I believe working from home is the way of the day, age and future. With the world so well connected through wireless, laptops, phones, iPhones, BlackBerrys, BlackBerry Messenger, Instant Messaging, GChat, video chat, Skype and Internet cafes, connecting with a colleague or client has never been more convenient.

Additionally, with the closing of larger corporations, we are now entering an era of the niche service. People are slowly starting to realize how to customize their services to a specific niche. It is less costly, the relationships are stronger and there is less red tape and digging through large company directories to try to find the right human to speak with.

Of course, there are some downsides to not working in an office. Passing Joe by the coffee machines might remind you to follow up with that client you both met with last week. Seeing Amy at reception might remind you to put up an auto-reply on your email while you are in meetings all afternoon.

Here are some useful home office tips I have found very helpful in keeping myself organized in Brooklyn:

• Have a landline in addition to your cell phone. BlackBerrys and iPhones make life pretty easy, but a call through a landline will never drop on you or create static. I am used to using a BlackBerry for work and personal, but I also like having a landline, with a light that blinks for voicemails and a speakerphone. A landline can even change your presence over the phone.
• Have a large calendar over your desk. In addition to keeping track of things on your computer’s calendar and your phone’s calendar and, maybe even, a small planner you carry with you, have something large and visible over your desk as well. It’s an extra thing to write on, but writing something down three times will also keep you from forgetting.
• Keep a dry erase board for weekly and monthly goals. Dry erase boards save paper and they are a great way to keep your goals organized and color-coordinated.
• Purchase cabinets and shelves with closing doors. In a home office, it’s easy to get trapped between being home and being in the office. Having closing cabinets will help you close down on nights and weekends.
• Pick a spot in your home with good natural light. Plants and sunlight will also keep your mood chipper and your oxygen flow higher.

These tips can also apply to your workspace in your away-from-home office as well. I wonder how many global travelers work from home offices?

– Courtney Centeno, account executive

Allow me, today, to rant briefly, Andy Rooney-like, about one of my pet peeves. If you’ve read my blog very much, you’ve picked up on the fact that I live in Southern Oregon, just outside the small city of Medford. I enjoy living somewhere that offers the benefits of civilization (good medical care, shopping, eclectic restaurants, a lively cultural scene) as well as access to the outdoors and a wide range of local foodstuffs (and wine!). The Rogue Valley certainly fits the bill on all those counts. What needs improvement, though, are the local news broadcasts.

Those who travel or who’ve lived in a variety of places know that the quality of local news depends a lot on the size of the market. Obviously, the experienced talent (and the money to build a professional news-gathering team and produce a polished broadcast) will land in the big cities: New York, L.A., Chicago, Seattle, Dallas, etc. From there, it’s a descending scale, kind of like going from the NFL to college to high school to Pop Warner football.

When I lived in Twin Falls, Idaho, I experienced probably one of the smallest markets in the country, and we had one local station in town (but could draw on Boise and Salt Lake City, too). Growing up in Portland, we had three network-affiliated stations and an independent (long before cable came along) in a mid-sized market, and during all my years in Washington state I enjoyed the local broadcasts from the large Seattle market. Now I’m back in a comparatively small-market arena, although it covers a large geographic area (Sacramento to Eugene, and the Pacific coast east to Reno and Bend) and supports three network affiliates. Let me just say, the on-air talent pickin’s are slim, ESPECIALLY on the weekends.

I get that these folks need to get their training somewhere — most of them look like they are fresh out of journalism school — and reading the news live is harder than it looks, but sometimes I find myself addressing wardrobe advice and correct pronunciations of fairly common words to the T.V. screen (similar to the way my husband offers commentary when he’s watching a football game, though I don’t think I’m as loud — or profane!). Really, you can be forgiven for messing up some of the more unusual local geographic names if you’re a newcomer here (and most catch on fairly quickly), but common, ordinary words or well-known political figures’ names? I wonder if they practice those cheesy smiles in the mirror more than they do reading their copy!

The thing that makes me really squirm, though, is unscripted, “folksy” banter between news team members. I know, it’s not particularly enjoyable on any broadcast anywhere. It’s especially bad on slow news days when apparently they need to fill extra air time. Please, I don’t want to know what you’re doing on the weekend or what you think of the story about the surfing squirrel. I don’t want to see the weather gal flirt with the sports guy. It often goes on far too long and ventures into the ridiculous. And of course, on weekends when there often isn’t a lot of big news, the situation is compounded when you have the second-string reporters at the desk. They become visibly flustered and laugh nervously when they have to fill air space for more than 20 seconds; it’s just too painful to watch. Please, end the newscast with scenic  shots viewers have sent in over some nice music, scroll the sports scores or even tell us what’s on following the news, but don’t try to ad lib your way through a minute of small talk!!

There, I feel a little better. Maybe I’d just better avoid those weekend newscasts altogether from here on out!

– Patty Vanikiotis, proofreader

In this day and age of Twitter, Facebook, Gmail, Bing, Yahoo (the list could go on forever), handwritten letters sent through snail mail are few and far between. So whenever I receive a letter in the mail, I take the time to sit down and read it, as opposed to whizzing through my email every morning.

My father loves to write. He has the penmanship of a calligraphist and collects rare fountain pens for pleasure. As I was growing up, he always told me that there is nothing like a handwritten letter. I went to college a mere 30 minutes from my hometown, and my father still wrote me at least once or twice a month. Even in New york I know my dad is just a phone call away, but taking the time to write a small note takes just enough effort that the person on the receiving end feels genuinely cared about.

Thank-you emails are quick and efficient enough so that one can easily follow up after meeting someone. Perhaps the person you met will be more likely to remember you if you shoot them a quick email later that day. But a handwritten note is rarely forgotten.

I feel the same way towards print and online. We are all beginning to see publications dwindle in numbers (T & L Golf, Gourmet) as we are overwhelmed with new blogs and online information. My friends and I communicate frequently through email, and we often share articles and blogs we’ve read online with one another. With a click of a button, I can share an article with my friend before I’ve even finished it. However, on several occasions where I have received an article in the mail that was torn from its publication, I’ve truly felt touched.

These days, we can achieve tasks so quickly and efficiently that the few extra steps of stamping and addressing a letter have much more meaning. With publications becoming a rarity, we will start to see the true value with the print that remains. Like a handwritten note, information seems to carry more weight and value when you can physically hold it in your hand.

– Courtney Centeno, account executive

Every month Global Traveler features an article called “Tech Toys.” Month after month I am amazed with the innnovative gadgets that exist to make our lives easier. These gadgets often make life for the traveler easy, but they also make the world a smaller and more manageable place in which to live.

Skype is an older tool that can be installed on many gadgets now, from mobile phones to video games, that helps make the world a more intimate place. At the press of a button on my computer I am able to telephone another computer or telephone number half way around the world for free! I am able to talk for as long as I want, breaking down all sorts of time and space barriers with technology that did not exist even ten years ago.

In the 60s my dad did two summer programs where he worked abroad in Europe, one summer in Zagreb and the other in Glasgow. Whenever he used to tell me stories about those summers, he said he only communiciated with his parents via phone once a month at most because it was so expensive to call home. When I was 15 and 16 and traveling through Europe and Asia, I remember the calls being expensive as well, maybe two dollars at the best rate to initiate the call, and obscene amounts after that per minute.

Now, with today’s technology such as Skype, it makes those who are far away from us — for business or personal matters — not so far away and easier to remain in touch. I still believe face-to-face contact is by far the best, and getting on a plane is always the best solution, but when in a bind, I am thankful for the innovative world of technology and communication.

–Alex Young, vice president and associate publisher

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I have never tried to hide the fact that while I don’t shun technology, I am also not one to quickly embrace the latest gizmo that comes on the market. I’ve blogged in the past about “getting gadgetized” and how it’s not so much a fear of technology that holds me back but my impatience and a lack of time to devote to learning/installing what I need to put something new to use. Okay, if I’m going to be completely honest, I’m lazy, too. If I don’t think the benefits to me will outweigh the hassle (and expense) of adjusting to some new toy, I figure I don’t need it.

Lucky for me, I am prevented from remaining permanently in the Stone Age (or at least the VHS and cassette player age) by my loved ones. My husband, possessing what I have come to believe is an innate male trait, keeps our entertainment systems up to date . . . and thankfully knows how it all works. And my younger daughter has always been my go-to girl when I have any kind of computer question: “Jenny, how do I download the pictures from my camera to the computer? How do I delete these songs from my list? Show me again that thing you did in Excel.” She’s the one who handed me down her old iPod and introduced me to the iTunes store, too. She has long been well-acquainted with the various social networking sites, but I have no interest at present in joining one; a stance she seems to equally have no interest in changing (not surprising!). Just this past week, though, she nudged her dad and I into our latest techno adventure — Skypeing.

Both Jenny and big sister Sarah have webcams built into their computers, and after spending Easter weekend together and setting up their communications, they decided to get us in on the fun. Harry’s laptop also has a built-in camera, so after walking us through the free sign-up, Jenny had us hanging up our phone and chatting with her online, face-to-face, so to speak. For those of you who are uninitiated (and I doubt anyone reading this is), Skype allows you to make unlimited free calls over the Internet on computer, iPhone or PDAs. You can do so with or without the camera (we found we can teleconference with audio but not video–yet), but of course the whole point is to be able to see each other. With both girls in Chicago and us here in Oregon, it’s great to be able to see them in between our infrequent visits with each other. It means Jenny can show me the cute new top she bought instead of just describing it, and we will be able to show her live shots of our new home once we move in. I’m sure we will find lots of situations where we will be thankful for the ability to not just talk to each other but see each other, too — if for no other reason than the comfort of seeing that loving and familiar face.

Ain’t technology great?!

Patty Vanikiotis, proofreader