#101 1/10/14 Work where you make it...

High speed internet was a bit unusual in the 1990s but I recall having a slow DSL connection in 1999.  Connectivity, portability and collaboration venues now thrive where ever one might be.

Working at home is nice and I lobbied for that for many years at the 27-year gig with limited success.  The pundits liked designated desks and cubicles, people at their stations and the opportunity for the occasional meeting room.  Now as a bit of a roving worker (although without a real job [yet]) I'm struck with the opportunities that more or less public places offer. 

The Starbucks and Caribous are jammed with users staring at their Apple devices and nursing day-long coffees.  I think most of them are listening to music or cruising.  Rarely do I see heads-down keyboard work (I dislike the new word 'keyboarding').

So far I've found that working in public spaces is nice but only if I can get a little distance from others.  The Ramsey County libraries, the less-freqented fast food places and the city community centers seem to work fine.  Serious consideration was given to membership at the MPLS CoCo but I found it sort of jammed with people.  Their focus is on collaboration and the closeness probably encourages that.  There are a number of writers there and some SIG (special interest groups) for things like WordPress but I'm still in the early discovery stages of this re-alignment.  I've been conventional long enough and there is a danger in hip conventional, too.  The twenty-year shot clock is running.

The next vocation will certainly be minimalist in nature.  In the early 1970s I moved once with all my possessions in one VW bug trip.  Now I want to be able to work from one messenger bag.  Given my Samsung Chromebook failure I'll probably be a vagabond with two computers but that's OK.

I'm off to handle life logistics.  My iPhone is ringing with calls from the small business place.