Jean Cunnington's Weblog Musings on Work and Life

 I may be a bit behind the times, but I've just really discovered the wonders of myspace.com. 

My niece  graduated from high school  in May and is living  Vitoria, Brazil for the next six months.  She's working in an orphanage as part of a mission trip before she goes to college in January.  To make it easy for her to communicate with all her friends and family,   she set up a myspace page.  I'm thinking..OK..this is the latest fad....have to deal with it......just a boring webpage. Boy was I wrong!!  It has been a great communication tool !!!  

 I even set up my own page, but I only have one friend so far...my niece. Most of my friends are probably even farther behind the times than I am.  Oh well, I guess that's what this type of technology is for...making new acquaintances.  We'll see how many friends I have in a few weeks. If I don't have any online friends, I guess I'll be forced to make friends the old fashioned way...face to face... what a concept.

 

I think I've found a corollary to Murphy's Law that applies to me when I watch my favorite television shows.

Right now, I'm addicted to "The Deadliest Catch". Don't know why.  I'm not a reality show fan at all (well....except for "So You Think You Can Dance", too).  A show about men sailing little floating metal cylinders into horrible weather and monstrous seas to catch the ingredients for Crab Louis facinates me.   I plan my Tuesday evenings around the new show.

It never fails that someone I'm trying to reach calls just at show time.  I don't regret talking to my friends and family.  I love them dearly.  But it sure puts a damper on my TV watching for the week.  Now I have to wait until the reruns air in a few days...and hope that no one calls ...again.  I do know about TiVo..but I'm not much of a TV watcher so it's never been worth the money.  Oh well....

Those who've seen my calendar  chuckle at my 5:30pm entry: "Walk Dog". It is not a code name for a new Sun product.   It is very easy for me, working from home, to get sucked into work.   I do have to set my priorities and Cai (the dog) and I both need the exercise. So, there's a 5:30pm meeting every day for "Walk Dog".

There's another reason to "Walk Dog" in the evenings.  It is so beautiful here on the Mendocino Coast.  (Why do I like working for  Sun? They let me live here and do my job!)

Our regular work day walk is at Pomo Bluffs Park - on the southern cliffs at the entrance to Noyo Harbor. Wonderful  place for a quick walk and close to home.    It is very dog friendly (strategically placed plastic bag dispensers and garbage cans).   My favorite times to walk - when the  waves are huge, at sunset, and when whales can be seen just off shore.

To check out if it will be a good day for some high surf, I go to a couple of websites recommended by my friends Pat and Karen who run a sport fishing boat out of Fort Bragg , CA. (They've made me a  weather, ocean and fishing information addict! More on that another time).

• Northern California Buoy Data has data on wave height, wind and general marine conditons.
• Combined NOAA and CDIP Buoy Summary lets you compare conditions at different buoys of the Pacific Coast.  Most interesting time to view this site is in th winter when  the ocean conditions are more intense.  The Bering Sea is probably the most interesting to watch.
  

Here's a beautiful way to end the day.  Pomo Bluffs Park, Fort Bragg, CA.

 

As I get to know my new communinty, people ask me where I work and what I do.  Eventually it comes out that I work for a Silicon Valley based company, full time, from my home in Fort Bragg, California.  The conversations can be very interesting (even with co-workers who can't understand how I can work from home) so I thought I'd start to document some of the interesting assumptions people make.  Maybe others can come up with other categories but I thought I'd start with some "myths" that I've had to dispell.

Myth #1:  "You can work any hours that you want and no one will know"

False:  No, I can't.  There are still meetings to attend and expectations that I work a certain number of hours, accomplish all my tasks, read my email.  My manager and team mates expect me to be available during normal (or abnormal) working hours.  Even though I work from home, this is still a real job, and I have to do real work just like everyone else.    

Myth #2:  "You're home all the time, I can just drop by to chat"

False: See Myth #1.  No you can't.  I do take breaks but I can't just drop everything because someone comes over.  There are meetings, deadlines, etc.  But, if you call me before you drop by,  I'll let you know if I'm busy because taking a break, and talking face to face  with flesh-and-blood human being  would be a nice treat.

 Anyone else have any good myths, misconceptions, or other interesting comments about working from home?

Tagging Pam Kong

When you live in a small town, coming back to the "Big City" is a bit of a shock.  Just a litte over 2 years ago, I moved to a small town on the northern California coast.  The population of Fort Bragg is about 5500 people.  Everything is within walking distance.  The noise in the background is the sound of the ocean.  A traffic jam is 5 cars at the stop light.

I've been in Santa Clara for 3 days and realize that I've adapted quite nicely to life away from the Bay Area.    It is nice to see familiar faces from work (yes, I work from home...more on working from home in another post).  I sure don't miss the traffic, noise, concrete, asphalt, and other hallmarks of the city.   Can't wait to get home and see the ocean again.



 

At the urging of a number of people (Pam Kong in particular), I'm starting my very own blog. Whether anyone is interested in reading my random thoughts about work and life is another story. Topics will be about the joys and problems of working from home, life in a small town, animals (my family), gardening (darn gophers!!), and other random topics. More to come.