The author states ” In upstate New York, a growing accpetance of teleworking could eventually spur a population migration toward rural towns throught of as nice places to live, but far from where the majority of jobs are located.”  Wouldn’t that be wonderful? The problem is getting more acceptance of telecommuting, which often (and maybe rightly so) requires proving yourself to your employer first as a full-time in-the-office worker and branching out to telecommuting gradually.

With the option of telecommuting, at least part of the time, my husband can now work from his hometown in Maine -allowing us to take that extra day of travel and avoid some of the heavy weekend traffic when we visit. And with ancillary devices, such as smart phones, one can even create their own mobile hot spot for accessing the Internet.   

Worst Workspace

The company states ” Together, they’re looking to rescue woeful workspaces across the country, from homely home offices to cluttered, crummy cubicles to disgusting dorm rooms.”

Prizes are listed below, per the CSN web site. To apply you”ll need to describe your workspace in 25- 250 words.

Grand Prize for the Absolute Worst Workspace: A Herman Miller Workspace, featuring an Airia Desk, an Airia Media Cabinet, an Eames Aluminum Group Chair, a Leaf Light, a Cognita Bench, and $250 in CSNOffice.com Rewards Dollars to stock up on office supplies. (Value: $6,500).
First Prize for the Worst Home Office: A BDI Workspace, featuring the Sequel Office Suite, and $250 in CSNOffice.com Rewards Dollars. (Value: $4,200).
First Prize for the Worst Office Space: A Steelcase Workspace, including the Currency Single Pedestal Desk, an L Desk Extension, a Mobile Pedestal, a Think Chair, and a Underline Light (Value: $2,100).
First Prize for the Worst Student Workspace: A Humanscale Workspace, including the Freedom Chair, a Foot Machine, and a Keyboard System (Value: $2,000).

I am in no way endorsing CSN or it’s products. I just thought this was a fun contest for all of those who work at home. Good luck!

The site says “With drop-and-go charging for up to four devices at once, myGrid takes the hassle—and the cords—out of charging your mobile devices. Just put a Power Sleeve™ or Power Clip on each of your handheld devices and then you can simply place them on myGrid to charge. myGrid works with most cell phones, including Apple,® BlackBerry, Motorola, and Nokia as well as most handheld MP3 players.”

I’d like to hear how well it works. It looks pretty neat to me.

And if these pricey but planet friendly items don’t appeal to you I think everyone will get a kick out of the electric piano dining table. It’s a space saver that is pretty cool!

I need to squeeze in at least one hour of work to check emails and send out a few critical pieces of correspondence but PBS Kids isn’t cutting it. He’s wandering around looking for something to do. That means pulling all the tape from the tape dispenser, removing every star shaped sticky note from the pad, and dumping paper clips across my work table.  Actions like this used to bother me a lot but what am I going to do? Getting upset about it won’t change the situation. He needs my attention and I have responsibilities to both him and work.

Now that I’ve caught up on my emails he is helping me write this post by pushing the enter button every few spaces. In a few years both of my kids might  actually be helpful around the office. I can assign little chores or they can do their homework at my work table while I type away at the desk. For now, however, on the days when they are home thanks to a snow day or illness I’ll do my best to enjoy their busy little hands getting into everything and creating paper clip works of art around my office.

The lousy thing about telecommuting is that because I work from home it just naturally falls into my lap that I “stay home” with the kids on the snow day. Should I work in an out-of-the home office I suspect we would flip a coin to see who calls in for the day.

You may be able to check a few emails here and there but a day’s work will not get done (at least get done well) with small children running afoot.

Most days I am happy to walk down to my office and savor the quiet. The kids are at preschool, husband is at the office, and not a sound can be heard apart from a soft hum from my fireplace. Most days this is just fine with me. I like myself. I like being by myself. But then loneliness peeks his pesky head around the door and starts putting bothersome thoughts in my head.

When is the last time you ate lunch with someone?

Don’t you miss actually talking to people during the week??

Aren’t you worried you’ll lose your ability to communicate and have to resort to grunts and signs???

Do you know anything at all that is going on outside your little.. insular.. office.. BUBBLE????

AAHHH! I am lonely. Working from home can take its toll. How much can one person stand being alone? I don’t even have conference calls this week.

Time to get out in the real world and make some telecommuting friends–maybe we could meet for lunch once a week, in person, that is.

It was time to fight for mom time.

Kids safely occupied in the playroom I begin my new journey toward health with an old fitness video that I am very fond of. The first half of the video goes well, with my kids occasionally coming in to the room to see what I am up to. They look at the video for a minute, attempt some of the cardio moves (adorable), then move back to their toys.

The problems begin when I hit the floor for ab and leg work. My two-year-old thinks it is funny to get into the rolls of toilet paper stashed in the bathroom (a common theme) then drag the rolls into my workout space. From my vantage point I can see toilet paper all over the place, laying in mounds on the floor, trailing behind his little diaper clad bum.  Ugh.  I’m not going to quit, I tell myself. I am thirty plus minutes into this video. If I stop I will lose my momentum.  Just as I come to relative peace with the toilet paper strung about, he walks over to me with a grin and piles toilet paper on my head.

Time for flat-on-the-back ab work. Two year-old thinks it is funny to sit on my chest. I push through. I…will…not…quit. And I don’t. I keep doing sit-ups. This is just like using a medicine ball, I tell myself.  A twenty-eight pound medicine ball.

It feels like I crack my hip when the two-year-old jumps on my leg, mid leg lift. The four-year-old follows. Ouch.

A few more days of this chaos during mommy’s workout time and they begin to wear me down. But I’m not going to quit! I decide maybe it’s time to see what other fitness videos are out there, thanks to Netflix instant streaming.  I come across a video with one of my favorite instructors, Ellen Barrett. It seems fun. Wait… there is standing ab work.  And the leg work incorporates lots of standing lunges. Success! I have outwitted the kids!

…Until I get bored and need to find another video. Maybe I’ll have to incorporate some kid-friendly hikes into our future. Or purchase that Hawaii chair Ellen was so fond of.