlfriend ( putting it on this project list so I stop forgetting )
- Train Servo to walk off leash, roll over, play dead, fart elsewhere
- Defcon (year 3)!
- Burning man (year 8)!
Money is still super tight, but I’m back on top with a positive attitude. Cranking out cad models, code, parts, dreams.
If things are down, Hang in there. Grit, determination, and a little luck, you can make it through.