Wherever I go, there I work (and play)

You hear me talk about tools, apps, practices, etc that are helpful to working from anywhere, but today I share a piece of equipment that is absolutely essential to my life as the AnywhereMan.

What are the essentials for you to be able to work from wherever you want?

If you are a Work Anywhere person like me, or know someone who is, this list is for you. Here are the six things on my Anywhere Christmas list:

1) iTunes Gift Cards

2) Pocket HD Video Camera

3) The Bourne Trilogy

4) Coffee Gift Cards

5) Bluetooth Accessories

6) BlueLounge Space Station

Really, I don’t actually need any of this stuff. They just compliment my lifestyle. If you’re really looking for great things to spend money on this holiday season, please consider donating to a charity such as Samaritan’s Purse in honor of the special people in your life. We are purchasing some gifts for children in memory of our friend Nathan.

What’s on your Anywhere Christmas list this year?

In an effort to improve my AnywhereMan video workflow, I picked up a new Logitech QuickCam Pro webcam for around $80 which allows me to produce 720p video right at my desktop. So far I love it, and today I talk about this camera as well has the rest of my video setup.  Still tweaking the audio level with the webcam (sorry about the clipping in a few spots!), but I’m really loving the video quality for the price and how it handles the lighting arrangement in my office.

NOTE: So I recorded this video, uploaded it to Vimeo, and had some issues with the frame rate. The audio worked great, but the video took forever to load and after it did I was super choppy. I guess the Logitech software records at 15 fps by default, and Vimeo prefers 30 fps. Trying to figure out whether I need to find 3rd party software to record 30 fps from the webcam, or if I should just start using YouTube over Vimeo from now on.  I will keep you posted. I love Vimeo, but I also love a quicker process!

CONFIRMED AFTER FURTHER RESEARCH: The QuickCam Pro for Notebooks cannot do 720P at 30 fps, just 15 fps. Why don’t they tell you this stuff ON THE BOX? The picture quality still looks great though.  I will stick with this until Microsoft sends me their new LifeCam HD to review on this site.

Shop Online

• Logitech QuickCam Pro for Notebooks from TigerDirect
• Logitech QuickCam Pro for Notebooks from TechDepot
• Logitech QuickCam Pro for Notebooks from Amazon
• Canon Vixia HV30 HDV High Definition Camcorder from TechDepot
• Sony Vegas Pro – ( v. 9 ) – complete package from TechDepot

The battery on my notebook PC has been almost completely dead for a few months, thus I’ve had to keep myself close to an outlet lately.  A few times I’ve even gone in the garage, grabbed a super long extension cord, and gone through the rest of the hassle of moving my “office” out to the hammock. (Fresh air is important, especially here in MN where we’re stuck indoors half the year!)

Every room in my house does, in fact, have multiple outlets, but this tedious act of putting my notebook on “sleep”, unplugging the power cord, fetching it from behind my desk, and taking the whole system with me has been a pain in the rear-hind (a word invented by my 4 year-old). Lately I’ve found myself tending to stay in my home office.

Today I got a new battery, twice the capacity of my old one. Life is good. I’m on my couch in my living room right now catching up on blogs, following up on emails, and enjoying the freedom that the lack of being plugged-in can bring. Really I’m only feet away from my office, but it doesn’t matter. I have the freedom. I have the “power.” (isn’t that a He-Man line?)

Anyways, just wanted to point out that sometimes just a little thing like a battery and the freedom to move around the house can make a big difference in attitude and mindset. I’m getting work done right now, but really I feel like I’m doing it on my terms and out of my own free will as I’m not stuck in the same place I spend most of my day.  You’ll find that I’m big on the atmosphere of the place I get work done…mood, sights, sounds, etc. A simple thing like a new battery has re-opened my options.  

Other things can have this very same effect. Re-arranging a room, getting a new light in your office, moving your office to another room of the house, putting your desk against another wall, new speakers for your music, a new monitor, etc.  Little things make a big difference when you have the option to be Anywhere but are sometimes stuck in one general area for a while.

Do something different today.