Working the Astorian Dream

This week I've been busily setting up my home office. I even got a new desk from IKEA because the old desk from IKEA wasn't really conducive to actually working. When we moved in a year ago, we chose a sort of 18th century inspired desk because it was from IKEA but not "of IKEA" in appearance. It had cute curving legs, and most importantly it was tiny--pretty much holding a computer and nothing else. It was ideal for having a computer in the living room, without feeling like the living room was a home office, since all we really used it for was checking email and watching episodes of Law & Order. However, times they are a-changing and we had no choice but to purchase something a little more utilitarian. Enter: the plainest desk in the entire IKEA work station department.

This is my new home office. Although I'll be moving the sunflower painting (the work of a wonderful Texas artist who happens to be my mother) to another wall and putting a bulletin board there. With the arrival of this desk, it brings the birch count (or in the case of the IKEA furniture: particle board with a birch veneer) to pretty much everything in the apartment except the coffee table.

Incidentally, my new coworker Dinah was instrumental in the building of the new desk.

So far, I'm enjoying the freedom of working from home. I've started up p90x or running in the hour I used to spend commuting (really only a half hour on the train, but I used to get to work a half hour early to beat the rush on the train and to have a moment of zen before other people arrived). I'm also enjoying the fact that I can buy groceries during the week on lunch breaks so as to avoid that particular chore on Sunday afternoons when everyone else goes. It's also nice to be able to make a hot lunch that doesn't come from a microwave. Omelet for lunch? Don't mind if I do. Another plus, is that I finally get to belong to one of the "cool" offices that has a ping pong table in it for those lighter moments when I need a break.

My formidable ping pong adversary.

Overall, I'm enjoying the new job and the new office space. I'm even making it through my usual Monday-after-Spring-Forward without my usual grouchiness (for the most part).