Peter Fletcher

31 things I’m grateful for – The internet

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We love internet sign

I’m grateful for the internet

In 2006 I sold my real estate business. Most of my friends wanted to know what I was going to do next. The truth was I had no real idea.

One evening, shortly after the sale contract was signed, I was out for dinner in Fremantle. Quite by chance I got talking to a young man from Holland who was in Perth for an Ultimate Frisbee competition. He told me that he owned a web design firm.

“Do you have someone looking after it while you’re away?” I asked naively.

He appeared bemused.

“No,” he explained patiently, “it’s an internet design firm. It’s based on the internet. I can run it from wherever I can get an internet connection.”

It took a moment for what he said to sink in.

“Wow, that’s it! How awesome would it be to have a job that allowed me to travel. Now that’s freedom!” I thought.

Right there I knew I’d found the direction for my career.

Over the days that followed I came up with a recipe for my next job or business. First, it would nod it’s head to the past but embrace something new. For me, that meant being associated with real estate but involved with new technology. Second, it should allow me the freedom to travel.

Armed with that formula I began to look for opportunities. The principal of a large real estate firm called to offer me the job of running a large team of property managers. I politely declined. And, just when it seemed that nothing would come my way, I read an ad in, of all places, the newspaper. It was for a new course in internet studies being offered by Curtin Uni. This was my opportunity to add the technology ingredient to my career recipe.

Within weeks I was enrolled.

Over the next two years I experienced the joy of laying under the pine trees at Curtin reading the works of Deleuze and Foucault. I started a blog and began to tweet. I wrote a 20,000 word honours dissertation. And I came to understand the way the internet both shaped and was shaped by society. At the end of my studies, the internet was no longer just wires and routers but a means by which I could reshape who I was.

Today, there’s very little of my life that’s not connected with the web. I use it to get my news, my music, and the movies I watch. I use it to connect with new people, communicate with my friends, and market myself and my businesses.

For me, the internet means freedom and free expression and I’ll always be thankful to have it in my life.

Image: Kristina Alexanderson

 

31 things I’m grateful for – My Eddy Merckx bike

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Peter Fletcher's Eddy Merckx bike.

This bike helped change my life

When Rita bought a flash new Eddy Merckx bike for my 40th birthday in 2003 I never imagined how much it would change my life.

At the time I was riding a lot but then, in 2004, I set myself a challenge to ride from Kalgoorlie to Perth in under 24 hours. Except for my best mate Russell, none of my fellow riders thought I could do it. A lot said that I’d do the ride in a single effort but none thought I’d be able to do it in less than 24 hours.

So, at 12 noon on March 5 2006, Russell, myself and John Harmsen set off from Hannan Street Kalgoorlie. 19 hours 6 minutes later we arrived at the Paddy Hannah statue in Burswood. We’d done it, with hours to spare.

That ride gave me a direct experience of my power and determination – an experience that has continued to serve me to this day. Up to that point I’d been married – enslaved even – to my business. After the ride I felt a sense of freedom and possibility about my life that I’d never experienced before. 12 months later my business was sold and I’d set off on a new adventure that took me back to university full time.

That event will always be a defining moment in my life. And it was this bike that carried me through the journey. For that, I’m grateful.

31 things I’m grateful to have in my life

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Tomorrow is the start of a new series of blog posts called 31 things I’m grateful to have in my life. 31 is the number of days in July. When I refer to ‘things’ I mean inanimate objects. People and pets don’t count. Technologies, art and possessions do. Spaces don’t count. I love Jacobs Ladder and San Francisco but they’re not objects.

Each post will explain how the object has changed my life and why I’m grateful to have it.

Here’s the start of my list.

  1. My Eddie Merckx bicycle,
  2. The cold tap in my shower,
  3. Email,
  4. The internet,
  5. Facebook,
  6. Twitter,
  7. WordPress,
  8. My wedding ring,
  9. My Cliff Street sign,
  10. My barbecue (even though it’s the worst designed barbecue in the world),
  11. My passport,
  12. An autographed poster of Jen Hawkins,
  13. A book called I Only Love You,
  14. Uncle Will’s military saddle,
  15. My joggers,
  16. Our gas heater,
  17. My iPhone, and
  18. My house key.

OK, that’s not 31 but it’s 18 and that will get me a start. I’m sure as the month goes by I’ll come up with new ideas. If you can think of something that I’ve forgotten, let me know.

Location

You can find me at Residential Settlements in Burswood.

5/170 Burswood Road
Burswood WA 6100

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