iPhone Dev @ home in Berkeley CA

I haven’t posted to my blog much lately because I have been spending way too much time sitting in front of my computer teaching myself how to develop iPhone apps.  I have a lot to say about the past few months — too much — to the point that I don’t even know where to start.

I have learned a ton in the past few months not only about how to code iPhone apps but also about Silicon Valley, start-ups, and recession economics.  And while I was on the road, I met numerous people that were budget traveling because it was cheaper and better for their spirits than paying high rents and getting depressed about not being able to find a job.

I have no plans of hitting the road and moving from California in the foreseeable future.  So in the spirit of the recession, I’m going to be sharing on my blog everything I learn about starting up an iPhone dev business and other experiments I have done in the past on location independent sources of income.

And, of course, I’ll still throw in some of my usual travel style posts about what makes California a great place not only to visit but to live, such as:

Exploring the lighthouse at Point Reyes National Seashore,

hiking with pelicans along the coastal cliffs near Santa Cruz

and imagining a brighter future on a bench along West Cliff in Santa Cruz.

There's no disaster that can't become a blessing, and no blessing that can't become a disaster. -- Richard Bach

When I was swinging hammers with Habitat for Humanity in New Orleans 2.5 years after Katrina hit I asked myself more than once if what I was doing was a good thing. I went to New Orleans because I wanted to help those less fortunate. Yet when I arrived I found that many never returned to rebuild. Instead they turned a disaster into an opportunity to rebuild elsewhere.

Whether or not New Orleans should be rebuilt is debatable. Odds are there will be another Katrina, just with a different name. There is a good chance the levees will break again and the house I helped build will be destroyed. As I pounded nails into the framing of a new home that may be destroyed in the next hurricane I thought to myself – if it was me, I would rebuild elsewhere.

For many the current economic crisis is their Katrina. People are losing their jobs and their homes. Life as they knew it is gone. Change has been forced upon them. Where do they go from here?

It is hard to let go of what you once knew. But for those who can let go, the current economic crisis can be a great opportunity. An opportunity to rebuild elsewhere.

Photo credit: Flickr