Just an everyday normal web geek trying to figure out how to live life. I thought I would document the journey and help those who might be doing something similar. 
I have started to take a netbook to work. Not to use at work, more to use on the way to work. With my long commute I have found a way to make the time fly by and also I have found a great way to become productive. It is a win win and I love it.
How it works
I have a smart phone running android. This operating system (brilliant) has the option that allows you to broadcast a wifi signal that uses you datatime to connect you to the internet. This is great, and one of the reasons why I didn’t get an iphone. So now I have my phone broadcasting a wifi signal and I can do my work while sitting on the bus.
What do I do on the bus?
I often wonder what that person beside me is thinking? After all I typically have a few terminals open, reading drupal documentation the net with lynx and typing code at the same time. What really happens is this.
- I build drupal websites (locally on my netbook, configuring files, theming sites)
- I maintain websites (the internet has made bulk communication easy, now I am connected with that and I can send out a newsletter to a hundred people with easy, thanks drupal)
- I communicate with email and twitter, I have most of my conversations on the bus *Write blog posts like this one
This leaves me some free time when I get home to do the things that just aren’t really possible with a 10 inch screen stuff like
- Designing websites, I have a 24inch monitor hooked up to a quad core i5 at home, this little netbook is painful compared to that.
- Surf the net and download files (it is all about bandwidth, because I really enjoy surfing)
- Hang out with Tanya (this is my partner, not my computer)
Data-plan
One could run through their data plan awfully quick if they were surfing the net on their computer, so I have a few rule that I try to follow as much as possible.
- Don’t surf – Surfing for the sake of surfing is not going to be that enjoyable and really isn’t that productive anyways.
- Use a text based browser – I told a guy that I use a text based browser (lynx is its name) and he claimed that he used to use it all the time and loved it…in 1996. 15 years later an aspiring web geek has found the beauty in browsing the web with a text browser, mainly becuase I am on the bus on a data plan with a slow connection, it still rocks.
- Don’t download anything – So when I am doing Drupal development on my netbook on the bus I do download things. I download modules, most modules are small and don’t take up much room. I even downloaded D7 once, but that is also small.
- So there I sit, uncomfortably on the bus, making websites on my local machine. The time flies, I remain productive and I improve my skill set all at the same time. It is pretty cool and this is something that wasn’t really that easy to do couple years ago. Not anymore.
Skills I plan to master sitting on the bus
- Command line operations
- The essential Vim program
- Drupal module development
- jQuery
For the first time in my life I am forced to sit on a bus for 2 hours a day. I am going to use this time to learn new skills and become more skilled in the process.
So why the photo of the bicycle handle bars? Once I get off the bus I get on the bike and ride from Langford to Victoria (About 14km), which is a great way to stay in shape, but is also and great way to start the day, I get to work and I feel refreshed and ready to start working.