Slummin’ it

I am pretty far from a wireless connection (okay, my antenna just doesn’t pick up the ridiculously weak signal where I am), so here I am in a local library, using their free wireless. I just found out I am headed for Colorado next week, which means that I have all sorts of eMails to send, bills to pay, things to take care of before I head out there and am 2 time zones away from all of my work and my friends. I am really excited- I’m headed for the Aspen, Breckenridge area, and I haven’t been there for a couple of years. In fact, for all the wilderness stuff that I do, I have to say I have spent hardly any time out west, something I will have to remedy in the next few years.

That’s really all I had to say about that, but it is probably a good thing to remember what a privilege it is to have easy access to so much information all of the time and how just a few years ago the things I do on a daily basis were science fiction. In the background, the librarian is asking if the library here can play DVD’s. You really don’t have to travel that far off the beaten path to see how far we’ve come in such a short time. This has been a source of fascination and inspiration for me over the past few years, as I become increasingly independent from my employers, and thus dependent on my laptop and my cell phone, as I move into a new era by upgrading to the iPhone, and I can’t wait to see what it will take to make today’s technology look obsolete.

I like to think that somewhere along the road of progress we’ll get back to our roots, start growing our own food, spending time with our family and friends, having work and life mix to the point where work is fun. That’s my reality but I am very fortunate that my passions have led me to a job that pays the bills while giving me freedom, challenge and adventure. Plus, I don’t have a family to support. Nonetheless, I hope that my friends end up as happy in their careers as I am currently in mine.

And so I take my time today, working out of a local library, sending carefully crafted eMails all over the country, for the sake of wilderness safety and Jon’s independence. I can think of far less exciting places to live and work.