Why librarians are well-suited for location-flexible work

October 29, 2013. I’m in beautiful Monterey, CA for right now because I’m speaking at a conference here: Internet Librarian. Since all my work is online, instead of paying for three nights in an expensive hotel, I decided to find a place for a whole month and just live here for a while. I’m staying in a cute little cottage that I found on Airbnb. It’s only a few blocks from the conference hotel. I love it!

I’ve invited anyone who is interested in location-flexible work to join me this evening for a “dine-around” (group dinners at local restaurants on various topics of interest to librarians). We’re meeting at Siamese Bay (Thai food) at 7pm. Continue reading “Why librarians are well-suited for location-flexible work”

Why I prefer access to ownership, part 2: housing

This article is part 2 of a series. See also: Why I prefer access to ownership, part 1: cars, books and more

An Airbnb apartment in Omaha (Dundee neighborhood) where I stayed for a few days.
An Airbnb apartment in Omaha (Dundee neighborhood) where I stayed for a few days.

I like the idea of not owning a place to live, but instead having access to well-designed living spaces that I can use as needed — like Zipcar, but for housing.

Since I didn’t purchase real estate until later in life (and right before the housing crash), I never made money from it or built equity (since I had 100% financing). It’s currently breaking even as a rental and when the value comes back up to a little more than I owe, I’ll probably sell it, since I don’t want the responsibility of owning something in a city where I don’t spend much time. Continue reading “Why I prefer access to ownership, part 2: housing”

A unique place to see street art in Mexico City

One thing I enjoy is taking photos of street art. During my stay in Oaxaca I found many interesting examples. Since I was living there for several months, I was able to collect quite a few photos that I took whenever I happened to walk by a wall with interesting art.

Street art in Oaxaca.
Street art in Oaxaca.

I was only in Mexico City for a week, so it was more difficult to just happen across something. I had heard that there were many great examples there, but how would I find them? Continue reading “A unique place to see street art in Mexico City”