It feels like ages ago that Pia started a company, named in such a way that I would eventually have to join… and join I did. It has been a wonderful experience, not just because it has allowed us to do great things for good money — our preferred arrangement of adjectives! — but because working together has taught us so much about business, the Open Source and ICT industries, and ourselves.

One of the nice things about the way we work is that we’ve had plenty of room for our other loves, in both our commercial and community realms. That flexibility, in turn, has changed our business. So, I’ve sunk my teeth into more technical stuff of late, while Pia has been doing lots of education related work. The up-and-down nature of consulting can sometimes be a bit scary, but the ability to evolve our business with our interests — and the changing needs of the market! — is awesome. We’re a rockin’ team.

Of course, none of what I’ve written above really helps to explain why, in the last couple of weeks, we decided to completely change everything. I suppose the flexibility bit might. Anyway, when Pia was invited to join Senator Kate Lundy’s team as a policy advisor, focusing on ICT (as an engine, not a sector), government openness and transparency, and online engagement, there was barely a heartbeat between the two of us before “yes” was the obvious answer. Pia started a week after the offer.

See, there’s a side of me that would totally take a job removing staples from parliamentary dishwashing memos in order to work in Parliament House, but Pia is not the politics tragic that I am… She’s leaping in because the recipe is right: not only are these fantastic and important things to work on, but by working with (seriously clueful) Senator Lundy, there’s a huge opportunity to actually Get Shit Done. A mission worthy of the kung fu steamroller, don’t you think?

Pia’s commute to her new office might have been more of a concern had we not bought a house and moved to Yass just before Christmas. The whole thing is surreal to me on a number of fronts: (a) we bought a house, which seems somewhat shocking among our generation, (b) we decided to buy a house in a matter of days and moved in a matter of weeks, (c) we live in Yass, and (d) we’re really, really enjoying it.

It’s so… serene. We get to spend more time with Pia’s family. There are cows on the hill behind our house. We have a back yard and a shed. The abject lack of urban convenience is improving our abject lack of routine. Win!

So, as of this anniversary we can announce that we’re taking the next logical step for the Waugh family…

We’re getting a puppy!

Happy fourth, poo.

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