Three hundred ninety three days, seven hours, thirteen minutes, fifty five seconds. Fifty six. Fifty seven. Fifty eight. Fifty nine… It’s been just over a year since I walked into the Slant offices, bought and Mac Mini and then worked over a hundred hours in ten days on an experimental interactive installation.

At noon on the thirtieth of April I parked my moving van near the Vancity at eighth and Cambie, hopped out after a long drive with my fiancée and my dog, went for a short walk to the bank and then headed to our new apartment around the corner.

It was a good day. We’d gotten stuck in Kelowna overnight, but that was alright because we had some much needed rest after two sleepless weeks in one of the worst bed & breakfast joints in Calgary. I’m convinced it was run by a chocolate Lab. We got the keys for our apartment, unloaded the truck with a trusty friend who showed up at the right time, had some lunch and a beer. After moving everything into the new place and dropping off the rental van I headed immediately to Slant.

There was a new project that needed to be done in far less time than seemed humanly possible, but the client reassured us that it was a fairly normal timeline. I had my laptop, but I knew it wouldn’t be enough, so Jayme and I headed straight out and picked up a new computer and monitor so I could get things done. We took it back to Slant where I set it up on a rickety round table in the middle of the small office that the boys had been inhabiting for the last year and a half. I powered the machine on and left.

The following day I started a mad sprint of code, sockets, apps and absolute focus. Ten days later I took a couple of days off.

A half-partnership with a promise to become full partner soon enough, the reliability of business insurance, health insurance, a decent wage and the possibility for building my own company in the company of good friends — that was how I started at Slant.

Tonight, I’m sitting in the same apartment I moved into last year on the couch I bought from a friend in Calgary. And, I have to admit that though the last year has been difficult, felt risky, and stressed me out more than I had ever been, it has been well worth the struggle.

Learning to run a business is definitely rewarding, but it’s f*king tough.