Working from Home...

There's the isolation factor. Sure, you talk to colleagues on the phone, through e-mails and via instant messaging. Then you look up from your desk and see a cat walking past and you realize you're not "at the office" any more. And you realize you miss that human contact you had at the office.

Then you think about the distractions... the conversations over the cubicle walls; the rotten commute when the idiot on Route 128 cut you off so he could swerve from the far left lane to the exit he almost missed; the co-worker who just wants to chat when you have a deadline to meet.

Then there's the spouse factor. It's one thing when only one spouse works at home; it's something altogether different when both do. There are pluses and minuses with this. Having a partner working at home greatly lessens that feeling of isolation: we've had more lunch dates in the past year than we ever did in 16 years of marriage prior. But when your partner wants to chat and you are focusing on work, ...well, let's just say a spouse is much harder than a co-worker to dismiss lightly...

There were times last winter (remember last winter when it snowed every three days for months?) when we both seemed to be in a scene from The Shining. ...

"Here's Johnny!"

Well, nothing that serious, but you get the picture...

But then, when the day's stress level at the office grows beyond anything humans should have in their normal lives, there's no cat there to pick up and pet. Nothing beats a purring cat for stress relief.