I got home fairly early last night from a little get together with some friends from work.
It was good to see them all again.
After eight months of working at home, the chance came to go back into the office, and I took it.
Now, it would be easy to say I just decided on my own to resume a daily hour commute, just because I missed the people I work with.
Easy, but not entirely honest, since it doesn't address the downside of working at home...at least, for someone like me.
The fact is that my return to the office was a mutual agreement between myself and the "powers that be" at that office. For me, working at home was just not working out, and I knew it. I was getting further and further behind, and even putting in unofficial overtime wasn't helping me catch up. Naturally, working from home, I assumed I was the only one having trouble trying to cope with the increased volume of work that the current economy was generating. It turns out, it isn't just me...but my particular situation had the advantage of containing a workable solution.

It seems I am one of those people who needs a deadline to get things done.
When I was in elementary school, the term Attention Deficit Disorder had not been invented. Teachers consistently said I was a daydreamer: a smart boy, with good manners, who was often living in his "own little world". The usual signs of Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), but without the hyperactivity.
When you work at home, you can keep telling yourself you'll get the work done later. Why would I work like crazy from eight to five, when I know the system is open from 7am to 8pm? I'll get it done this evening, or start really early tomorrow!
Right...
Procrastination becomes a byword in the life of an adult with ADD, affecting more than just work.
I've been meaning to get back to posting here on Blogstream for months now, but work keeps getting in the way. Actually it never ends when what you do for fun (this) is in the same room where you work for a living (that)...and your eight hour day often runs to 11 or 12 hours.

So now, I get up and get dressed every morning, earlier than I had been, and drive for a half hour in rush hour traffic. This, at a time when gas prices are nearly twice what they were back when I started working from home. I work from 8:00 to noon. If I don't pack a lunch, I take an hour to spend nearly ten dollars for food that is filling, but rarely fits into my new diet. I try to always pack a lunch. At five I get back in my car and get on the Interstate, walking in my front door just after 5:30.

That's the glass half empty version.

On the other hand, I also get up around 5:30 every morning and make coffee. I find I am less distracted if I turn on NPR rather than Good Morning America, since it's always better to listen than watch if you want to multi-task. I am showered, shaved and dressed (in that order) by 7, and out the door by 7:30. I put the top down on the fuel efficient Miata, and enjoy the drive going against the traffic that is heading into Downtown Orlando. Even in July, the mornings in Central Florida are cool and the humidity is low. Yesterday the place seemed to be doing it's best imitation of Seattle, with thick, low hanging clouds. Not what the tourists were promised by the Chamber of Commerce, but I liked it.
At work, I have two computer screens, each larger than the lap top I had been working on...the screens are even larger than the one I am using now and are a necessity for what I do. I have my own office, and the computer, phone, office supplies and sufficient AC are all provided by the State of Florida. I work hard for eight hours and not a minute more. (If I do, it means overtime...and the State doesn't have the budget to pay that right now. The fact that it can subsidize Governor Crist's current trip to Europe will need to be addressed some other time.)

That's the glass have full version.

The fact is, that my at-home job had been slowly chipping away at the hours in my overall day. I would feel obligated to catch up evenings and on Saturdays, simply because I could; the line to work was right over there. (points to his left)
Now, it's another Saturday morning, and I'm listening to Barnes Newberry's program "Highway 61 Revisited" on WUMB out of Boston. Instead of trying to catch up on a backlog of work from the week before, I can return to putting these random thoughts on my blog for my own therapy and amusement.
It's a better life, worth the additional gasoline expenditure, when you can give your job the 40 hours you are contracted to provide...and not a minute more.