Taking a Break During Vacation

Now that I've become accustomed to doing something every day to bring in more revenue, it's a bit difficult to be on vacation for a week. Thanks to wireless access throughout the hotel (:<), it's easy to stay connected but not as easy to monitor eBay auctions. To keep making progress, I'll also need to start getting active with tax lien / deed auctions, even if it's only to learn what it's like to attend.

I asked my wife how we should handle finance matters while we're away, whether to be as frugal as we've been at home or to be more relaxed. She says we should be 'somewhere in the middle.' Nevertheless, after paying for airfare, hotel and car rental, we've already spent a lot before even considering food and maybe a few souvenirs. Being able to write off much of it for my wife's business is helpful, but hardly a license to spend freely.

Shortly before leaving, I purchased The World is Flat (getting 30% off list price of course). Having focused so much on books about money and finance lately, I thought it would be beneficial to read about something else for a change, especially facing a cross country airplane round trip. What I find especially interesting about Thomas Friedman's book is that a year after it was released, already a huge best seller, he took the time to update it and come out with a 'version 2.0' edition.

I've only made it through the first hundred pages or so, but it's clearly a fascinating read. It reviews major trends affecting society, especially the pervasive influence of computers and the Internet. Now it's easy to work with anyone anywhere in the world - geographical barriers don't seem to matter much anymore. Although many people have been concerned about the effects of outsourcing, it's clear that this is a trend that will only increase in coming years.

Will people ever get accustomed to reading on screens instead of books, making printed materials obsolete? Certainly while flying across the US in one of the few environments that is not connected either by cell phones or Internet access, having the book certainly came in handy.