working from coffeeshops

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Do you ever dream about -not- going into the office?

For me, the perfect work situation seems to be this – a place I can go if I feel like it . A place filled with people I can get a good vibe from, a place where maybe they know my name and my favorite kind of tea. A place where I can where casual clothes and it’s never a problem. All the power and internet access I need to do my work, read, and surf.

I wouldn’t feel like I needed to move on; I’d have that feeling of being welcome whenever, for however long I need to be there.

Added bonuses would be 24/7 access, quiet when I needed it.

For me, the model for all of this is a place called Ha Coffee Bar, the best kind of place I stumbled onto in the town of Lihue on Kauai. If you ever find yourself on the Garden Island I whole-=heartedly recommend stopping by, pulling out the laptop, and soaking in a bit of the aloha while you work.

If you’re wearing flipflops, shorts and a tshirt while you work…  that’s awesome. So is everyone else. My favorite drink there – Orange Blossom Iced tea.

Ask for “Pete’s Orange Blosson,” and they’ll know what you mean. It’s that kind of place.

 

lifestyle design – sprinkling retirement throughout

One of the only things I’d like to persuade you of with this blog is that you can design your life. You don’t have to accept the path, the plan, the routine that other people give you.

You may think you do. You may figure you have no choice to keep on doing what you’re doing. That you can’t do amazing things that you’d love to. That you have responsibilities, obligations, pressing matters you need to tend to before you can do any of that dream-stuff.

I suspect that this is not true. It’s been my experience that while everyone has troubles and obligations, so many times we use those things as crutches, or rationalizations, reasons why we can’t take risks to ge the things we really want.

What do you dream about? What would you like to do? Where would you like to go?

What are you doing to move towards that?

If your first reaction to that question is some kind of reasoning why you can’t take steps towards what your heart desires, that might be a good indication that you’re keeping yourself in place, for some reason.

Just saying.

 

maui road

This is about lifestyle design, taking your life and enjoyment of it and making it a priority now, sprinkling your retirement throughout your life.

 

ipad awesome

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I just got the new ( as of early 2016 ) iPad Pro. I also got the Pencil and while I’m learning to draw and do UX design with it, I have to say for me the far-and-away best feature of the iPad is the ability to read off of it.

I mean, you can read on all of them. Or a Kindle, or Nook, or whatever. But I’ve tried a lot of e-reader devices. I have a huge phone, one of the “phablet” types because I thought I’d eschew a reader and do my reading off that. Of course, the phablet sucks for reading. It’s better than most phones, but it’s no library in your bag.

You know what -is- a library in your bag? The iPad Pro.

This is the first time I really felt like I had any book in my collection in my bag. The easy and joy of reading any book I owned, I could have as I traveled. For this, the size really does make a difference. It may do other things amazingly well and for that I’m glad, but even if it did not, I’m happy to pay the spendy price tag if it opens up my entire collection of books to where I can truly enjoy them on the go.

Together

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This is not the best picture I’ve ever taken. Clearly. But I love how it shows us both. Someday I’ll learn to smile in pictures. But until that day comes…   we’ll smile when we think of them, at least. This pic was taken in Hawaii, along the Na Pali coast when we were taking a little stay-cation with friends. You can’t see Niihau in the background, or the amazing sunset; really the view is sweeping and amazing from this place.

Sometimes pics won’t capture all that. It’ll just be the bookmark for a great moment. In the blog I’ll try and share better photography, but there will be times when you get a pic that might not win any awards. In this case, teh pic was chosen for some particular reason.

It’s the only one we have, or maybe it’s a great placeholder for a great moment. This place was mostly just a little bit of heaven right here on earth. Kind of like the girl with me.

In a couple months we’ll be done giving away almost all our stuff, and we’ll travel the world together, one bag apiece on our backs. For a long while it won’t be about our stuff, or our place. It will all be about us…  what we see, feel, learn, fear, miss, and find.

Together.

pack practice – Pete’s gear

first pack

A whole life. The material parts at least. In #onebag

 

Containers

Bag  – Deuter Futura 42. I originally planned on using the Tom Bihn Synapse 26 and I know I could get away with it space-wise, but I gave in to temptation for more room. Silly, I know.

Day bag –  Sea to Summit ultra sil. Packs down incredibly small

Toiletry kit bag  – Tom Bihn 3d clear organizer, replaces my old ( larger ) Kiva bag

Cord & electrics storage bag – Tom Bihn snake charmer. Spendy, but very helpful

Passport/immuecard/ID wallet –  Eagle Creek undercover hidden pocket

Money belt    Eagle Creek all terrain money belt. They changed the buckle on this a while ago, and now it’s not as amazing as it used to be, but it works.

Pack cubes or airbags  Tom Bihn dual bag wins, but I’m a big fan of Eagle Creek compression sacks, a kind of vacuum bag

Wash bag  Ospery 20L dry bag. This is for doing laundry. I know I could just use a sink, but this takes up almost zero space and I was sold when I saw a video of a guy agitating the laundry with it.

 

Electronics

Phone, charger, and phone case – iPhone 6+, BookBook iPhone case

Headphones  – standard iPhone earbuds work great for me, Bose QuietComfort 20 Acoustic Noise Cancelling Headphones are my “shut out the world” backups.

Laptop, cord, and case –  Macbook Air, BookBook case. Clearly I’m a fan.

Tablet, cord, and case – iPad Pro. Patiently waiting for the BookBook case, for this.

Hard drive & cord  – Seagate slim 1tb hard drive

Plug adapter  – Kikkerland travel adapter

Headphone splitter ( not sure which brand )

Jump drive  – Scandisk 128gb

Small notebook, Flexion erasable pen, pencil, sharpener

Battery, etc  – Hootoo wireless battery/router


Hygiene & health

toiletries

Toothbrush – Fuchs travel brush
Toothaste – GooToob of fancy organic brand
Moisturizer – GooToob of johoba oil
deodorant – crystal stick
floss
cotton swabs
nail clippers
safety razor
lip balm
soap – GooToob of Doc Bronner’s

Earplugs  – ( rando brand )

Towel  – MSR microfiber

Silk liner – ( not sure what brand )


Clothes

Ballcap

Shell – Arc-teryx

1 pair merino pants – Icebreaker Seekers

1 pair shorts – Icebreaker

2 pair undies – Ex Officio

3 merino tshirts

1 merino collared shirt – Wool & Prince

Shoes – Vivobarefoot RA II

Merino socks –  2 pair

Merino hoodie – Wooly

Misc

Shemagh & bandana

Flashlight ( & backup? )

Sunglasses

Cheap watch

First aid kit…

antibiotic cream
bandages
cotton swabs
anti-itch cream
probiotics
chewable Peptobismo
non-drowsy loratadine
Zyrtec
digital thermoeter
Ibuprofen
vegetable disinfectant solution
packets or oral rehydration salts
motion sickness tablets

MacGyver Gear ( make list – roll of duct tape, etc. )

Deck of playing cards    vintage Bicycle

Deck of tarot cards

Bluetooth speaker n cord  – Minijambox

Hawaii Elvis figurine

3 LED candles

Non-physical

Cloud backup  DropBox, Amazon, iCloud

Travel insurance

Skype credit

Online docs copy

Music online

Audible online

VPN  Private Internet Access

 

 

aloha, world

Traditionally, the first program a developer learns  is one that displays the text “Hello World!” Bloggers have a similar thing going on; the first post is titled this way, given a default picture.

I’ve blogged before, but this is Kim’s first widespread exposure to writing for the masses. He first view of social media publishing, thought leadership, and developing a voice for an audience here online.

Aloha, world.   (^_^

 

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A new perspective can do wonders