Jay Littlepage: Life In Balance?

iWork road trip

I have been a big fan of iWork for a long time. One of my early jobs at Sun was as IT's first nomadic computing architect, back when the gypsy was our portable sparc workstation and interactive unix was being incorporated into Sun as our x86 offering. Laptops changes components so fast that it was a race to release a version of x86 solaris before Toshiba moved to a new video chip, etc. I'm not an official WFM-er but I probably put in 10-15% of my hours on my sunray at home and love it.

So it was with this perspective that I launched into an iWork roadtrip. Back in August I drove out to Portland, OR with my daughter Erin and dropped her off at UP. Tomorrow's the end of her freshman year so I headed out of Broomfield yesterday afternoon to load her up and drive her home.

2500 miles in 3 1/2 days is not my idea of a vacation. So I basically planned a work trip. Why not? i'm constantly reading blogs like Dale's about the different places a person has been and connected. The web is becoming pervasive, so why not keep me connected, productive and sane while I drive x-country?

Day 1 didn't start too well. I left the office just after lunch and headed north on US287 and called into my meetings just fine until I got just north of Fort Collins, CO. Bloop. No cell signal until Laramie, WY; so much for that meeting. No problem, Interstate 80 is one of the most heavily traveled truck routes in the country, it'll be wired, right? Well, sort of. If I was within 5 miles of a town, yes. But Wyoming is a big place, and the towns are far apart. After calling into one meeting 3 times and dropping after a couple of minutes each time I decided I was being more disruptive than productive, and gave up. I started thinking of a blog entry entitled "inotWork". I got in late to my hotel in Ogden, UT and had to park a block away from the hotel due to construction. I was grumpy and tired and had 750 miles to go. But they had free wireless at Hampton Inn, so I was able to catch up on email before hitting the sack.

Day 2 was much better. I checked out early. The hotel had "to go" bag breakfasts and coffee. I was on the road by 5:30am. The Ogden-Logan valley was gorgeous as the sun rose. As I passed Corrinne, UT I saw the exit for the Golden Spike National Monument. One of the best books i've ever read was Ambrose's Nothing Like It In The World , about the buildout of the transcontinental railroad. Two efforts, starting on either coast, paralleling each other in points, both racing to be the first to complete and be the standard. Ultimately the golden spike was where the two efforts joined into one, changing the transportation industry and the US economy forever. Read it if you get the chance. This was the Internet of the 19th century.

Cell coverage was great. No digital divide on I-84. I got as much done on the road today as I would of in the office. The Red Lion Inn in Portland had free wireless, too (why isn't it free in all hotels and airports?). I caught up on email, reviewed a presentation by phone with Sara Gates, had dinner in a Thai restaurant near campus with Erin, and spent the evening moving her out of her dorm.

Now I just have to turn around and drive back. At least I know the path is wired!