it’s a new year

"speak friend, and enter!"

• The door of the mines of Moria, LOTR, The fellowship of the Ring

a new year has begun, an old one passed away.
i thoight i'd try and write a small status of my life, my interests, and dreams. for those that know me well, not much has changed. for those that know me in passing a few clues could be had, and for those that don't know me yet, a new understanding?

first things first. i live in a small apartment in copenhagen with my beaytiful girlfriend signe. i'm in love. and it's a great feeling, and above all a great lesson in priorities.

my parents live 5 minutes away by bicycle, and i have loads of great friends everywhere.

i'm happy. i have no idea what i want to do with my life, and no real plan beyond the immediate future, but i'm happy. copenhagen is covered in snow this morning, i've loads of work to do and never enough time to do it, but somehow i get the feeling that that doesn't single me out as anything special.

maybe this does:
about 3 years ago, these very days, i quit my job as a department manager in the (then) succesful web agency, icon medialab. before the bubble burst. i went to africa as a volunteer to get away from what i call the "growth imperative" of the dot-com era (and of western society in general?). to get away from the idea that making a fortune buying and selling stock, while not contributing in any real sense to the world around you, is somehow not just ok, but in fact admirable. well, i don't admire it. i admire people who make a difference in the world they live in. in any small way. by smiling at the right times, by being a good, understanding boss, by speaking out against injustice, racism and bigotry, or caring, i mean really caring for their friends and family.
i left to get away when the opportunity arose. i realized that to be truly happy succes is not enough. being good at what i do gives me great satisfaction, but not enough to ignore what it is i am doing with my skills. africa was great. a kind of college experience, living in a great big house with 6 other geek volunteers, working with a local wireless isp, enjoying new friendships and new places, being happy, having fun. it was one of those experiences that will forever remain with me. a defining moment?

while i was gone, realism returned once again to the it industry. the good times of self-defined jobs was gone, and thank god for that. not that i would wish the lost jobs and stuff, even on my worst enemy, but it was a needed change. there are limits even to positive madness. and the it industry is, if it is anything, slightly manic-depressive. ebullient or suicidal. no middle road.

it was a good change, even if it meant getting used to living on less, buying fewer geek toys, and toning down the restaurant visits to more reasonable levels. i did some consultancy, mostly because there was no job i really wanted in the depression of mid-2000, but also because i had become (and still am) enamored of the idea that there is something i can do in the developing world. ghana proved that. there is room in the world for combining what i love (technology) with what i believe in (that there is something we can do, besides dying, to make the world a slightly better place).

working with it projects in the developing world is what does it for me. inspired by ethan of geekcorps fame, i've decided to try it on for size. it's not necessarily a plan for life, or even a career in the traditional sense. just something i have the need (and opportunity) to try on for size.
after all when opportunity knocks, who's bold enough not to answer the door? and opportunity has knocked. while i was dreaming up ways of staying in the business, i was lucky enough that someone else agreed with me on the valkue of doing something. some time early last year, came probably the most significant act of the last few years of my life. i faded out a consultancy gig, and joined my friend and colleague sebastian in starting wire.less.dk.
i won't get too deep into our comings and goings with wire.less.dk here. suffice it to say that we both belive in not only the possibility, but also the necessity, of distributed, locally owned networks, and that low-cost wireless technologies lend themselves admirably to that kind of application. and finally that everyone in the world has a right, and a need to be part of the internet, to have access to information, education and enlightenment, as well as the global markets.
that's what we're working for, and as so many people have said before. having to make do with less money, and fewer material pleasures is a small price to pay for living what you believe.
If you have a hard time grasping that fact, or just want to a second opinion, read this.

"The ruling assumption is that money is the shortest route to freedom. Absurdly, that strategy is cast as the "practical approach." But in truth, the opposite is true. The shortest route to the good life involves building the confidence that you can live happily within your means ( whatever the means provided by the choices that are truly acceptable to you turn out to be ). It's scary to imagine living on less. But embracing your dreams is surprisingly liberating. Instilled with a sense of purpose, your spending habits naturally reorganize, because you discover that you need less."

wish us luck.