My husband was helping our son remodel in Portland this weekend. I had alot of work to do, keeping up with new classwork and working on business. I was going to stay home but decided it was lovely weather and I’d travel along with him so I could see my kids, too.
Having been in college when learning programming meant using keypunch cards, (A key punch is a device for entering data into punch cards by precisely punching holes at a designated locations :)).I have to constantly remind myself to remember how mobile my work now is. There was nothing that I had to do at the office that I couldn’t do sitting in the car with my computer on my lap, including this post!
I remember the first time I left the office with my cell phone and talked to a customer in Nordstrom. I pretended I was in the office and that I had time to talk. I remember the feeling that I could really do almost anything as long as I had my cell phone with me and no one would even know I wasn’t at work.
The craziest was when I got an offer on a listing about 10 minutes before pulling out of Miami on a cruise. The deal came together, the seller never did know I was not in town and I handled the whole thing from the ship’s computers. I don’t turn my business over to an associate unless I have to, and I don’t tell my clients where I am unless it’s necessary. So for a work-a-holic like me, It’s amazing how much free time I have now with mobile phones and now, the mobile office.
[photopress:Copy_of_P1010174.JPG,thumb,alignleft]So, Randy is waiting for me to get back on the road where I can get back to listening to my lecture series online and typing a blog on my laptop plugged in to the battery with my really slick sprint card. I’ve already answered several emails, searched for a handyman in Vaughn for a client, done a CMA for another client and emailed all the results, while driving up I-5!
It may be that I never really get away from the office, but at least by bringing the office along with me, I can now even enjoy the hours I put in on the job.
BTW, my son is moving from his 1910 bungalow 2100 sq ft home in NE Portland worth $600,000 to a 3600 sf ft new home in Vancouver on 1/2 acre with more bells and whistles than I knew exsisted for $650,000. And it’s only 20 minutes away. Location, location, location.
I have found myself taking my laptop to school with me the last week or so to try to catch up between break on all my emails and stuff as well as to look up more information for class in which I did not quiet understand.
I am very wired it seems with a cellphone with Internet access, GPS with all the bells and whistles, and now my laptop. I am actually thinking about putting a mini-ref. in the back as well.
I need a microwave and a makeup table!
Do you think it’s an invasion of your privacy (of course it is) or is the invasion worth the freedom?
I’m wondering why an agent would ever need to go into an office? Now that you can access listings in the car, have meetings and write contracts at Starbucks, (a great way to deliver that first set of documents to your buyer is via email from Xpress forms anyway). I waste 2 hours traveling back and forth to the office every day. Of course, I’m the broker and have to be there, but I wonder why the agents are!
I recently purchased a Sprint EVDO-A card/plan and so far I am pretty impressed with it. It’s handled my Virtual Earth web development, terminal server access, and most impressive, my Slingbox viewing needs at DSL speeds (500+ kbps). Much better than the GPRS card I had from T-Mobile last year.
Now if they’d only debug the device drivers/firmware, I’d be delighted. I’m looking forward to really testing it when I take my next vacation. A Slingbox w/ an EVDO card is just too cool for words.
Robbie, explain please? Slingbox w/ an EVDO card? I’m dummified!
BTW, we’re able to hook it up to a router and run both home computers off it with no noticable bandwidth.
no noticeable bandwidth DROP, I meant to say 🙂
An EVDO card is just a geeky name for the hardware used by Sprint’s Mobile Broadband and Verizon’s Wireless BroadbandAccess.
A Slingbox is a device that streams live video over the internet. A Slingplayer is a program that receives streaming video from a Slingbox. This probably needs more explanation…
For example, when I’m at work during my lunch break, I like to watch the local news at noon (find out about the weather forecast during the evening commute, etc). I don’t have a TV at work. So at home I have a Slingbox hooked up to my Directv/Tivo receiver and a high speed internet connection. On my work machine I’ve installed a Slingplayer and it receives the media stream from transmitting from my Directv/Tivo receiver and encoded by my Slingbox back home. So I can essentially watch anything being broadcast to my TV at home from anywhere I have an internet connection.