People ask what I do... and I grunt a lot.

And I typically answer "I manage some well-known blogs for a major company." I try to be non-specific. I also typically trumpet the fact that I get to work from home. It is a privilege, I realize. However, this cartoon by The Oatmeal could not be more perfect.

For example, I loathe getting up early. It just isn't me. I'll do it, and I feel amazingly accomplished when I DO, and I tend to get a lot of stuff done. Glancing at the clock at 9am and realizing I've already done three hours of work? High five! zzzzzzz. I used to work at a job with a 30-45m commute, and I'd have to be on campus before 7:30am. That was rough. Do not want.

Then again, now I wind up with no set bedtime and yet still try to get up early enough to see my kids off to school. The result? Well... I got distracted by the rainbow unicorn who was telling me about a talking couch, sorry. Must be the sleep deprivation talking...

The interruptions? The crappy pressures of having an office full of people I might not brake for if they were crossing the street? Well I'm lucky in that I work with a bunch of awesome people, so if we WERE in an office together I'm sure it'd be fun. But being "in an office" has never appealed to me, unless the office was different than your typical cubicle. Most aren't. At least when I taught I had a classroom to hang out in. I avoided the cubicles like the plague. Or at least until students decided to chat me up while I was grading their crap...

The downsides are hilarious but all too true.

Social skills down the shitter? Check. I was never great with socializing because I'm an introvert (despite enjoying performing magic and comedy). But now I can barely have a conversation that doesn't involve some damn Apple shit or website. That's my life.

Distractions? Oh, did you know there's PORN on the internet? I can tell you that carpal tunnel isn't just for WoW players, chief.

Stress on relationships? Well, let's see... My job pretty effectively aided in the dissolution of my marriage. So big checkmark on that one.

Loss of regimen we covered, although I'm trying desperately to get that back. Having an iPad, iPhone and treadmill at home kinda help. Now if only the other 3 co-habitants of this place would help too.

I don't suffer from a lack of employee banter because I wind up in a chat room with my team. There I drop nuggets of wisdom like, "that commenter is a total asshat" and "wtf is wrong with my Mac? It is SO SLOW!" and the classic "Yo dawg, I heard you like Instantrimshot.com"

Working at home is awesome. And horrible. But wonderful.