Day in the Life: Working From Home

[One of the occasional series of posts about a typical day.]

Yesterday I posted about how I commute to the office.  Some days, though, I just commute to the living room, either because I’m telecommuting or it’s the weekend. What about then?

Some days I am a total couch potato!  :)  Unfortunately?  Those days are usually followed by insomnia.  So I try to build activity into my day.  Examples:

• Go for a walk around the neighborhood.  This is boring, because there’s a rather steep hill between my house and various destinations of interest (coffee shops, stores, banks, restaurants, etc).  So….
• Shopping / errands.  Once I am down the hill and parked, I don’t use the car to go between destinations that are under a mile.  This adds up.  I also walk around malls – preferably at off-peak times, like weekday evenings.
• On the weekend, I might walk on a trail, in a park, or at a craft or music fair.
• Stairs. Bedrooms are upstairs, laundry downstairs. If I change the sheets along with my normal clothing and towels, it can be 3-4 trips.  Then there’s vacuuming, or just a few ups and downs on principle.
• Blast music and dance in the living room :)  Hey, it’s fun!
• Putter in the yard.  There’s always dandelions, blackberry vines, ivy, and other weeds to pull.
• Do my aerobics tape. This is much more likely, especially if my shoulders feel stiff.
• Do some yoga, either using a tape or a book or just poses that I feel like. Again, more likely if I’m feeling stiff even after stretching.
• Lifting weights and other strength training.  I do a series of weighted leg exercises from physical therapy, plus a couple arm exercises using dumbbells.  I also do a couple “core” exercises, because it keeps the fomerly chronic low back pain at bay. :)

Oh, and I also update my “Days Since”.  “Days Since” is an iGoogle home page gadget that lets me keep track of the number of days since the last time I’ve done something. Looking at it tells me I went for a walk yesterday, lifted weights 2 days ago, did aerobics 3 days ago, and did core exercises yesterday.  This helps me to get a good mix in and not forget to do, say, strength training.

(I also use Days Since for tracking when I last rinsed out my inhaler, changed my CPAP air filter, started my period, and random housework things like changing the sheets & vacuuming.  It’s a general-purpose tool  :)