Wednesday, October 05, 2005
Crud, have I let it go that long again? It looks like I have. You know, it's not that I've got writers block per se, it's just that I've got writers block when it comes to the Macintosh universe, and admittedly, I have for awhile, as long-time readers have probably been able to surmise just by visiting. The only way out of writer's block is to just start typing, so here's what's been cooking, relevant or not:
Funny thing about being self-employed. During the past few months I've had a seemingly inordinate number of people (family, friends) suggest that I replace my aging car. It's not in bad shape at all, it's just that it's about six years old and the conventional wisdom is that a car only has a certain number of miles left in it at that point, and you want to ditch the car before you reach that limit. But the thing is that I don't drive. Sure, the store or the bank, or out somewhere on a weekend. But that daily commute, large or small, that invariably exists in every driver's life? Not in mine. It's the daily commute that kills a car, and lacking that, my car ought to last just about forever. I could buy a new car just so it would look nice sitting in the driveway day after day, but that seems a bit excessive.
In fact, one of the many things that has enamored me to the idea of living in a place like New York City (in the summertime, at least) is that you don't need a car at all. It's not that I don't enjoy driving. It's the traffic jams and the slow drivers who cause them. If you're going to get behind the wheel of a vehicle that is capable of going sixty or more miles per hour and you're going to get pinned in by idiots who force you to go no faster than walking speed, then you might as well walk, eh? And of course, you've got to love the fact that no matter how busy the subway is, having more passengers on board doesn't cause the trains to go slower.
Anyway, I'd really have to think about it more before packing up and heading to the city or anywhere else for that matter. But again, what's different for me is that I can more or less do what I do from just about anywhere. Most folks, when they think of relocating, the single biggest factor is their job. It's either forcing them to move when they don't want to, keeping them from moving when they do want to, or playing into the decision one way or the other. That's not an issue for me. What is kind of nice, though, is that with nothing to do around here (the amusement parks don't count after the hundredth time), there's nothing to get distracted by. But on the other hand, all work and no play is no way to play the game either.
I recall a conversation a had with a friend a few years back about how the internet could conceivably cause a diffusion of city dwellers into more rural locales under the theory that, with the internet, employees could theoretically work from anywhere instead of living in the city just to show up every day for the cubicle routine. I haven't seen any data as to whether this might actually be happening, and it's a bit early in the life of the internet for such a pattern to emerge yet anyway. But for me at least, the rise of the internet is pushing me in the other direection. Sure, I can do what I do from the middle of nowhere. But half of what I do is a media entity, and the other half is tied into the media from the other side, and the idea of running it all from the media capital of the world is quite enticing, almost irresistible.
But then there's that cold weather thing. It may not even make sense to someone who lives up north, but when you grow up in Florida, you're very much instilled with the idea that life is meant to be fully enjoyed twelve months out of the year, not four. In other words, if it's so cold outside that you have to put on a heavy coat just to avoid being physically injured by the lack of heat, then something is deeply wrong. Could I make the transition to a region in which you spend half of each year having every day of your life severely impacted by what I consider uninhabitable weather? Maybe. But the question is, do I want to? Seems like friends I've grown up with here in Florida who move up north, end up moving back. And none of them hate the cold as much as I do.
Seems like the ideal way to do it would be to spend half the year up there and the other half down here, which would be a bit surreal, but at this point there isn't much about my life that isn't surreal. On the other hand, when I worked at a condo when I was young, I got to see first-hand what people go through when they own residences that are empty for half the year. And short of owning residences in both places, there would always be the uncertainty of "I've got six months to figure out where I'm going to live the next time" hanging over my head.
I don't know, though. Living in the media capital of the world, I believe, would be beneficial to both of my business ventures. As with all things, I just have to figure out if it's worth it. In any case, at the moment we're heading into the colder part of the year, so I guess I've got some time to think about it.
Funny thing about being self-employed. During the past few months I've had a seemingly inordinate number of people (family, friends) suggest that I replace my aging car. It's not in bad shape at all, it's just that it's about six years old and the conventional wisdom is that a car only has a certain number of miles left in it at that point, and you want to ditch the car before you reach that limit. But the thing is that I don't drive. Sure, the store or the bank, or out somewhere on a weekend. But that daily commute, large or small, that invariably exists in every driver's life? Not in mine. It's the daily commute that kills a car, and lacking that, my car ought to last just about forever. I could buy a new car just so it would look nice sitting in the driveway day after day, but that seems a bit excessive.
In fact, one of the many things that has enamored me to the idea of living in a place like New York City (in the summertime, at least) is that you don't need a car at all. It's not that I don't enjoy driving. It's the traffic jams and the slow drivers who cause them. If you're going to get behind the wheel of a vehicle that is capable of going sixty or more miles per hour and you're going to get pinned in by idiots who force you to go no faster than walking speed, then you might as well walk, eh? And of course, you've got to love the fact that no matter how busy the subway is, having more passengers on board doesn't cause the trains to go slower.
Anyway, I'd really have to think about it more before packing up and heading to the city or anywhere else for that matter. But again, what's different for me is that I can more or less do what I do from just about anywhere. Most folks, when they think of relocating, the single biggest factor is their job. It's either forcing them to move when they don't want to, keeping them from moving when they do want to, or playing into the decision one way or the other. That's not an issue for me. What is kind of nice, though, is that with nothing to do around here (the amusement parks don't count after the hundredth time), there's nothing to get distracted by. But on the other hand, all work and no play is no way to play the game either.
I recall a conversation a had with a friend a few years back about how the internet could conceivably cause a diffusion of city dwellers into more rural locales under the theory that, with the internet, employees could theoretically work from anywhere instead of living in the city just to show up every day for the cubicle routine. I haven't seen any data as to whether this might actually be happening, and it's a bit early in the life of the internet for such a pattern to emerge yet anyway. But for me at least, the rise of the internet is pushing me in the other direection. Sure, I can do what I do from the middle of nowhere. But half of what I do is a media entity, and the other half is tied into the media from the other side, and the idea of running it all from the media capital of the world is quite enticing, almost irresistible.
But then there's that cold weather thing. It may not even make sense to someone who lives up north, but when you grow up in Florida, you're very much instilled with the idea that life is meant to be fully enjoyed twelve months out of the year, not four. In other words, if it's so cold outside that you have to put on a heavy coat just to avoid being physically injured by the lack of heat, then something is deeply wrong. Could I make the transition to a region in which you spend half of each year having every day of your life severely impacted by what I consider uninhabitable weather? Maybe. But the question is, do I want to? Seems like friends I've grown up with here in Florida who move up north, end up moving back. And none of them hate the cold as much as I do.
Seems like the ideal way to do it would be to spend half the year up there and the other half down here, which would be a bit surreal, but at this point there isn't much about my life that isn't surreal. On the other hand, when I worked at a condo when I was young, I got to see first-hand what people go through when they own residences that are empty for half the year. And short of owning residences in both places, there would always be the uncertainty of "I've got six months to figure out where I'm going to live the next time" hanging over my head.
I don't know, though. Living in the media capital of the world, I believe, would be beneficial to both of my business ventures. As with all things, I just have to figure out if it's worth it. In any case, at the moment we're heading into the colder part of the year, so I guess I've got some time to think about it.
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