For the last year and a half I worked in business development for a start-up. In March, I gave seven weeks notice and moved into freelance consulting, a fancy word for quasi-employment.  An inventory of my non-monetary assets tells the story of why I left:

US Airways Miles: 386,359 miles/Chairman status

The start-up was in Boston. I live in Washington, D.C. I spent over 300 hours commuting from my front door to theirs over the course of a year.

I can fly around the world with 386,359 miles. For 14,000 more, I can do it twice. The best part is the two free first-class upgrades.