We recently got back from a week of vacation, something that I wasn't sure I wanted to do, and indeed wasn't sure we could do since the L word was first spoken in our house. No, not that word. This one. We actually get an extremely good accommodation deal, sometimes completely free, through having connections. That sounds really Mafia, not that there is one, but it's just dumb luck on my part. Anyway, I discovered several things during my foray into Florida:
Being able to do actual freelancing work is a tenuous thing when you're out of town. Away from home, everything becomes infinitely more complicated all of a sudden. One of the offspring was injured during the trip and it took forever to find out what to do about it, What doctor to see, where to even find one, etc.
The main thing that you can generally count on being able to do is managing email. Even when I didn't have much time at the hotel to actually try to work, there is always time to read and respond to emails, which doesn't take that long even if you have a lot of them. Even just a few minutes in the morning and again at night is enough to manage email, stay in communication with ongoing clients and answer questions sent to you. In the end, that's most of what I could do while away this time.
A number of people really are clinging to the mid-80s idea that the tanner you are, the more attractive you are. This isn't the case.
Every part of the offline economy seems to be having problems. Even the place that I went, generally a hugely profitable place, is in the middle of layoffs. The shops, usually bustling, were empty. Virtually all of them were having sales, something I've never seen in all the trips I've made there over the past mhhmmmm years. There were items available as much as 75 percent off, and people weren't buying.
Upon returning, I was super glad that I work almost exclusively online, which numerous reports have shown to be a growing sector of the economy. And then I read this. So, the apocalypse is pretty much around the corner. This sucks on many levels, one of which being that I recently applied to be a Google Quality Rater, and now I won't be able to afford any of the pre-apocalypse sales.
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9 comments:
dangit, finally a blog i could read from cover to cover, only i so rarely have the time (only weekend internet access) ... i'll be back! anyway, you're right about the place that said they'd pay 10 cents but acted like i was crazy for asking for half that. true that, i'm not van halen, and i can vouch for that story being true. my thekerrieshow.com blog links to a blog called rock n'roll grandma, and she was a caterer here in KC for many years and dealt with van halen! keep writing me ... you're cool!
Ha! You always wonder whether things like that are urban myths or not. As soon as I become a rock star, those M&Ms are mine...
http://www.rockandrollstories.info/
this chick was working on a book about her experiences and finished it but it now trying to get known and working on rewrites and stuff. i wish she'd get the darn thing published b/c she's seen it all!
During the 1980s in the UK, the chic was to be as white as veal. Being a "yuppie" working all hours in the office was relentlessly promoted in the style media as being "cool". (Mind you, UK weather doesn't afford that much opportunity to get a deep tan anyway.)
Bestest!
We had the yuppie thing, but even they were expected to be tan. I guess it was to look like they were successful enough to go down to the islands or something. It's a shame that the pale thing never caught on here because it would be hard to distinguish me from a piece of paper.
Get a netbook and sit outside!
Are you right! It is so much harder to work on the road!
Sit outside? What, in direct sunlight? I could burst into flame!
... make sure the webcam is on!
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