Fun and Games Dept

I’ve mentioned before that I love being a digital nomad. The majority of my work time is spent at home in my home office. One of the challenges of not working in a traditional work environment is the separation of work life from home life; it is quite easy to constantly work when the work computer is just a few steps away at any given moment.
Moving from one gig to another career opportunity earlier this year presented me with another unique situation in that with both jobs I work primarily out of the same office. I sit at the same desk, with the same surroundings looking at the same type of monitor even though I work for entirely different company now. Contract workers and the like probably don’t find this unusual but for me there were many similarities and I found myself falling into ruts from my old job rather quickly with my new job, which wasn’t fair to me or to the new corporation nor was it really indicative of how excited I really am about this fairly new gig.Enter my little renovation project.
I’ve been saying to Earl that I wanted to revamp my home office. It’s one of the four rooms we had built into our basement a decade or so ago and my office was originally my music and recording studio. Since giving up that hobby in 2010, the space became my office but with some of the remaining recording equipment still in place. The space wasn’t efficient as an office. I felt crammed into a corner. My desk had too many papers and too much dust. I didn’t feel productive in there, I felt like I just worked.
Earl’s suggestion was that we completely gut the room and start from scratch. I loved that idea but my patience wasn’t where it needed to be to accomplish this. And, aside from the fact that I really do love spending money, I couldn’t justify buying new furniture for my office. Sure, my existing desk has a few dings and bang ups here and there but for the most part it’s functional and it sure looked better than what I had in my last cubicle at my last gig. So on Sunday and yesterday, I loaded up some contractor bags with a lot of junk I haven’t touched in a year or two. I wiped everything down, getting rid of all the dusts and cobwebs. I took off a shelf that ran along one side of my desk, it served no purpose than to gather things and provide a hiding place for other things I didn’t really need. The studio space countertops were repurposed, the drawers and cabinets were emptied and organized. The only thing that I purchased for the space was a desk lamp; I hate overhead ceiling lighting, especially flourescent lighting, so I moved some of our LED lamps. I can now control the brightness and color of the room lighting with an iPhone app. I discarded the keyboard shelf (I never used it) and I turned my main monitor and the whole focal point of my desk onto an angle so that I had ample work room on either side of my computer.
This morning I went to work happy and excited to sit down at my revamped work area. I’m feeling a little antsy about getting out and working remotely again (I’ll be doing that next week) but for working from home, my new space is perfect.
  

The sentiment behind this sign looks quite familiar. The Main Street through my hometown is also US 11 (though not called Main St) just off I-81.  We say “Pula-sky” instead of “Pula-skee”. 

I stumbled across this video while randomly navigating around YouTube. I have always been fascinated with the checkout process at a grocery or department store, though since Y2K I have found today’s experience to be boring and populated with semi surly people. 

I can’t help notice in this video that despite the fact the cashier and packer are doing all the work, they are still smiling and they seem to be enjoying their job. I know it’s a sign of getting old, but i can’t imagine anyone working in a grocery store today being as pleasant as they folks in this video are; we are lucky to get through an order today without an eye roll if the computer can’t identify the UPC code. 

http://youtu.be/Fsh-2WQbnPc

When I first took the job in my latest step in my career, I never expected to enjoy Greenville, S.C.  Now that I’m in the middle of my third trip down here in four months, I can safely say that this is a pretty nifty city, especially the downtown area.  Earl and I will be coming down here together in October.  I’m very much looking forward to showing him what I have discovered and discovering many more things together.

If you’re every driving Interstate 85, Greenville, S.C. is definitely a worthwhile stop. The downtown area has a lot of culture, scenery and fantastic places to eat. A foodies’ dream!

A quick snap from my hotel room …

Earl and I went for a ride in the Jeep after supper tonight. Since I work from home, it’s good for me to get out of the house once in a while. We stopped at a bakery for a little dessert but even though the door was unlocked, the bakery was closed. No one was tending to the counter or cash register.

We went elsewhere.

It’s a very common theme in this area, to close up shop early in the evening. Local restaurant owners complain about the chains taking over the area, but they don’t like to stay open as late as customers want them to be. You can’t have your cake and eat it too. Or something like that.

When we got home, there was a small bunny rabbit in the yard munching on grass. He or she (I couldn’t tell) was sniffing around for just the right bit of fauna from our lawn. When we got out of the Jeep, he or she jumped just a little bit out of our way. The nose was wriggling, the eyes intent, but food was to be enjoyed under the evergreen tree.

As I was wandering around the Internet tonight, I stumbled upon photos of mid-century style homes throughout the United States. When Earl and I move again, and we will when Earl retires in a few years, it is my goal to convince him that we need to purchase a mid-century modern home wherever we decide to move.

This photo of a 60 year old electric stove control panel caught my eye, as Grandma Country had this exact stove in her kitchen. Gramps had built the house in 1959 and the original stove lived there until a kitchen remodel in 1980, when the very attractive (at least to me) late 50s deco was replaced with some colonial style cabinets and linoleum.

As a toddler I was known for turning the stove on when no one was looking because I loved pushing the buttons that were well within my reach.

I found the photo on this page, which is an article about an immaculate mid-century kitchen recently found in Chicago, completely untouched and intact.

I’m pecking this out on my iPhone. I am aboard Delta flight 2013 from Atlanta to Syracuse. Sitting in seat 1A, I’m enjoying the amenities afforded by those upgraded to first class. My vodka cranberry will be arriving shortly. 

I’ve chatted with my aisle mates on both flights today, something that I rarely do on commercial flights. I’ve been working on coming out of my shell and striking up conversation helps. When I get home, I’ll tend to my INTJ nature and spend some alone time to recharge. 

My first aisle mate was a handsome man from Minnesota. He noticed I was traveling with the headset I use as a private pilot and asked if I had my license. He has taken his Private Pilot check ride twice and passed but declined the license both times. He didn’t feel confident enough to have the license. I didn’t say this out loud but that thought never ever crossed my mind. 

My aisle mate on this flight has flown from Iowa to Syracuse via Salt Lake City and Atlanta. He said he was tired and is currently napping. He is very pleasant. 

My next trip to Greenville, S.C. is already booked for next month. I hope Earl can join me for part of it but we shall see if that comes to fruition. 

In the meanwhile, I shall enjoy my first class vodka and cranberry.