Working from Home

This new job I have is the first experience I have working from home. It has its pluses and minuses.

Pluses:

• I don't have to worry about what I wear. I have spent years scrambling through my closet in the morning, trying to find an appropriate outfit, putting on makeup, and furiously ironing at the last minute.
  
• No commute.
  
• I can listen to music while I work. Blast heavy metal or Reggae occasionally when I need to wake up.
• Flexible schedule- I can fit in errands, grocery shopping, appointments during the day if I need to.
• Power naps.
  
• Husband works from home too, so we can have spontaneous "quality time" together. ;)
  

Minuses:

• It's easy to let errands and whatever push my work later and later until I find it's late in the afternoon and still haven't gotten anything done. I have to be disciplined about my time.
• Cabin fever- If I don't get out of the house once a day, I can get a little stir crazy. 5:00 rolls around, and I have to think: Did I take a shower today?
  
• Social isolation- don't get the "water cooler" chat of an office. Sometimes it's nice to have random conversations.
  
• Husband works from home, too, so we can get on each other's nerves.
  

I've found that being connected with people through chat and Twitter helps with the social isolation. I follow several people from all over the world on Twitter. And although at first I thought getting updates from random people about what they are doing was lame, I am starting to find it oddly refreshing. "Overhearing" snippets from people's everyday lives reminds me that I am not alone in the world. It replaces the ambient social atmosphere of a traditional workplace.

Here are some random tweets:

sara: Just used my first "I park like an idiot" sticker.

Confessionist: I never pull my pants down too far in a public bathroom because i think the people in the stalls next to me can see my underwear.

life_enthusiast: Okay, yard is finally mowed (procrastination phase over). Now, back to e-mails.

lordlikely: Huzzah! The sun has got his hat on, hip hip hip hip hooray!

We are not alone.