Profile of a Work at Home Dad

I often enjoy telling folks what I do for my day to day life. They frequently get that wide-eyed “Wow, that sounds perfect and awesome and my dream job”, and for the most part, I have to agree. It’s pretty nifty having a total commute of only 4 1/2 feet, and I can work most of my morning in… err… attire that probably wouldn’t pass as business casual.
However, this arrangement is not without it’s challenges. Challenge of the first part, I’m always home. That means I’m also first in line to get things done that need to be done at home, or can be done best by someone with a flexible schedule. I don’t really mind these things, since I can always flex things around so I’m working a little later, or doing some work at night, but it does make for chaotic scheduling.
Lets look at today’s life-example. This week has seen me ramping back up for deliverables to my current contract – this tends to involve some fairly intense coding and communication with a client that’s over 200 miles away and somewhat email and phone call averse. Layered on top of this we have the following challenges…

• Another client has just notified me they need their badges printed TODAY and overnighted BY TONIGHT. They have not confirmed badge design, layout, or other details.
• Zach is on vacation this week, so is home. Now, this is not as big a challenge as it was when he was, say, 4, but every erg of parental energy in me has to be applied not to give in to the “Zach, go play games on your computer, I’m busy” temptation. The digital babysitter is mighty compelling, but I shall resist. Thankfully, we have other families in Mosaic that are in similar straits, and arrangements for kid-hangings-out have already been made. Rockin.
• I’m still getting over this cold that laid me low over the weekend. I arose saviour-like after 3 days of death yesterday morning, and I didn’t even have to move a big honkin boulder. Alas, I missed something along the way, and my malaise hasn’t totally left me. Must’ve been skipping the whole nailing bit I guess.
• The band continues to limp forward toward a fairly busy March schedule, doing 2 gigs, one of which is a Biggie, playing the Mayoral Ball in Marlborough. I’m naturally worried about how well we’ll be prepared for it, and practice is tonight. Chalk off the evening for catching up on missing work, but practices must go on! (We’re hunting for a new lead singer, btw. Got a strong voice, like being on stage, and want to lead a blues band? Let us know!). We’re also playing the Cottage Street Pub in Franklin (see our gigs page if you’d like to see us. Poke me in email for details and disclaimers about the venue 🙂
• Very few offices include piles of laundry that also need to be put away *waves hands airily* at some point.

Pile all these together, and it sure doesn’t sound like a normal day at the office, but all in all I still wouldn’t give it up for a forced daily march to cubeland.
Coffee’s brewed, gonna go fix me a mugful and start planning the haulout of the badge printer.