HAPPY FOR A MOMENT

6/09/10 I cannot begin to tell you how refreshing it is to be out and working, away from an office. It's the The Walls.  The Walls. Those horrible confining 4 WALLS. Reminds me of the Marlon Brando line about, The Horror, The Horror."  No shit, being in an office all day long is the worst.  How can you be there?  Too depressing.  I'm sitting at Left Bank Restaurant. Very cool place.  Everyone saying "Ciao."  Wonderful meal. Nobody bothering. Great service. Answering emails and doing some writing.  Just wonderful.

Things were going along just swimmingly until a moment ago.  First, you have to understand that I am at the end of the bar. Four barstools are all mine.  My computer is plugged in.  There was NO ONE else at the bar.  I had just begun to write when 3 very large, very loud, very talkative women walk through the door.  Please remember that I have been ALONE at the bar. There's about 30 feet of bar.  I am at one end.  Where do these quackers decide to sit?  Where else would they sit?  Where else could they possibly sit? You know.  Of course, you do.  They take up the three seats immediately next to me.  What is wrong with them?  Maybe they're blind.  Wait a second.  Let me check. I stick my tongue out. She sticks her's out. Not blind.  O Jesus, another one just walked in AND WITH A BABY.  Shoot me now.  Just get it over with. "Dear St. Jude, patron saint of hopeless cases, I realize we haven't been in touch for a while.  Right, since that last little episode with the dent in the police car.  You handled that sooo beautifully.  Nice touch with the old lady backing up at the same time and, really, it could have been her fault...in a parallel universe. So here I am again, pleading with you for another miracle.  The baby could do some projectile vomiting. Everyone (not me) gets hit with a lovely shade of green. (I can dream, can't I?)"

Wait. Something's happening.  One of them is saying something about her back.  It's been bothering her for some time now.  They're all teachers.  Now they're all complaining about standing so long in the classroom.  Everybody's back hurts.  I mention that my back hurts as well and these barstools offer absolutely no support.  No support at all.  Killing me. Backs killing all of us now.  I tell Pedro, the bartender, that we all need a table.  The stools are killing us. Five minutes pass.

Why am I sitting at a table with a group of school teachers and a baby?

Yesterday, I gave away the store. Yes, I admit it and so should you. The kids come first. If the new boyfriend doesn't get along with the kids, the boyfriend will usually be out the door relatively soon. The boyfriend says a slightly unkind word to your little darling and your bared fangs and 3 inch nails suddenly appear on scene. Another lovely visual. The girlfriend tries to correct the little angel and I believe the words, "You're outta here" may be heard emanating through the aforementioned blood dripping fangs. If you are a really patient sort, you might hold out till the second attempted correction, then break out the snarls and pick axe. Of course, I am presuming your child is not so wretchedly spoiled that anything she says is said while she is flat on the floor, arms and legs flailing, screaming "You don't love me. You never have. Mom has always loved me more." And, of course, Mom has given her whatever she wants, whenever she wants, leading to the tantrum we are all now visualizing with horror and a lot of familiarity.

I think the point is made. We try to give our kids what they need and a lot of what they want. By doing that, we leave enough for ourselves but not much more. The eight to fiver won't allow it. So the idea of having extra money to hold out till the dream job starts paying gets a little more distant on the horizon. Wait, the sun has set. It's dark. There is no horizon. Hey, who's that on the floor screaming?

The current job makes just enough to do what we MUST do, maybe a little less. If a little less, then we slowly get in to, (O God, here it comes) debt. We inch ourselves into yards and yards of debt. But look on the bright side. The banks are happy. You feeling better yet? Maybe tomorrow. There's always tomorrow. Until there isn't.

Manana.

To continue. One of the big problems is money. It always is. If there isn't extra money floating around, the possibility of moving on to what you really want to do is virtually impossible. I suppose some might say you could cut expenses. But with a family or, at least some familial responsibilities, there are those expenses that eat up pretty much everything. Maybe you're on your own but there was a divorce or a child. Nothing like an ex-spouse to keep the money flowing...away.

As for your child, at any age, yours or his, you want to help that child and that cost is unlimited. My child is perfect. The tattoos and piercings are invisible to me. My child deserves everything and without reservation. Example. There are some possessions you guard with your life. There are these certain "things" that are MINE. No one else can have them. OK, look at them from afar but move away, you're getting too close. Those things for me are vinyl records and fine pieces of sound equipment. I have dragged 17 very heavy boxes of vinyl wherever my life has led me. The wives have come and gone, but vinyl lasts forever. It never complains. It's always there to comfort you with the soothing sounds of the White Album or early Joni Mitchell. My God, what more could a man ask for in his life.

Anyway, the vinyl is really important to me. BUT. My 21 year old son walks in and tells me how much he loves music, that he appreciates all that vinyl I've been lugging around. He knows what a pain it's been to load up more U-Hauls than I care to remember with box after back breaking box of albums by artists that were unheard of in '68 and remain consistently unheard of today. What treasures! My son goes on to say that he realizes I would have given up all claim to the house in my most recent divorce had the wife gone for the vinyl. Knowing that, he says, "Dad, can I have all your records?" Without blinking, without breathing one more time, I say, "Bring your truck on Sunday and we'll load'em up." The torch has been passed.

More to complete this thought manana.

"Do what you love and the money will follow." I love that phrase. It may be true or may not be. But the real problem is that there is a big spread between the time you decide to do what you love to the time the money has followed. Such a lovely phrase it is, but unrealistic in many cases. Not all, but many. In fact, I would say the great majority. Yes, it can be done but incredible self discipline would be the first order of the day. Why? Because if you have a job, you will be doing that for 8 hours a day to pay the bills and, o yeah, eat. Do you have a family? After work, you'll need to pay attention to them. By the time 8pm rolls around, my guess is you are ready to lay on the sofa and pass out. But, no, you're just getting started because you have to work on your new job, the one that you love, because the money will follow. At the end of a few weeks, the odds are, you will begin rationalizing the old job and you will get to the dream work as you can, when you can, when there's a little more money, when the kids are asleep, when you win the lottery, when the divorce is final, when the kids are in college or just out, when you retire and, finally, when the dog is dead, that dead dog being you. In other words, you and your life have killed the dream job.

Let me go on a bit as to why doing what you love etc. faces such obstacles. Then I believe, just maybe I can lay out what could work. You thought I was just going to leave you hanging, no hope, noose in hand, gun with 1 bullet, Kurt Cobain playing in the background. I wouldn't do that to you.

And now for some heavy stuff...

In yesterday's episode, I left you with the impression that I was heading off to this incredible adventure in Oregon. I have to say I was really looking forward to it. The plan was to visit Nick and Carmen and Eric at their very hot shot restaurant in McMinnville. 4 or 5 star, serious restaurant. I figured I would stop in Ashland then continue on up to McMinnville.

First of all, you need to understand this was a last minute thought. I was supposed to go to Dallas for a graduation, not mine. That wasn't working out. So then I got crazy and thought about Sevilla in Spain. Sounded good, getting crazier. I came back to earth and, after talking to some guy outside a bathroom in Healdsburg (men wait in line sometimes, too), he tells me how great Salem, OR is. He makes it sound pretty appealing. I link that with my friends' restaurant not far away from Salem and I have made a decision. Maybe, I think, pretty sure, not really, I'll head out to Salem. What the hell. What am I doing. The girlfriend needs some space anyway. Space is a good thing. Check out the guys working on the Hubble. That's getting away.

So I am off to Ashland but I keep going and finally land in Medford, a few miles further up the road. I don't know why. It seemed like a good idea. I walk in to the Comfort Suites Hotel and begin a very short conversation with the manager. She checks the database to make sure I get points and she sees that I am a "Taxguy." What exactly do you do, she wants to know. I deal with ugly IRS tax cases. And, of course, she proceeds (as everyone does when they hear what I do) to tell me about her ugly tax case. I won't go into detail except that, after she hit me with the part about how she cares for her mother who has Alzheimer's, I sat down and helped. She was extremely grateful and explained to me how she had been praying the last 2 weeks for help with this problem.

Now, I am probably the least religious person around. And I do not believe the Lord (whichever one you go for) sent me to help her. BUT, I do find it very interesting that the next day, I wrenched my back and had to turn back and head for home. My entire trip turned out to be about that woman who was barely making ends meet, trying to help her mom and believing that someone would show up and help her. She was convinced I was the guy. In my eyes, the drive was almost worthless until I focused on helping that woman. Cause and effect. Cause and effect. Cause and effect. All the little decisions that took me to Medford to sit with that woman. It's really amazing.

We see this sort of thing happen in our lives all the time but rarely is it so blatant, where the cause and effect stands in front of you, about 50 feet high, and is screaming, "Figure this out, Bozo." Of, course, He did get my name wrong. Makes you think. Strange stuff.

We won't go in to the part where I lock my keys in my car at a Starbucks.

Quick note about some cool things

In my last post I wrote about walking and working.  Well, yesterday as I am browsing through LIFEHACKER, I bump into an iPhone app called Email n'walk.  The screen turns into a camera but with email text over whatever you're viewing.  I tried it.  It's a little nuts.  Rubbing your head and playing Beethoven.  But, it is interesting that someone even thought about this.  It is at least fun to check it out.  

The other gizmo, is something called Eeerotate, via Teleread.  It literally changes your view of the web.  It turns the screen to landscape view.  Great for reading.  Very cool.  

Ok, that's it.  I'm in Oregon. Taking pictures while driving is NOT a good idea.  I'll never do it again.  Ever.  Really.  I'm checking out this work and drive thing.  I'll let you know.

Still thinking about all this...

I really think the point of this blog is to look at how to deal with your work when you'd rather be doing something else.  Obviously, it would be very difficult to do what I do if I were not self employed.  My employer might go looking for me and wonder where I'd gone.  Where's Steve, he might ask.  Steve is in Costa Rica, would be the reply.  And you could carry this conversation on in your head about Steve is supposed to be at his desk.  Right but he's not.  He's in Costa Rica.  I mean Barcelona.  Then the conversation turns to, well, where the hell is he? Costa Rica or Barcelona? He's in Lisbon.  Or, maybe he's just out taking a walk or driving to Seattle.

So maybe that's what this is all about.  Getting away.  Seeing somewhere, someplace new but, at the same time, doing your work.  I don't want to wait till I retire to see the world.  I want to see it now, dammit.  BUT, maybe I just want to take a walk or a ride.  I don't really want to look at my home office today.

Yesterday, I decided to run to the post office, literally run.  I would walk back.  But there was work to do.  Soooooo.  Once I started walking after that run, the work began.  Out came the iPhone and the emails started flying, a few texts, too.  I made a few calls but passing car noise was a problem so the calls were few.  I did call my assistant, Susan, and asked her to make a few calls for me and request some docs I needed.  All the while I am cruising down the road, taking in the sunshine.  I think, though, that driving would be best.  Quieter.  You don't fall off a curb because you're texting.  Of course, there is no texting while driving.  Really. 

I also have found in doing this (the driving part) that you really need an assistant.  You may be having a conversation with a client but you may need someone to type the notes or look up a piece of info.  

This is crazy stuff.  I know.  But the idea that I can go. That I will not miss a beat in my work.  The idea is liberating.  Off again tomorrow on the run/walk/work or drive to Seattle/work.  We'll see.

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....

New Year's Eve-Buenos Aires

Really, what more could you ask for?  Buenos Aires on New Year's Eve. Holy Cow. What a vibrant city.  These people are wonderful, accomodating, a pleasure to be with.  

I need to stop for a moment with all this gushing and talk a bit about the point of this blog as it relates to this trip.  I am ALWAYS amazed at the fact that I can be in another country and experiencing another culture while still getting my work done.  My biggest vacation problem in the past (we won't talk about all the other problems) has been my anxiety level.  Without fail, every day of my vacations in years past, I worried about my clients and my work.  Yes, I know it's stupid.  I deserve a break.  I should be able to walk away. Blah Blah Blah.  Just never happens for me.  I worry. That's just the way it is.  So the idea that I can open my eyes in another country, have a great time all day, work a few hours then go back to the party, is an incredible breakthrough.  Most people wait till they retire for this stuff but here I am, staring at the tango dancers in the park.  One more Holy Cow, if you don't mind.

The ideal living situation on thyis kind of trip is to have a nice bedroom and a separated office with a great internet connection, preferably a plug in.  However, a strong wi-fi will do though not as well.

In Buenos Aires, I came close to the ideal.  No plug in, however.  I played from about 9am until 3pm then worked until 7 or 730pm.  Those times translate to waking up at 3am and working 9am until 1 or 130pm Pacific.  Not bad.

I have found that Skype is inconsistent in its signal.  Sometimes good.  Sometimes a lot of echo or the other side simply hears nothing for a few seconds.  Callvantage by AT&T seems to work well but all these services work best when you are plugged in not wi-fi.

What about snail mail?  Yes, it still is a slight problem.  I have an assistant who picks up my mail at a pobox then faxes it to me which I receive as an electronic file.  The paper mail is probably the only real problem but easily solved with a little help from my friends.  There are a couple of services that will scan and send to you.  Earthclass Mail is one example.  The problem with it is that you are charged by the number of pages they scan and send to you.  So, suppose you get a letter from the IRS and IRS includes a letter to you that says your world will be ending on a particular day.  IRS will also send a couple of publications that are generally worthless and probably don't pertain to you.  The only page you need is that letter, one page.  However, the mail service will scan in the publications as well.  Needless to say, your bill just went up significantly and you really need 40 scanned pages in publications you don't need or want.  I believe the problem will be worked out  soon or, at least, so I am told. 

The difficulty in writing a blog of this type is that you are constantly trying to find newer technology that does more and more.  So you start facing added costs.  Like I really need 6 computers.  I think it all becomes an addiction.  What can I get that is lighter and faster and, without saying it, cooler.  Por exemplo (gotta practice the Espanol), I'm at this very moment using a new Dell Mini 9. 9 inch screen. Actual dimensions about 10" by 7" by maybe 1".  Very small, keyboard is a bit cramped.  Just a bit.  But this little guy only weighs 2.5 lbs.  When you're dragging a bag through the airport, 2.5 lb. sounds and feels very good.  HOWEVER, why would that be a concern if you have a bag that has wheels on it.  Sometimes I think I get this stuff just because it's soooo cool.  I feel like I'm arguing with myself.  Who do I think I am, Barack Obama?

So what am I down to on this thing?  It may be a bit small.  I feel like I need a bigger keyboard.  BUT THE WEIGHT.  I may have this figured out. Go for something under 5 lb. WITH the adaptor. Bigger keyboard.  Bigger screen.    

O Give Me Room, Lots of Room....

One of the things I did not think about too much was the amount of space I would need to
work. I figured I would stay in bed, answer a few calls, type out some notes. I would be the David Ricardo of the 21st century. Ricado stayed in bed till about 1pm and sent runners all
over to make his day trades. Those were really day trades. He would decide what he was
going to buy (pork bellies, whatever) and send some poor young waif out to the streets, on
to the trading market. It literally took all day.

But then again, I'm not David Ricardo and this is the 21st century. Staying in bed is great
for sleeping, reading and, oh right, sex. Jeez, I'm getting old. I almost forgot about sex.

Getting scary.

So bed is not the greatest place for work. OK, let's not go there again. Bed is not the
greatest place for most kinds of work, certainly not mine. The laptop gets a little too hot
on the lap and there is a constant positioning for better position. Never really works that
well. So give me a hotel room, b&b room, never a hostel, that has enough, well, room.
It's not that I want a full blown office next to my bed. Hotels sometimes have "business
centers." What a waste. Too much room. Too much equipment. It says "office" all over it.
It says, "You can't get away from me. I am WORK. I am OFFICE. I am the 4 WALLS OF HELL."

Maybe I'm getting a little dramatic but I don't want the office as the primary focus of my
travel. Work is secondary. I'm not traveling to Madrid or Rome to be in an office. I'm
traveling to see places and people I've never seen before. Work is secondary. Five hours a
day, tops. I'll work those 5 hours the best I have in me. But I'm not in Rome to WORK. I'm
there to SEE and EXPERIENCE and make friends with a different culture. I'm there to see
what I've only read about. I want to touch a wall in Pompeii, sit on one of Gaudi's benches
in Barcelona.

I have found that a small desk off to the side is good but not ideal. You actually need a decent sized room that has a small desk and chair far enough away from your bed that you don't get claustrophobia. If you're working on your laptop and your right leg is touching the bed and left leg touching the wall, that doesn't work. I get a little crazy. I can do it but all the while my eyes are getting twitchy, my heart rate pops up a bit and I start thinking I might be better off out on the ledge of this 8 story building. Not good. Conducive to an unflattering death and more unflattering open casket funeral.

It doesn't take much room but 8x10 won't make it.

The questions that come up when you think about working away and especially working out of the country are relatively clear cut at first. You think about whether you will get a decent wifi connection and you think about phone service. That's about it. No problema. This will be a breeze. And then there's this crashing noise, metal on metal crunching sounds, glass flying. You look outside but nothing happened outside. It's you, crashing into reality.

People who own B&B's or small hotels are not really into the internet connection business. They don't really pay a lot of attention to what kind of bandwidth they have. Maybe they think that a 5 year old router is just as good as the new N routers which are much faster than the B's or G's.

Of course, the big deal is the phone service so we'll start there. Out of the country, you MUST use an internet service. Most people would say Skype. The problem is that Skype is erratic in its quality. You might be able to hear whom you have called but they might have a hell of a time hearing you. Why's that? I am told by those much more knowledgeable than me that if you are using a wifi connection, you are losing about half the outgoing signal to the router. So much for your voice. The best thing I have found is to be plugged in.

Not too long ago, I was staying in some ritzy hotel in San Diego. They told me they had wifi and plug in. I went for the plug. Couldn't get anything. Absolutely nothing. Kept fiddling with it. Nothing. I finally looked under the desk and followed the cord I had plugged into my laptop. It went about 2 feet to nowhere. The other end was literally cut off, hanging sadly, connected to nothing, maybe picking up signals from the universe but none from the internet.

When booking a place to stay, I find myself interrogating the staff. Wifi only or can I plug in? DSL or cable? Do you have wide enough bandwidth to handle all your visitors?? I am usually answered with long silences or check this out. This moment I am sitting in a beautiful little place overlooking the ocean in Mendocino, California. Gorgeous views. Waves crashing on shore. Great restaurants. Top of the line stuff. Totally cool. I called before I came out. Asked all the right questions about online connections. "You bet," I'm told. "No problem. Multiple routers. Strong wifi. Maybe a little teensy problem when everyone's online."

Let me admit right now that I did not do my best Perry Mason (tells you how old I am) cross examination. I let him off the hook too easily. Should have sent him to Guantanamo for a few days for some r&r. But I didn't. I made the ultimate mistake. I believed him. So here I am and there is no signal. ZERO. I call the front desk. I kindly say that the signal that was promised me is not here. Maybe, it's gone for the weekend. Playing golf. Or out for a hike by the crashing waves. Could be my signal is still having dinner at the cool, laid back place where Tony, the maitre'd, was last night leering down my girlfriend's dress. But, no, this lovely girl at the front desk tried to explain to me, in the kind of jargon that young girls use to mask total ignorance, that "the thing that has the lights kinda freaks out for a while then might work after you wait for about 20 minutes but alotta times it doesn't and we can't get to it anyway cause it's locked up in the shed where they keep that stuff. But I'll check with the gardener cause he gets in there now and then to get his stuff." What is really, really bad is that I am not kidding.

This is about what again????

Some time ago, about 18 years ago to be exact, I had an office with employees and lots of overhead. Boy, was I having fun. I had to make a lot of money to pay for plenty of worry. But the big deal was that I had a 1 year old boy who would stand (just barely) at the window and, crying, would wave goodbye to me. I would drive off about 10 yards, back up, pull into the driveway, get out of the car. I'd walk up the steps and pick him up and hold him till he calmed down. Then I'd go back to the car, start it up and the whole process would begin anew. I probably did this about 3-4 times before finally leaving for the office.

Well, the more I thought about this morning ritual, the more I thought I wanted to stay home, work from home and be close by the boy. I loved him like crazy then and I still do. I digress.

I let the employees go and for 18 years worked from home. In the intervening years, there was a divorce (more fun) and my boy grew up. I continued to work from home. And then the questions in my mind started pouring in.

I started thinking that just maybe, with my son grown and out of the house, I should open a new office, hire new employees. I'll try to make this brief so you don't doze off.

I could build up that overhead again. I could deal with all the complications that come with having employees. Let's not get into detail. It's an ugly picture. But briefly, I would get to deal with personalities, payroll taxes, expenses I hadn't planned on, buying huge amounts of office equipment. Are you having fun yet? Well, the thought of these lovely items and, of course, staring at a new set of walls to replace the set of walls I had stared at for 18 years but this time getting to pay every month for them, this idea did not sit well with me. In fact, I seem to remember throwing up. Kind of the same feeling I'm getting right now. Excuse me, I'll be right back.

So HOLY COW, EUREKA and GREAT CAESAR'S GHOST (thanks to Perry White at the Daily Planet for that one). I came up with a brilliant (yeas I am) idea. Why not replace the walls every month or two with new walls. Some of you might think, " Won't he be spending a lot in construction costs?" Not the kind of wall replacement I'm talking about.

I began to wonder if it would be possible to take the money I would spend on a new office and equipment and to spend that money on a trip to somewhere in the world, anywhere in the world that would have an internet connection. Of course, I also had to figure out what problems would I run into operating from wherever I happened to be.

So that's what this blog is about. I wanted to wake up some morning in another country, another culture, enjoy all it has to offer. Then I wanted to work for a few hours without missing a beat on the job. And that's what I'm doing. That's what I've done the last few months or so. And that's what this blog is about.

I want to tell you about how I've done it so far and clue you in to current travels and any new technology I learn about along the way. Maybe you can do this too. If you can't, maybe you can do this vicariously. Here we go.