However, two things stop a laptop from being as useful as it could really be.

The first one is connectivity. It happens so that there’s almost no applications I use that are actually installed on my computer anymore. Apart from my music and movie collection (at home, my computer is also the media center of the house), there’s almost nothing on my hard drive. My office suite is online. I use Gmail’s web interface instead of a pop or imap client. Every text I write ends up, obviously, online. That means a computer is almost of no use to me without a decent internet access. Of course I can use my mobile phone as a modem for my laptop to connect to the net, since mobile coverage is excellent in 99,9% of the places I currently spend time at. The fact of the matter remains that connecting this way is extremely expensive, and the access is sluggish as hell. I know, I know, in most occidental cities you can find decent wifi coverage. So for the time I intend spending in occidental cities in the future (none), yeah for sure that’s useful… You could also retort that most people possess a wifi router too, so if I want to stay a few days at a friend’s house, I could still use my laptop computer. Just a thought though : perhaps if they do own a wifi router, that’s because they also own… a computer! Therefore, I wouldn’t have a real need to bring my own with me.

So, what’s the point in buying a 1100€ laptop computer** that I won’t be able to use in that much more of a variety of places than, erm, home? Home, in which I already have a very good machine.

Even if the connectivity problem was solved worldwide, the main inconvenience remains the short use you can have of your laptop when it’s running on its battery. Thankfully, a number of research is being made on the topic. One of them is about using capacitors instead of cells (I can’t seem to find the url back, darn, please use the comment section if you have it somewhere in your bookmarks ). The main advantage of a capacitor is that it has no “memory effect”. That means it can go through an unlimited number of charge-discharge cycles. With such a capacitor type battery, I wouldn’t hesitate charging it everytime I needed to, even if I have the chance to do so for only 10 minutes. That could be of some help, because with present batteries I never dare doing half a charge. It’s full charge or nothing. When you see the price of a battery, you for sure want to extend your battery life to the max.

But the most interesting research being made at the moment is the one considering the use of nanotechnologies that would allow the construction of 40 hours long batteries. If those finally hit the market, that would be a big incentive for me finally buying a laptop computer.

Despite all of this, I’m going to have to buy a laptop in the coming months. As I said in past posts, I have plans to go and travel the world a few years before ever thinking of setting down again. While traveling, a laptop is a must-have. There’s no way I can travel without a device that allows me to carry and connect to about everything I am, think and see. I will need it to run my business, to keep blogging and stay in touch with my friends and family.

I guess I’ll have to overcome my feelings that laptops are still pretty far from useful and actually usable before getting one.

** I know you can buy a really nice laptop computer for 450€. But If I ever buy one it has to have a decent screen, a huge hard drive on which I can store all my music in a non-destructive format, a real numpad like desktop keyboards have, decent built-in speakers for watching movies, the longest lasting battery ever made and a good audio output so that my AKG headphones can render their crystal clear sound. I’ll have to get a USB hard drive with it too, for backup’s purpose. All of this having to weigh less than a new born kitten, which goes without saying. Am I a difficult customer?

Anyway, check out this cool site that lists the best ultra portable computers bargains to be made at the moment.

A few years ago, after dropping out of high school, I worked as a laborer in various factories and warehouses. It lasted for two years before I decided to study by myself and pass an admission exam that would allow me to go to college. At that time, I thought having a college degree meant having a job in which I’d find myself happier, freer, and wealthier. I began studying various subjects before finally opting for taxes and accounting. I actually loved those classes, rocked at it and found what is called a good job in a matter of days after receiving my degree.

Coming from a family of laborers and social welfare abusers, I was seeing it as a huge social evolution. The feeling of accomplishment lasted a few months, accompanied by an actual feeling of self-worthiness to be a part of the system. I was happy to provide value to the company I was working for, because making it perform well meant being a part of the global economy of my country. Being good at it meant more profit, thus more employment, more taxes, more money to pay for schools and road. Everything seemed so beautifully set. Working there was good to me and to the community. At least, that’s what it felt like. The human mind is so flexible I’d conditioned myself to believe that a white collar job would make me happy and was the right thing to do.

Then monotony and lucidity set in. Those good high-on-pot feelings began dropping in intensity, as I realized there was not much difference between an office job and a factory job. I was still a slave. I’d spent years studying, only to become more of a slave than I actually was without college education. School had only contributed to make me more of a sheep than I would have been if I’d stayed education-free. Without going to college, I would have kept working as a slave, but at least I’d have stayed conscious about it.

In 99% of office jobs, you don’t get paid enough for the devotion you give your employer, even if you have a 6 figures salary. Spending at least 40 hours a week in a office, pretending you care for the company and spending actual mental energy to make it go well although deep down you couldn’t care less, when you could be spending that time and energy on a project of your own, is both a lie to yourself and to your employer. This is the way of the weak. Because what you really care for is your wife, your children, your friends and the activities you like doing outside, these things you really enjoy doing and that you do whenever you actually feel like it, (not from 9 to 5 convincing yourself it’s good for you).

Here’s a list of the things I most like doing :

1. I love writing.
2. I love traveling and feeling free, being on the road.
3. I love thinking uncommonly.
4. I love playing backgammon.
5. I love studying animal behavior.

Five stuff I love and that count for me. Five ways to earn the necessary money to live.

I’m combining number 1 and 3 in this blog. It’s not bringing any money at the time of writing, but that’s because I need to provide more and more value. When there will be enough valuable articles in here, I know it will pay back.

I’m about to live number 2 full time in a few months time, and along with that I have two projects : one involving business that goes with traveling, and the second one is writing online on a day-to-day basis about my traveling experiences.

Number 4 has yet to provide a way of bringing in some cash. I’m not good enough to play for money yet. But I’m practicing everyday in the hope to become an excellent player.

Number 5 is a longer term idea. If someday I decide to set in, somewhere wild in the world, I would love to work freelance on helping humans and animals to live together. Bringing the first ones to understand and respect the seconds more.

What are the things you love doing ?

Don’t hesitate sharing your ideas below

Our new idea is to go to Indonesia and stay there for at least a year. We’re actually planning to open a small business over there. Why Indonesia? Well, first because we need to go where the sun shines at least once or twice a year for a change, and where the landscapes are beautiful. We also want to forget most things that remind us of the occidental way of life. It’s as simple as that. Second, Nathalie knows Indonesia really well. She speaks Indonesian fluently and knows what it is to live there. She also happens to have a degree in “foreign business with South-East Asia”. She’s already been teaching me a bit of bahasa Indonesia this week and I’ve found many great lessons and games to help you learn on various websites.

The idea occurred as we were talking about staying in Indonesia, just touring and slacking around for about 6 months, before going to Canada like we’d planned before. But then we had this illumination and saw a great business opportunity in a niche business that very few people seem to have gone into yet.

The project in question requires mostly time, dedication and communication, but very little if no money at all. Once it is all set up, we’ll have a nice income for working a few hours a week. If it doesn’t turn out well, it’s still ok because thanks to the hard work we’ve been putting here, we have enough money to live a couple of years with no income at all over there.

The only difficulty resides in the fact that it’s extremely difficult to obtain a visa that allows us to stay and work in Indonesia. The administrative rules resemble a maze designed by some kind of mad and vicious man. So we need to figure that part out before saying goodbye to our people here.

Anyway I’m very happy about having one more concrete project that doesn’t require me to work for an employer ever again. On January 1st, I actually made myself the promise of leaving my last employer ever this year. I’m working as hard as I can to generate income from my websites. So, even if it doesn’t work out well in Indonesia, at least I’ll be able to spend a lot of time over there, having no obligation at all, to develop my web activities.

I already told everyone at my day job about leaving Belgium, and I’ve been amazed to see how scared people seem to be when it comes to doing anything that’s out of the ordinary. They will find all sorts of reasons not to change anything in their lives. They would invent all sort of barriers, like language difference, terrorism, or other virtual threats of the sort.

Well, it’s really dangerous going outside your home, especially in Brussels. You can get hit by a car every time you cross a street. Is it a sufficient reason to stay home? No it’s not. Life’s too short to discard the outside world’s experiences, even if crossing your front door means having 50% chance of getting ran over by trucks. What’s the point staying home waiting for your body and your brain to decay?

Always remember that everything is possible.
You want to do something, anything?
Plan it.
Do it.

Buying a house is what you do if you have reasons to be afraid of the future. “Will I always be able to pay a rent?” “If anything bad happens, at least I can still sell the house.” “If my retirement plan brings less money than expected, at least I won’t have to worry about having a roof over my head”. Those are very legitimate and sensible things to say when you’re earning just enough to live, or are tied to working salaried jobs. I’m not criticising, as it’s precisely the situation I’m in right now. Actually, I’m working a lot on myself not to think that way despite the possible insecurity that may result in living more freely than I do now. But if I really want to break free from employment one day, I better start acting and thinking like I was already free. I am adapting my beliefs so that they’re the ones of a financially free person. This is what will set the proper frame for me to really access financial freedom.

You see, right now I have quite a nice little amount of cash that I’ve laid across various short term investments and my high interest rate saving account. I could use that money right now as a down payment for a house (and then spend the next 20 years paying twice its value in interests) or I can use it, sparsely, to travel and be free. If I start with the conservative way of buying a house, it would only be showing the universe I accept worrying about the future. I refuse doing so because I trust my ability to generate lasting financial security.

I’ve always wanted to travel and decided a long time ago that I would at least move to another country. I’ve grown a very depressing opinion of Belgium : the weather is constantly cloudy and rainy, taxes are so high they prevent you from doing anything that’s even remotely entrepreneurial, like working freelance or investing in real estate. You can’t do anything here that’s out of the norm without providing explanations and paying more taxes. The only thing you’re allowed doing is working a salaried job like a slave only to see 50% of your income going to unemployed people who’ve decided it was not worth it (who could blame them). I’ve realised it’s simply a communist country in which I can’t seem to fit in. I’m a free soul. Therefore, before meeting Nathalie, I was planning to move to any country that had at least an halfway modern economy, like Luxembourg if I was going to stay in Europe, or -why not- the USA.

When we met, 15 months ago, I quickly understood it was possible to travel while still maintaining a decent comfort of living. What’s interesting is that she always travelled with minimal amounts of money, too. That really gave me a incentive to move out of here earlier than I thought. Anyway, right now we’re planning to go spend a year in Canada. We have chosen this country because it’s one of the few that offer working holidays visas. It means that for a period of a year, we can work there legitimately if we ever need to (you never know what can happen). Other countries offering that kind of possibility are New-Zealand and Australia.

What we’re planning to do is setting our “home base” in Canada, and travel the whole American continent while we’re there. No problem travelling through the wonderful landscapes of Canada and the USA, as we both speak french and english. However, we’ll have a problem going to latin America, the part of the continent that seems to appeal us the most… We don’t wanna go there as simple gringo tourists, so we’ll have to learn spanish first.

Our schedules are incompatible with the ones of the local spanish schools, so we naturally decided to go with a computer based method. We’ve had a hard time choosing one as there are plenty of them that you can buy on cd-rom or download. However, I must admit this one (it’s called Rocket Spanish) seem serious and efficient. It offers classic audio repeat after me programs in mp3 format so that you can listen to it in your car, on your ipod or burn it on standard audio cds if it’s more confortable for you than doing it in front of the computer. With that you of course receive text explanations of the audio lessons. It’s also loaded with grammar courses. But what I like the most about it is that it’s focused on teaching a street wise spanish that you can actually use everyday in every situation, not looking like a fool or a complete stranger in front of native spanish speakers. It also contains a program to help you recognize and distinguish easily the syllabs of spoken spanish (it’s such a fast paced language it may seem frightening at first). But you know the best part? It’s loaded with… games! That’s right, the program is loaded with small games that will make every lesson a lot more fun than strict scholar homework.

I am personally beginning the first lessons this week-end. I will make sure to keep you posted on my success (or unsuccess, who knows ).

Meanwhile, don’t hesitate to check it out here and tell me what you think.