I worked from home today due to the anticipated bad weather, which never did precipitate — if you will. That first sentence reminds me of the careful distinction to be made in the corporate world between “working at home” and “working from home.”
Working from home — doing at home the work you usually do at the office
Working at home — laundry, house-cleaning, doing your taxes, etc.
So you don’t ever want to say, “I’ll be working at home tomorrow.” It’s, “I’ll be working from home.”
Also, when you know that while you are “working from home,” you are actually going to be in the other rooms of your house, and turn up the warning that you have an instant message from a work colleague real loud so you can run back into the room to respond to the IM like you actually are working, you can indicate this in a wink-wink, nod-nod way to your officemate when telling her your plans for tomorrow by holding your fingers up and making “air quotes” around the words “working from home” and say the words slowly, and spaced apart. As in, “Tomorrow, I will be <air quote> WORKING_FROM_HOME </air quote>.” When it’s said like that, it’s a code for, “I will really be working at home.”
A couple of my colleagues and I have even gone so far now as to say, “Tomorrow, I’ll be EBQ WFH.” This means, “Tomorrow, I’ll be, extra big quotes, working from home.” You know you know what I’m talking about.
I posted to Peg’s blog this afternoon about class readings. I’m annoyed with the formatting issues in that posting. I did a preview, and I thought it looked okay. I think that preview facility is not WYSIWYG; I’ll have to look closer the next time. I want universal editing power over everything I write. Is that too much to ask?
I had the sand-dollar sized (“this is a normal-sized portion”) tacos for dinner tonight. Yes, sand dollars. Slightly bigger than the pizza, which, if you remember, was half-dollar sized. At least there were three of these, unlike the pizza. I added shredded lettuce, chopped onion, 1 oz. (who’s counting?) of white cheddar cheese, and some salsa on them. Good stuff.
Class was very rewarding tonight. Dr. Swarts showed my “reputation feedback” work, and several people in the class commented that they read my journal daily, which really surprised, and delighted, me. I have thought while posting some entries since class started that these people must be thinking, “What mindless dribble,” or “I wish Dr. Swarts would have made us keep separate class blogs from personal blogs.” It does occur to me that some of the quiet folks might indeed be thinking that. If so, I hope they’ll speak up. If nothing else, it will help Dr. Swarts do things differently, potentially better, whenever he teaches the course again.
I wish Jerry would have been in class to share his thoughts, as I remember a comment in his blog that said, “I just don’t have much of a desire to visit strangers’ sites to get a glimpse into their daily lives or pet causes.” I wondered, regarding Bobette’s comment about my postings, “He has a way of making even the most mundane of things interesting,” what Jerry would think of that. That is, would the style or quality of the writing have any affect on his interest level at all, or is it that the subject matter alone precludes his interest.
I didn’t say it in class, but Michelle’s blog is one that is “palpable of her personality” to me. She has passion for a couple of things — her work and sports — and I sense that both in the classroom and in her blog. I take some comfort in knowing a straight woman from whom I can ask a sports question. I usually go to my Lesbian friends for those — the very same Lesbians I hire to do handy work around my house. But I digress.
Okay, I’ll stop for tonight lest I go from being the class toast-of-the-town to the class clown all in one posting. I did appreciate the comments tonight. It was nice to get a brain workout and a heart workout all from the same place. Mark, I hope I didn’t put you on the spot with my question, two of whose qualities were frighteningly juxtaposed — 1) personal and 2) uttered in class. Collective class shudder.
For the record, tonight I felt the strongest sense of community in the classroom to-date. Interesting.
LATE APPEND: Overheard (as related by a friend) in Jay Leno’s monologue tonight:
Martha Stewart has lost 20 pounds in prison.
Yeah, she’s on the hey bitch, give me your food diet.
A LATER, FINAL APPEND: The end of my conversation with one of my best friends tonight:
