« Spring Forward | Main | When the Shit Hits the Fan... »
March 13, 2007
Cabin Fever
Because the Big Idea is structured as an "e-business" without designated office space, most days I work out of my house. Normally this model works great, although you'd think I would be more on top of the laundry problem, which continues to grow out of proportion with every passing day.
But occasionally I feel the need to get out of the house. It starts as a twitch in my extremities. I will be sitting peacefully in the living room, usually in some combination of last nights pajamas and workout gear, with my laptop busily working away when I feel an overwhelming urge to get up and move to another room. But it's never enough--and all too often I end up going to the kitchen for a snack, or sitting in front of the television "catching up" on TiVo. It's a recipe for disaster--both for the size of my ass and the Big Idea task list.
So today when the urge hit I packed up my computer bag, hopped in the car, and headed to the Starbucks with the best outdoor seating. I got there around 4 p.m., just in time to find a seat in the middle of a group of high school girls from the local Catholic school (or so I assume from their dainty, plaid skirts). It made me feel young and irresponsible, to be basking in the late afternoon sunlight with a group of people so consumed by trigonometry and dates for prom. In an additional moment of delight, I discovered that outdoor seating allows me to access an unsecured wireless internet connection instead of paying up the nose for a day pass from T-Mobile. Seriously, $10 for a couple hours of email access?
And here I've been for the last two hours, miraculously finishing up a presentation for tomorrow, calling back three Big Idea prospects that have been languishing in the "I'll call them back later" pile, updaing my contact list (I'm approaching the very scary "500 people" on the Big Idea mailing list, which will bump me up to the next payment level of Constant Contact), and enjoying an iced soy latte.
It's approaching 5:30 p.m. and it's still lovely outside. It's hard for me to believe that winter might be over--it seems like it just got here. Except for a 7-day cold snap in October, and a few moderately unpleasant weeks in January/February, I believe we have a compelling case for global warming. Which makes me think that it might be time to locate those t-shirts that were put away last fall--if only to tempt winter to make one last raucous appearance.
