Wherever I go, there I work (and play)

This isn’t really relevant to freelancing or teleworking, but as AnywhereMan I love to move around a little bit. I also like to know how to get there.

In a stellar move to further expand the functionality of Google Maps, Google has now released an Android version of Maps that directly works with mobile GPS to give you step by step real-time directions. On top of that, it ties in with Google Search on a voice-activated level.  Essentially, you can say something like “Public library” into your phone and ultimately it will find the nearest public library based on your GPS coordinates, and then give you step by step commands to get there as you drive.  If you are in a Google Street View area, it will even show you exactly what you will see as you are driving.

Is it just me, or is this awesome?!  Motorola Droid is looking better and better every day.

Here’s a video from Google about the Google Maps Navigation app:

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• Google unveils free turn-by-turn directions for Android devices (macworld.com)
• With Maps Navigation, Google Fires Another Shot at Carriers (gigaom.com)
• “Motorola Droid Hits Verizon on November 6th for $200 [Motorola]” and related posts (gizmodo.com)

While I was at BizConf last week, I ended up talking to a guy who was living a similar lifestyle to mine: husband and father of young kids who works from home running his own business. We got onto the topic of how our careers really give us the flexibility to work pretty much wherever we want. He said that his family recently spent a few weeks in the mountains and he was able to work remotely and keep up with his business duties, all while getting some vacation time in as well.  

He then told me about a site called LessCabinFever where you can actually swap houses with other folks who are looking to do the same thing.  Today I checked it out and thought it looked pretty cool even though there aren’t many listings on there at this point. I expect the listing quantity to grow as this is a great idea, especially for us Work Anywhere folks.  

You’ll now see my Grand Rapids home listed among the few listings they’ve got up.  Setting up an account and creating the listing was super easy and I’ll keep you posted on any swaps I make in the future.  After a week in Florida, I’m totally up for escaping to warmer areas in the future (especially in the winter!).

I’ve been having a blast at BizConf here on Amelia Island just outside of Jacksonville. The conference ended last night and the number of quality folks I met and the knowledge I gained are truly priceless. The accommodations at the Ritz Carlton aren’t too shabby either. Seriously, this place is incredible.

Many thanks go out to Obie Fernandez and the Hashrocket folks for putting on such a wonderful conference, and to Jason Sadler at IWearYourShirt.com for holding the contest that got me here in the first place. I had a chance to hang out with Jason and he’s super awesome.

Check out the BizConf Flickr feed for some photos from the conference.

As someone who spends a lot of his time working alone, it’s very important to get out and interact with people on a regular basis (social media interactions don’t count). It’s also important to take vacations (which can be a little tougher to do when you don’t get paid-time-off…ah the freelance life!).  

This week I’ll get to combine these two things as I fly down to the Jacksonville, FL area for a learning and networking conference called BizConf. As I mentioned earlier, I actually won this trip and am blessed to have my airfare, meals, and lodging all provided. It’s a two day conference put on by Jacksonville Rails firm Hashrocket.

Honestly, I’m totally pumped to meet a bunch of other web app developers and attend the wide variety of sessions being offered. Presenters will be covering everything from running your business to photography to productivity to communication…lots of great topics. The coolest thing is that there are only 75 attendees, so a great chance to really get to know not only the other attendees but the presenters as well. 

I’ll hopefully be tweeting from the conference, and if any topics covered are relevant to the Anywhere Lifestyle, I’ll try to highlight them here on AnywhereMan.  I’m guessing some of my fellow attendees are living the Anywhere Life like me, so maybe I’ll even meet some good folks to profile in a future post.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Announcing BizConf (obiefernandez.com)
• BizConf Update (obiefernandez.com)