I am constantly on a search for better, more effective ways to get things done.  A better gizmo.  A better way of doing things.  A better idea.  Sometimes I'll see something come across my Google Reader and I'll just stare at it for a moment and think, "How can this help me?"  There are great ideas out there.  Great technology.  But many times there is technology just for the sake of technology.  It really doesn't solve any problem.  Maybe for someone else it does.  So after a few moments of staring/thinking, I either delete or continue.  I suppose what I'm saying here is that there's a lot of wasteful time going on just looking for effective things and instead finding cool but useless things.  It takes some sorting out.  Hence, the following:

The iPhone.  If you cruise the internet, you have already found that many people believe the iPhone is a great computer but a rotten phone.  None of us with iPhones really want to believe it but I have come to the conclusion that it's true.  Some believe the problem is with the network but I don't think so.  I had a Nokia E62 and if I had not been ripping my jeans off to jump into a pool, well, my lovely Nokia would not have popped out of my pocket, bounced onto the rubber matting that surrounded the pool and floated gently to the bottom, still working all the way down until I had a clear shot of the screen fading to black. Pffft. Gone. Tried everything. Dead.  I even waited 3 days hoping it would come back.  It's a Catholic thing.  Didn't happen.

Shortly afterwards, I bought the iPhone.  Sound quality sucked.  Signal sucked.  Speakerphone really sucked, almost non-existent.  BUT, what a great little gizmo that had so many apps that did so many useless and useful things.  Checking them out is half the fun.  

I don't believe AT&T really ever realized what people would figure out down the line.  I finally asked myself why, if the phone was so bad, why was I using it as my primary communicator.  Why was I paying $100/mo. for a rotten phone?  So I decided to make use of the computer/otherness of the iPhone.  The timeliness of my discovery could not have been better.  It takes me a while but I do figure things out or, at least, I tell myself that I do.   Google Voice arrived about the same time of my new thinking.  GV lets you manipulate phone calls and messages.  It does it very well and, knowing Google as we all do, better ways are on the way.

I decided to start handing out my GV number and, begin routing my calls to my home voip or Skype.  The cell would only be used if it had to be used, e.g. my son calling to let me know that something else has gone wrong or my exwife calling to say that aaahhhh, something else has gone wrong.  Anyone with AT&T might get my cell phone attention because I don't pay for minutes with other AT&T users.  I also would use the JOTT app to record a message to be  uploaded then sent out as a text message.  Very cool and yet still no use of minutes and my message is very much to the point.  My iPhone voice communication cost would drop substantially (so I hoped) and, in the process, become extremely effective.

The result? My 90 minutes a day cell usage is now down to between 5 and 8 minutes a day.  My cell plan has gone from $99.99/mo. to $39.99/mo.  $720 a year in savings and I am sooooo much happier and getting so much more done.  

Something to think about.    

The problem that arises...

This may sound very odd but the problem with realizing that you really can work from anywhere in the world, at least anywhere with a decent connection is this.  You often are wondering why you are home.  Why not be somewhere else? Home is nice but home can be where you are.  I felt very much at home in Madrid and Buenos Aires.  

I haven't told you about Madrid yet.  I was there in June of last year.  I stayed with a wonderful couple, both in their early eighties and both sharp, knowledgeable and generous.   They lived in a flat about 3 floors up.  Retiro Park (Madrid's biggest, I believe) is only 3 blocks away.  

I would wake up about 8am, go for a run in the park, comeback for breakfast with my hosts, have a great conversation.  I would spend the day at museums and long walks through amazing and colorful parts of the city.  By 4pm I was ready for lunch/dinner.  I would eat like a horse and write notes.  No glass of water in Madrid.  There was always a full bottle of wine and drink what you will.  First few days, I was slightly hammered by 5.  

I began work at 5:30 and kept at it till 9:30.  Then off to the flamenco clubs till 130am.  My God, it was great.

Within just a few days, I had met most of the people  and store owners on the street where I stayed. (I was going to say "on the street where I lived" but thought you might break out in song.  Keep your day job.) The pastry shop lady would poke her head out the door reminding me that my favorite meat quesadillas were ready and the knick knack store manager with the thick curled mustache would yell out, "Don Esteban."  

I spoke to my friends back in the US, daily, as I normally would.  We would talk about the same old rock and roll but throw in a few new riffs here and there.  

The point is that I felt at home and, good or bad, the people around you make or break wherever you are.

More on Madrid later....