Life is full of surprises.
While working with local housing rehabilitation programs, I made many friends. Before that, I had owned a small cabinet shop. When I went to work for local government, I closed the shop for several years.
As my interest in housing rehabilitation deepened, I began writing about our local activities and was eventually invited to write a book for NAHRO, a national housing organization.
That book led to national recognition and eventually to the creation of my own consulting and publishing company specializing in housing rehabilitation programs.
The business did well until the early 1980s, when the federal government shut down many housing assistance programs. In just a few months, I had to reopen my cabinet shop to make a living.
It was disappointing, but I was still doing work that I enjoyed.
One of my friends contacted me about building cabinets for their restaurant. They were a young couple, and a few months later, while expecting their first child, they asked me to design and build a custom crib and chest of drawers.
It was a generous contract, and I gladly accepted it.
The custom crib appears below. In addition to the crib itself, it included a small set of drawers for diapers and baby supplies, along with two large, deep drawers underneath for blankets and sheets.
The matching chest of drawers featured large, roomy drawers and a custom top section that folded forward to create a changing table for the baby.
Both pieces were constructed from solid maple lumber, while the drawers were made from birch plywood.
The couple was pleased with the furniture, and over the next few years — until I left Tampa in 1986 — they continued asking me to build additional pieces and recommended me to many of their friends.
In 1986, I arrived in Austin with a truck full of furniture and woodworking tools. I set up my shop in a small building in East Austin and continued my woodworking business until the Austin Hyatt became one of my customers.
Eventually, they asked me to move my shop into their Engineering Department, where I remained for four years.
During that time, I learned information technology. Once I was qualified, I became the Hyatt’s IT Manager, a position I held for sixteen years before retiring after twenty years of service.
In 2007, while still the IT Manager at Hyatt, I returned once again to writing and began a small, part-time publishing business that I continue to enjoy today.