The Contrarian Technologist

Category Life in Cape Breton
My existance and this weblog would have been impossible just a few years ago. In September of 2004 I escaped Washington DC to live on the banks of the Bras d'Or lakes outside a little town called Marble Mountain in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. The town proper is really just a collection of houses clustered around a couple of churches (only one of which is operational all year long), a long since abandoned general store and the road to the public wharf and beach. The area that comprises the greater metropolis extends from the vineyard two miles to the west along the road between the mountain and the water through town and then ends just to the east of us where the town of Malagawatch begins in similar fashion. When we moved here we swelled the population of permanent residents from 28 to 30. Since I was quite young, I have always been drawn to rural areas and we have made forays into rural living in the past, but most of the time it has been both a lonely existance and economically impractical. Now with most of my colleauges, friends and children 1200 miles away and a 30 minute drive to the nearest store and gas station I manage to communicate and work in much the same way as I did before moving. The combination of a big satellite dish, a telephone (too bad VOIP sucks via satellite) a few Domino servers, and Sametime connectivity is all it really takes.