Cuyler,

Interesting story and life.  Nice balance between the tower and the
suite.  Convinced me once again that what appear to some outsiders to
be compromises of our dreams, that we make to secure our families, are
in fact the forces that drive us forward.  Both the tower experience
and the jet set are richer for the other.  I think.

Thank you, I think your story helps push away the doubts for another
day.

-jc

On Nov 18, 2003, at 5:07 PM, Cuyler Page wrote:

> Ken,
> Thanks for the loggy info.  Lumby is just down the road a few miles.
> Years
> ago, when officially unemployed after a summer of being a fire lookout
> (living joyously with wife and baby in a 14' square lookout with 24
> windows), I applied to be in the first course in log building offered
> by
> Allen Mackie, the (now old) grand master of the modern log building
> movement
> here in BC.   I needed to have my attendance at the course approved by
> the
> Unemployment Insurance Commission to keep a cash flow going through the
> winter,something they liked to do then for anyone seeking job
> retraining,
> but I was told emphatically by the Commission bureaucrat that there
> was no
> future for employment in such a hobby and that my attendance was not
> approved.   It was a life-course moment of change, at least it became
> a path
> not taken that I  knew I would be good at.
>
> Wife, baby and mortgage took precedence to subtle UI starvation, and we
> moved to another town where I was able to develop a business building
> architectural models, and soon was back working in an architectural
> office
> as a jet-set architectural supervisor for some high-rise projects in
> downtown Victoria, BC.   Almost overnight, life went from (1) living
> on a
> mountain top and sharing breakfast pancakes with the Whiskey Jacks that
> would come sit on our outdoor porch table trying to steal food from our
> baby's plate, to (2) jetting once a week to two big city projects
> where one
> contractor and I did business over breakfast in a penthouse restaurant
> overlooking the Victoria Harbour and the job site a few blocks away
> (he said
> he could keep an eye on things from up there while he was
> off-site)(that job
> was a construction nightmare due to the contractor and the only time I
> have
> ever felt fear of collapse on a job-site).   Today, there are log
> building
> companies all over the place in BC, and every time I pass one I recall
> that
> UI desk jockey up North, but I can't say it wasn't fun to jet-set for a
> while, staying each week in a suite in a fancy hotel that the
> out-of-town
> architect I work with had booked for a year.   God has been good!
> Life has
> been rich with experiences.
>
> cp in bc
>
>> CP, Are you a member of the International Log Builders Association?
>> If not, possibly you should consider looking into it or at least
>> making
>> a connection.  Let me know if you are interested.
>> http://www.logassociation.org/
>> International Log Builders' Association
>> PO Box 775
>> Lumby, BC
>> V0E 2G0 Canada
>> ][<en
>
> --
> To terminate puerile preservation prattling among pals and the
> uncoffee-ed, or to change your settings, go to:
> <http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/bullamanka-pinheads.html>
>

--
To terminate puerile preservation prattling among pals and the
uncoffee-ed, or to change your settings, go to:
<http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/bullamanka-pinheads.html>