Nomad ComputingFor the past week or so, you may have noticed that many of my posts have dealt with Wi-Fi and Internet HotSpots. The reason for this sudden interest in this topic is because I’ve been trying to work more frequently out of my home office. The reason is simple – there are too many distractions working out of my home and I simply need a change of pace. Since I can’t quite afford an office at the moment, my only other alternative has been to use local area HotSpots. A good friend of mine, Dan Royea, calls this “nomad computing.” 🙂

Now that I’ve found a few reliable HotSpots, this type of mobile office is working fairly well. I’ve noticed that my productivity has been much higher and coupled with the new tools that I’ve mentioned in recent posts, I’m starting to get on top of my piles. That’s not to say that this type of situation is idyllic. You have no control over your environment, so you have to roll with the punches a bit. For example, as I write this, I’m sitting in Bongo Java and they are playing some really crappy music. I’m open to all forms of music and can listen to just about anything, but this stuff really sucks. Luckily I have a pair of small headphones and I can turn on Massinova or SomaFM to help drown out the noise and listen to something I like.

Other inconveniences, such as uncomfortable seating, limited food and drink options and extra noisy fellow customers are just some of the other interesting challenges of setting up your office in remote locations. In my book these things are fairly minor. I tend to like noisy environments, so I don’t really see that as a negative. In fact, I could have sworn I heard somewhere that Tolstoy wrote War And Peace in a public square. Not that posting to a weblog can even lick the boots of a classic work, just that I can relate to getting lost in the noise and activity.

There’s a certain energy working in public spaces as opposed to being tucked away in a comfy office. Yet I can see this type of computing coming to an end. I’m getting my fill of coffee and it would be nice to have a dedicated space to work in with everything I need around me. So I’ve begun looking around Nashville for reasonable (aka cheap) office space. Haven’t found anything definite yet, but it is kind of exciting. Yet even if I do get a dedicated office, I can still see taking a trek out to a HotSpot every now and then. There’s something out staking out a space and just slamming and jamming on a project.

If you happen to be in Nashville and want to track me down and say hello, check out the webcam to see where I’m currently working. I’ll treat you to a cup of coffee and we can toast to nomadic computing!