Home Office: Running Dog and Barfing Cat
Business today respects no time. You report to an office for your regular 8 hours of butt-in-chair time, you carry your BlackBerry everywhere you go, responding to emails during your waking hours. You awake to read the emails from your associates in India. And, you agree to present via WebEx at 7:30 am from your kitchen.
It started out well. Shana and M had just left for school. The dog had been fed and walked. The Dude was still asleep, but I could wake him after the call and still get him to school in plenty of time.
The WebEx starts. The cats are hungry. Usually we have the Dude feed them – but he’s still asleep, and Patches is howling. Patches is an old cat, an ex-smoker – 4 packs a day by the sound of her meowing. The squeaky wheel gets the oil. I feed the cats.
Now Duke needs to go out. Out he goes – and he takes off running. Running I say – a rare occurrence these days. Off I go in pursuit, in my stocking feet. He sees me coming, and ducks and cuts with the finesse of an NFL running back. I collar him and drag him into house just in time to start presenting my portion of the show.
Now the dog is pacing and I ask myself – does he really need “to go” or does he just want to run? I start presenting, and my laptop goes into stand-by mode. I’ve lost the connection! Luckily I’ve printed off the slides and I continue on. I’m walking and talking, trying to distract the dog when Patches starts wretching on the couch, and Duke runs over to see if he can help “clean up”. Luckily it’s not much, and I clean it up without missing a beat on the call.
Somehow the call ends; thankfully, Duke has held it. All this drama and its only 8:00 a.m.
It started out well. Shana and M had just left for school. The dog had been fed and walked. The Dude was still asleep, but I could wake him after the call and still get him to school in plenty of time.
The WebEx starts. The cats are hungry. Usually we have the Dude feed them – but he’s still asleep, and Patches is howling. Patches is an old cat, an ex-smoker – 4 packs a day by the sound of her meowing. The squeaky wheel gets the oil. I feed the cats.
Now Duke needs to go out. Out he goes – and he takes off running. Running I say – a rare occurrence these days. Off I go in pursuit, in my stocking feet. He sees me coming, and ducks and cuts with the finesse of an NFL running back. I collar him and drag him into house just in time to start presenting my portion of the show.
Now the dog is pacing and I ask myself – does he really need “to go” or does he just want to run? I start presenting, and my laptop goes into stand-by mode. I’ve lost the connection! Luckily I’ve printed off the slides and I continue on. I’m walking and talking, trying to distract the dog when Patches starts wretching on the couch, and Duke runs over to see if he can help “clean up”. Luckily it’s not much, and I clean it up without missing a beat on the call.
Somehow the call ends; thankfully, Duke has held it. All this drama and its only 8:00 a.m.
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