There was no downtime after leaving my ex-partners, as a client in Fort Worth was building a new home and asked me to handle their AV and security systems. Within a month I had a deposit on a $150k project, and a lot of work to do.

Fortunately I was also able to hire the technicians that left my previous partners to work on both that project, and a large multi-floor data cabling project for Lockheed. That was a very busy year, and a good start to the next chapter of my life.

As those projects were wrapping up and things were starting to slow down, a call from Crestron came asking if I could help a dealer in Austin. It started with programing the whole-house Crestron system for a retired Dell exec, and kept going from there, with travel to Austin for Crestron programming work becoming so frequent that for about a year I kept apartments in both Arlington and Austin.

Ultimately I relocated to Austin full-time, kept meeting people who needed help, and kept saying yes. Over the next 6 years, I worked as a contract programmer and consultant to several Audio Video companies, and worked directly for other residential and commercial clients. During my time in Austin, I was fortunate to meet and work with some great people.

• (Contract) Programmed and implemented a Crestron automation system at the Austin home of a US Congressional Representative.
• (Direct) Designed and managed the installation of Crestron automation and Lutron Lighting systems, Phone and Gate Entry systems, and Audio Video systems for a 24,000 sq.ft. house outside of Austin.
• (Direct) Designed and programmed several Crestron systems for MSDF.
• (Contract) Programmed and implemented a Crestron based interface to Security, Camera and Access Control systems at the Texas Governor's Mansion in Downtown Austin.
• (Direct) Obtained Canadian work visa and assisted in completion of 3 Crestron projects in Vancouver Canada, including one aboard a 55' motor yacht.

Managing large projects with a lot of moving parts is anything but easy, as they usually involve long lead times, endless meetings and inevitable scheduling delays. However, the payoff was always the finished product. Having your design come to life, seeing people enjoying the system, is a very satisfying experience. 

However, one Sunday afternoon in the spring of 2009, while sitting on my back porch listening to the sound of a creek in the distance, I found myself debating whether I should say yes to another project. It was a hard decision as it implied a multi-year commitment, and it quickly became clear that I felt burned out. As much as I enjoyed the work, I had been going nearly non-stop since 1996, and the excitement had started to wear off.

Despite having the good fortune of spending many of my working days in homes that could be (or in some cases were) in Architectural Digest, my work had become a routine. I reflected on my time in the Arizona desert 15 years earlier, living in a yurt and watching the sunset while listening to the nearby creek, and realized it was time for a change.

After a brief search and a long weekend in North Carolina, I found a remote writers cabin outside of Asheville. So, I put down a deposit and returned to Austin with a renewed sense of enthusiasm. It took about 6 months to wind everything down, but everything went relatively smoothly. In August of 2009, me and my dog left Austin for the Blue Ridge Mountains.