Components Fail. Methods Fail. Programs Fail. Even Test Objectives Fail.
But the product of rocket testing is data. Only when you loose the data is the test a failure.
You might not like the answer or the cost of the test, or the inability to run more tests on the hardware, but if you have the data, you accomplished your mission.

Back in the day, I was the lead instrumentation engineer on one of NASA's test stands. Loosing the test article, and sometimes a portion of the test stand was just part of a day's work. But have a key instrument fail (and its back up) or have a recorder not work... well lets just say I don't remember those particular days fondly.
But one of my best memories was the day I was the first to hit the "pickle switch" as a rocket motor began to consume itself. I may have saved the facility. (Except several other people hit their's a fraction of a second later.) The owner of the rocket, on the other hand, wished for a few more seconds of data, rather than a more intact motor.

Or then again, maybe you are just casting a wide net. :) A counter intuitive example comes to mind of someone who moves around a lot (though not as much as you.) He is the best networker I know. My son is making a good living in the TV/Movie business, working his way up from skate videos to a steady job on a popular long running show. (Has also worked on a couple of feature films, and actually turned down a gig on the Academy Awards.) Sorry proud dad syndrome. You would think he built his network in LA, but actually only passed through a couple of times. It was the contacts he made in New Orleans, Denver, Jackson (MS) and now Northern CA, that helped his career. Not exactly the centers of the industry. Maybe being a colorful fish in one or a number of small ponds, beats staying in one place if there is lots of competition. (Sorry for the mixed metaphors.)

But I think in general I agree with you. I stayed in one place, and I'm definitely in a small pond, so maybe it takes a lot of the work or tension (if you are aware of it) out of networking.

I hope the missus appreciates you (for handling the invoices). I love delegating that worry.

Thank you for the encouragement. I am surprised and grateful it survived the sometimes heavy hand of the moderators.

Here is another as a comic.
https://vimeo.com/41038445

Very true. I wouldn't cross a bridge unless I had faith in it that it would hold me up. People put their faith in different things all the time, including themselves, usually with good results, but also many times irrationally leading to disaster. (Driving while intoxicated as an example.) And most people I meet think faith in Jesus falls into that category, it doesn't hurt most of the time to have faith in some of his teachings, but under certain circumstances or situations, plain stupid.

But many rational people, including agnostics, atheists and others from various religious backgrounds, come to the conclusion that putting one's faith in the claims and promises of Jesus, is a logical thing to do after some investigation.

If you value your software as I do, (your soul in Bible terms) it is very rational to look seriously at how it might be protected, and not assume that people who claim there is no hope, that all biologically hosted software must die, are the rational ones. But that is what most people do. They assume there is no hope, and decide not to think about it. They have faith that they are doomed, and will not investigate the claims that there is hope. I recommend "The Case for Jesus" written by an investigative reporter and former atheist (or agnostic I forget which) for people interested.

Thanks for the thoughtful comment.

Thank you for the kind words. I did have faith in myself, that as you said, I could walk off into the unknown. For me, alone it would be quite an adventure. For me, living out of my car would not be a very big deal, I've slept in worse places. But I did not have enough faith in myself to step out in the unknown and drag my family with me. So, one of the things I prayed about was that my wife in particular, would get the same vision and I wouldn't be dragging her along. That was one of the confirmations to me that God was involved. Nothing I could have said or done would have ever convinced her to get on board, so I didn't try.

I don't find God unknowable. You know He has had quite a few books written about Him, right. :-) Through the Bible He has actually revealed quite a lot about himself. In fact much more than most people want to know. They know a little, and they don't like where that little bit knowledge is headed. Introspection, seeing themselves for who they truly are, and where their future is headed not pleasant for many people. That is where Jesus comes in. He brings people to God under conditions that both people and God can live with.

Actually, I can agree with the first part from a financial stand point. Satan and I have at times wanted to be much more successful. But it is my belief that God has intervened and killed some plans that may have been great financially, but stood a good chance of making me unsuccessful where it really matters. So I'll praise God for my success and lack of success so long as it comes from Him.

Thanks for the comment. It was funny and a concise statement of a life lesson I think.

You make a good point. I think it might be much easier for a natural salesperson (I'm not.). I hadn't thought about myself being a natural networker. There may be some truth to that. I was and continue to be blessed by people who have a persuasive voice (maybe the natural salespeople types) to put my name in the hat for projects they find out about. I rarely look for work, because they are out there selling for me. They are good people doing good things for me because it is in their nature, not because they will see any reward. (Not in this life anyway.)

Another thing that helps is being or having someone who has a passion for sending out invoices, and following up to get them paid. This I have had to hire others to do, and even instruct them to stay on my case until I provide them the information they need to get the job done. Most recently my wife has taken on this role, she's the best yet, because she isn't the least bit intimidated by me. :-) Sending out invoices early and often makes a big difference to the cash flow, the life blood of any business.

You are welcome and thanks for the feedback. It sounds like you are approaching the possibilities the right way.

I had similar concerns and this is what I did, and how it turned out.
[Sorry this is so long, but I spent way too much time making it this short.]

At about your age I was facing the prospect of going the management route or doing what I loved. I had been acting like a manger as a team lead but avoiding much of the messy side of dealing with personel. I was expected to move on up and take on the added burdens of full management and give up the hands-on fun (for me) stuff. Didn't want it, yet I saw what happened to 50 year olds who didn't move up. I didn't want that either. So, I planned an exit strategy, and left becoming more or less a consultant. I had an incorporated company(very important to be an employee of a company - not a freelancer) already set up and 6 months of cash put away before I left.

Here are a few key things that worked for me. They weren't really part of my strategy, but just came naturally, and really paid off.
(1) I really cared about the folks (mostly 10 to 15 years younger) I was leaving behind, and I wanted them to succeed after I left. I made it a point to mentor them, so they could survive after I left.
(2) I really cared about the organization and the current projects I was working on, and delayed my departure for a year, to make sure they succeeded and there was a heir apparent team lead to take over.
(3) I didn't tell anyone what I was planning, other than my wife, my dad (who had just retired) and a close uncle.
(4) When I was ready to leave, I went to my boss, and told him I would like to sit down with his boss and anyone else that they wanted to invite and explain exactly why I was leaving, what I intended to do after I left, and make sure that any rumors would be put to bed about why I was leaving. I reviewed everything I would say with my boss, and asked for any suggestions he had that might make what I said as painless as possible for him and his boss.
(5) The main points of that meeting were (1)(2) and (3) and I wanted them to know what I planned, before my peers and team members found out, so they could prepare to deal with any fallout.
(6) I also offered that I would stay up to 6 more months to help finish or transition projects, or I was prepared to be escorted by security on the spot to clean out my desk (which was official human resources policy at my previous job).
(7) The last and maybe most important point I tried to make in this meeting was that I was hoping not to burn any bridges, because they, the organization, the bosses, the team members helped make my career, and I didn't want them thinking bad about me, because who knows, they might even need me from time to time as a consultant. I told them that, I wasn't just thinking about it.

Now frankly, I figured I had a 50-50 shot of being shown the door immediately or worse. They probably thought I was a bit crazy leaving excellent pay and benefits for an uncertain future, but seemed to respect the approach I was taking.

Bottom line - they asked me to stay on for 6 more months and gave me a great send off complete with memorabilia. 6 months after that I was their consultant and they started outsourcing some development tasks, and now 12-1/2 years later, I still do work for them. Most of my income comes from other sources, but they are a dependable customer and the people I left behind have brought me a lot of business through their natural networking. My house is paid for, both my kids went to college, for as long as they wanted, and are doing very well in their chosen professions. I'm able to give away a substantial portion of my income to benefit those less who are less fortunate. So at least to this point it as worked out well by any measure.

One last part but not the least part of this story - (I'm pretty sure this will get mod'ed down because it cuts so much against the grain), I prayed this whole thing through, before during and after. I 'knew' this was the right thing for me to do and there was a right way to do it.
Full disclosure: Yes I'm one of those. In the early 70's I had long hair and was known as a 'Jesus Freak'. Now I have short hair (what's left of it) and I'm called a Gideon. IMHO, If you try something like this you will need a lot of faith, and it least in my case, it wasn't the faith in myself that mattered.

PS. In answer to one of your questions, it takes from $1500 to $2000 per month to maintain health insurance for yourself and spouse and another $100 or so per child, if you don't have a big organization or government program to subsidize it for you. It has always been my biggest expense.

This should work so long as you don't accept files or buffer overflows via the RS232 connection. Just remember there are other ways to get access to A than the "wires" that connect to B. Things like the USB drive or CD you use to load the software on A could pull a Stuxnet on you. But the best thing you have going for you, is that it would require someone specifically interested in attacking your system, to go to a lot of trouble.

Actually, if you can get past the presupposition that it can't possibly be true, Noah's ark is an interesting study in engineering. I'm not sure if this is representative or not, but the link below is to an essay by one "believing" engineer. One of many that Google turns up. NOAH'S FLOOD: Examination of scripture from the standpoint of an engineer

"The researchers’ general approach was to test volunteers — in some cases, Canadian undergraduates, in others, as the paper explains, a “nationwide (though nonrepresentative) sample of American adults recruited online”. Both sets of volunteers constitute only a limited sample, as Gervais and Norenzayan acknowledge." So, how many flaws in the study can you find in this one sentence?

To give people who haven't been following closely or paid too much attention to the trolls, what is the difference between engineering prototype for developers and the finished product? The finished product is for school kids and comes in a plastic case, yet to be designed (or at least produced). The plan was to certify the finished package, which may or may not have required the plastic to include a conductive coating on the inside.
All of the first 10,000 Rpi's were just PCB's intended for developers for writing drivers, testing peripherals, and producing educational software for the final product. This made sense for 10,000 boards. But when over 200,000 people tried to buy, it be came clear, the boards were going to find their way to the general public, so better safe than sorry, the powers that be decided they must be certified, even in their "unfinished state".
Now that they have passed the certification tests, this makes it much easier for small scale manufacturers (mom and pop shops, makers...) to use the RPi for other purposes legally. THIS IS HUGE if you are into this kind of thing.