My Journey of Going Mobile

On Saturday, 2023-04-08, I made the decision to forego my two-bedroom apartment with my son, and transition to a more reduced and mobile lifestyle. I had been planning this for many years, arguably my whole life, and circumstances presented themselves which made it a wise decision, almost 2 full years in advance of my envisioned timeline.

I was among those laid off from the technology industry in the first half of 2023, and was already one of those still recovering financially from the widespread economic impacts of COVID. I started and ran a business from ~2016-2018, which was not as successful as I hoped, and it left me in rough shape going into the ~2+ years of pandemic lockdown and the rocky social transition to 100% remote work. Contract work was patchy, and I had several rounds of unemployment in between opportunities.

Additionally, I had been aware for some time that the United States economic structure had inflation built-in and was going to slowly crumble eventually. As 2023 progressed, I observed all the foreshadowing of things to come: mass layoffs across industries, not enough employees to meet demand across grocery and retail businesses, skyrocketing food and gas prices, supply issues for all goods, a rise in homelessness, etc.

So it was that I sat down with my son and his mother, and we agreed to collectively pivot, both in response to our situation as it was and also the wider situation we knew was coming to be. It was the best way I knew how at the time to support and protect my family.

On Wednesday, 2023-04-12, I began the process in earnest, securing a 5x10 foot storage locker and 9x13 workspace, and immediately moving core infrastructure such as Stronghold. On Saturday, 2023-04-15, I attended the life celebration of a 20+ year friend, who I “grew up with” both in life and in the technology industry, and who I still miss dearly. On Friday, 2023-04-21, in the midst of the madness, I realized it was my opportunity to launch Gary Gear Guy, which was already an effort I was working towards. It was a “if not now, when?” moment, and I also wanted to document this phase in my life, for my own posterity.

Thus, this video series is my self-documentation of not just the strategy and tactical implementation of my plan for more conscientious and minimal living, but also of my real-time mindset and experiences. These are unstructured, somewhat “reality television” style, and contain many great moments of pure Gary B. Genett personality and humor. If you make the time to go through them, as I have, I hope you find them equally entertaining and insightful.

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