Kathy was away when I finalized the office setup so I sent her this picture…and figured it was as good a pic as any for this week.

(Sunday Paper, Year IV, Issue 11)

Today I’m writing to you from….

…well, the couch.

I know, I expected I was going to be writing this from the new office too.

But that’s kind of the beauty of the office - I’ll get back to that in a little while.

For today, though, I’m going to tell you about my new workspace, because I’m really excited about it.

Here’s the evolution of my work-from-home environment:

Back in my first year at home I spent a few months flailing and figuring out how I was going to make this new thing work and I let the distractions of being home interfere with my productivity.

When I did do actual work I drove to the one workspace that I felt connected me to my previous work - the library in Sudbury where as a teacher I would write my reports each semester.

When I decided I could be more productive if I wasn’t driving 10 minutes each way I did some work in front of the TV - that did not prove to be more productive than driving to Sudbury.

And then I think they opened up the new library in Framingham and I would go there once in a while (very short drive), but I still wasn’t being super-productive.

Then I started to set up my work at the dining room table, and that was free from most distractions and I reached new levels of productivity. (And it helped that I actually had an idea of how to find work and what to do on a day-to-day basis.)

Then this year, as I’ve told you before, Kathy and I had some work done on the house. And, as I mentioned, I started thinking about taking ownership of some of the other spaces in the house. And I looked at the office room that we have here that had become a sort of storage space and I figured it was time to throw some things away and clean it up and maybe even turn that into a workable office again. (Kathy worked from home for a couple of years a decade ago and that was the last time we even touched that room. Pre-kids it was a functional computer room. Lots of Mets blogging happened in that room.)

After I threw away a lot of old baby stuff and papers we didn’t need and set up a new filing system for papers we did need there was the matter of the desk - the previous owners had build a desk into the wall. Which wasn’t bad - it was a lot of desk space - but I figured the space in the room could be used better if that desk wasn’t there.

And, quicker than I expected it to happen, I had dismantled the desk and the room was ready for me to make it mine.

I found the old paint in the garage that Kathy had used in that room when we first moved in and I touched up the walls. Then, I bought a couple of desks including one, as you know, from IKEA. I got a bookshelf and a new chair.

(Truth be told I think the whole origin here was I figured I could be more comfortable than sitting in one of our dining room chairs for hours per day. So I was just going to buy a more comfortable work chair. Then I started thinking about re-doing the entire office [and getting a new chair there].)

The bookshelf was supposed to arrive this week…that’s the finishing touch when it finally comes…and I still have some organizing to do. But I’ve been working in the office for a couple of weeks now and each morning I wake up and I’m excited to work.

I feel like a very important separation of work and family has taken place - I now don’t have my stuff scattered all over the house and my computer - my work, essentially - isn’t constantly in my face. Now I’m more present when the kids are home and I can remove myself to get work done instead of doing work when it should be family time.

And when it’s fun writing time, like the Sunday Paper, I take my computer out of the office. Maybe I’ll write a Sunday Paper or two in the office. That’s not out of the question.

But I definitely don’t have to take all of my work upstairs with me anymore. And that’s a great thing.

Writing

*Not much to add here from what I wrote above, except that turned into a much longer explanation of why I decided to transform the office than I expected. Maybe next week, since I have another week before I tell you about THE CRAZIEST DECISION I’VE MADE AS A PARENT TO DATE, I’ll do a picture tour of the office. I meant to do that this week…but the words just kept coming.

Comedy

*What a fun week of comedy. It started on Tuesday night at McGreevy’s, which went well, and since I was on early there I scooted over to The Comedy Studio open mic and worked on a new joke or two there. One new joke is a definite keeper, another is likely to stick around, so that was productive. Thursday I was at Osaka in Brookline, which was great too. It was my first time on that show - if you’re in the area on a Thursday night you should check that weekly show out.

This weekend, though, just beat all. I was at The Comedy Studio Friday and Saturday night. Luckily, just a couple of weeks ago The Comedy Studio added a second Friday show so I ended up doing four shows instead of three over the two nights, and they were so much fun. I’d have to say all told I did better on Friday night than Saturday night, but the whole weekend was fantastic.

What I’ve Been Enjoying

*So I don’t know if you’ve been to Bow Market yet, where The Comedy Studio is now located. I, of course, have been there, but I hadn’t fully explored and experienced it yet until this weekend. And I have a feeling I’ll be sprinkling in here and there different enjoyable aspects of what’s there because this weekend I explored a little more and got a good feel for which food places I’m going to start to frequent on nights where I’m performing there. On Friday, though, my friend Zach recommended the veggie burger at Saus (which is on the ground floor of Bow Market) and that is my recommendation to you this week. Man. It was so good. I don’t know that I’ve ever even had a veggie burger before, and if I did I wasn’t sure I liked it. But I didn’t just like this veggie burger - I LOVED it. It will be hard for me to explore other options in Bow Market when I know I already have a 100% foolproof go-to now, but maybe that’s just the beginning. Just another reason for me to enjoy going to The Comedy Studio…as though I needed any reason other than performing there.

Notes

*As I hope you know by now, every second Saturday of the month I host Comedy Night at Exhibit ‘A’. That’s fast approaching and tickets are on sale for that show here.

*Even more fast-approaching is April 6th, where I’ll be hosting another show in Framingham. This one will be at Sofa Cafe, which you may remember hosted one of our Framingham Comedy Weekend shows last summer and it was a cool spot. This is a show raising money for a worthwhile cause and it features a first-time stand-up performance. You can get all the details - and buy tickets - at this link. Or you can give me some money to donate if you’d like to support the cause but can’t make the show. You’ll learn more about the show, and the events that led up to it, in the coming weeks.

*Keep tabs on what’s happening with me on Facebook or Twitter by Liking or following or whatever. I’ve not been great on the social media lately but I’ll get back to it.

*(Part of why I haven’t been great on social media is - because of the office - a fuller separation from my computer and the social media I feel compelled to look at when the computer is staring me in the face. So, like I said, the office has brought nothing but good things. But, as I also said, I’ll work at getting back to putting some social media content out there soon.)

*Also, did I go back to get a veggie burger from Saus Saturday night? Yes. Yes, I did. But they were sold out. So I just shoved some fries from there into my face to make sure I had food in my belly for the second show.

*Checking in on the challenges I told you about last night: no yoga, no cribbage, ran for 15 minutes on Thursday when it was slightly warmer. Going to need to start ramping up that running time soon. As it stands I may not run the equivalent of 26 miles over the first four months of the year, which is probably not how training for a 26-mile race should go.

*I know that picture at the top of the page doesn’t do justice to the home office so I’m already looking forward to next week and giving you a little tour in pictures of the office and what I’ve done and what I still hope to do in there. Then - are you ready for it? The CRAZIEST DECISION I’VE MADE AS A PARENT TO DATE!!!! We’re so close to me revealing it and you realizing, ‘oh, it’s not that big of a deal.’