Adventures in home working

• Wandering around an empty Traford Centre. I prefer it closed but the kids have money burning a whole in their pockets, so roll on 10:00 am #
• Eating Chocolate Cake with the Twins at the Cafe Nero. The Twins are happy playing with their new robot Rabbit and Cat #
• Playing running races in the hall with the robot cat and rabbit that the twins got today, after watching House Sitter on TV with the kids #
• Happy new year, we’ve just been swimming (pool to ourselves), had pancakes for supper an are now sitting down to watch the film Ballet Shoes #

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• Taking the twins and their friends out to the beach to play #
• Spent the afternoon making up flat pack boxes and filling them up in the loft. Its filling up but at least its well organised #
• Just finished swimming and playing in the pool with all the kids. They have more stamina than me so I spent a while reading New Scientist #

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• Debbie and I have been walking all morning along the seashore at Cleethorpes and around a wonderful beachside community called the Fitties #
• Having a meal at a beachside restaurant on the Cleethorpes prom. #
• Waiting for the kids to arrive back at Debbie’s mum and Dad’s so that we can head home. Way too many presents crammed into our car! #
• Bored now, still waiting for the kids to arrive back with Debbie’s Mum and Dad. Not really able to read because of a headache #

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• Spent the morning with my Mum now off to have Christmas Dinner with Debbie’s Mum and Dad in Grimsby we will be coming home tomorrow #

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• Shopping in Preston with my Mum and the older kids. We were meant to be walking by the river but the rain drove us to the shops. #
• Have left the kids to the shopping and have retreated to the Harris Museum #
• Reading "one minute for yourself" in Preston library on a comfy sofa. I really like going to the library and just picking up books at random #
• Buying a whole load of books from Amazon that I saw at the library, plus some school books for Stephie #
• Just finished watching "Visions of the Future" on BBC4 – excellent http://tinyurl.com/2pgdc5 #

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I’m currently brainstorming ideas for my new home office,  I spend about 6 hours a day in it right now, so its the most important (time wise at least) space in my life.  Debbie and I currently share the room and I essentially have one quarter of the wall space, Debbie has two walls and the whole family share a wall of storage. 

Now that I have insulated, lit and boarded out the loft we have a lot more storage space and Debbie will soon be getting her own garden room, which will be part office, part craft space and part chill out space. 

Bottom line is that the room will become a real home office for me with lots of potential to create some more varied working environments, spread out a little, tidy up a lot etc. 

I’m currently looking for inspiration, good sources here:

1. Home office warrior setups
2. Scott Hanselman’s home office

but right now these are a few of the things on my mind:

1. a very comfy chair that I can relax in and read and work with my laptop on my lap
2. a small two seater sofa
3. an exercise bike
4. a coffee table where I can lay out books and magazines I am reading
5. a meditation cushion
6. some plants
7. an ioniser
8. new art
9. a larger central screen – I currently have three 19″ screens – but I work with a lot of large complex spreadsheets, presentation slides and documents and I would definitely benefit from more space probably 1600*1280 would do it
10. a 4th small 1024*768 screen for screen sharing on web conferences, many people still have 1024*768 laptops and this would provide them with the best experience.  My desktop has a spare video connection and I have a spare screen so it just space that stopping me
11. reduce the amount of wireless radiation in the room,  I currently have a wireless access point, 2 wireless laptops, a mobile phone and a DECT phone in the room and that’s a lot of radiation
12. more inspirational visibility of books
13. clearing the scanner and printer out of sight,  I hardly ever use them, but they are important for the rest of the family
14. a Polycom Skype communicator, once Polycom release Vista drivers

Scott Adams over on the Dilbert blog has an interesting post where he talks about the please of getting things done, in his example:

The other day I cleaned off the top of my desk. This involved sorting the rubble into mounds that had something in common, and then dealing with each mound. There were bills to pay, records to update, forms to be completed, faxes to be sent, licenses to approve, documents to file, tax issues to unscramble, and on and on.

When I was done, my desk was breathtakingly clear of debris. Gazing at my uncharacteristically pristine work space, a peculiar joy came over me. As I walked from my office back to my home, I felt lighter. There was a bounce to my step. I’m reasonably sure my body was creating extra endorphins.

He went further proposing that:

I think the pleasure of completed work is what makes blogging so popular. You have to believe most bloggers have few if any actual readers. The writers are in it for other reasons. Blogging is like work, but without coworkers thwarting you at every turn

I think he’s spot on, in my case I blog because:

1. I can decide the subject
2. No one has to review it
3. I don’t need to worry too much about the quality – because I’m not being paid
4. I don’t need to wait for anyone else’s input
5. Sometimes I feel I write about things that others will find useful or interesting
6. Often I write about things that I find interesting and writing (and search) mean that I am less likely to forget them
7. It’s quick and easy
8. The accumulated writings on my blog provide me with a real sense of achievement
9. It helps people who know me keep track of my activities, thoughts and interests

Twitter is even quicker and easier – and has most of the same benefits

• Its my birthday and I’m out with the girls at Boaters Landing. Just about to go buy some chocolate to make chocolate cherries, my favourite! #

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• It’s christmas time …. the kids have had a mad 10 minutes opening their first batch of presents and now it’s breakfast before round two #
• Spent the morning playing with the new wii – very popular with everyone #
• Full of cold but its a wonderful sunny day so we have been out for a walk. Looking forward to relaxing now #

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• Reading stuff magazine while watching the waves crashing. Its a very high tide today – makes the threat of global warming very real! #
• Christmas Eve and its a very grey rainy day – so Stephie and I are going to spend an hour or so re-wiring my study computers (what a mess) #
• My landline phone company gave me free broadband so I now have a dual homed router and an 11Mbs broadband connection, increased from 4Mbs! #
• relaxing after a massive clear out of the office and tidy up of all the wiring. Watching "Ela Enchanted" with the family #
• @chieftech I had someone like that following me, I took a look and they were following thousands of people so I blocked them #

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