Editor's Page

Changes and challenges: obstacles to progress

by Rob Riggen

Hi all,

As they say, change is the only constant! I've had an interesting and invigorating 2 weeks. Currently I am in between jobs (unemployed). This comes at a time where my wife and I are preparing for our third child's arrival next month. We also have just purchased a new car (because you can't fit 3 car seats in a Jeep Wranger!) and we need some interior home renovations to accomodate the growing family. So I can think of worse situations to be in but this one is sure to take a few months off of my life span. To anyone out there with a flying RV... can you add years back on to your life through flying your homebuilt aircraft?

In spite of all of this busy-ness I was able to get started on my RV-7 tail kit again! There were 2 major obstacles to this; no space set up for working and no place to put the compressor. I solved the first problem by giving up on the notion that I'll have a perfectly clean, organized and climate-controlled space for the building process. I simply went to the basement where my tools and workbench ended up (after moving into the house 4 years ago), swept aside some junk and pulled out the plans and parts for the vertical stab. That felt good! The second problem was solved by convincing my wife to locate the compressor just outside the kitchen window. That puts it outside the house (for the noise) and near enough to a 220 volt outlet that I can plug it in. The hose and power cord run through an old dryer vent opening to the basement. This compromise workshop situation will allow me to get back into the build process. Sweet!

Of all of "life's little distractions" that seem to get in the way of building this airplane, my day job was by far the biggest time drain. Removing this distraction would really free up the most time for the airplane project. I've been scheming for years on ways to cut that daemon from my schedule. Now that it has happened I'm not sure I'm totally ready to go cold turkey without it.

I am exploring some creative replacments to the 40 plus hour commitment that my job has represented for the past 10 or fifteen years. It has always been a hope that one of my software creations would take off and provide a stream of revenue which would allow me some flexibility. While this endeavor does appear to be moving in the right direction, I am currenty in no danger of retiring before I am 40. I had often predicted early retirement from the naivete of my late teens.

In any regard, my line of work does allow me to explore opportunities which are far outside of my geographical location. I am a Web application programmer. Already since the first of this week I have had 3 interviews. One locally, one in Massachusetts and one in Las Vegas. On Monday of next week I'm interviewing (via telephone) with an outfit in Cupertino, CA.

Without a doubt the most rewarding and engaging work I've been involved in is aviation. Specifically, creating and managing ExperCraft Simple Log and producing the RV Builder's Hotline has provided me the most pleasure. Unfortunately that doesn't always mean that it's going to pay the bills. Could it be that there's generally an inverse relationship between a job's "fun factor" and the level of compensation? I doubt it. I no longer believe that I'll be retired before I go gray. But I do hold out hope that I'll be able to make a decent paycheck at a job which is a lot of fun.

One note for all of the dedicated readers of the Hotline: In light of recent events I'm going to produce the Hotline every other week. At least for a little while. This will allow me to keep putting out issues with plenty of content and also free up enough of my time to get some personal things squared away.

Thanks for reading and keep on pounding those rivets or burning the avgas if you're lucky enough to be flying!

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