One of the reasons I like working from home is that I have better control over the noise levels and distractions (this week not withstanding - spring break). Also, our group has moved twice in the last 6 months and we expect to move a couple more times between now and the end of the year. They are renovating each floor into ever more open work spaces.

my particular department is entrenched in this crazy culture of everyone have giant wooden desks and their own offices

My first thought was, I would like that! Then I realized, wait, I have that. A giant wooden desk in my own office. Okay.

I enjoyed working at my workplace much more when we had an open floor plan. When they moved everyone into cubes smaller than they raise veal in, my job satisfaction went way down. This was about the same time that they painted the pretty sky-blue walls taupe. It was depressing.

I would love blue walls. I desperately want to be near the windows so I can see some sky. My cube walls are beige, my laminate desktop is beige, the carpet is beige, the office walls are beige, my co-workers are beige--physically and mentally.

Happy birthday, Allyson!

beige

Oh, dear. Slow death by blandness.

Happy birthday, Allyson!

Matilda has been watching The Golden Compass over and over and is resentful of Hec and me, to the point of tears, that we didn't name her Serafina Pekkala

I'm totally taking notes. Don't want Sprog to get mad at us a few years down the line for missing out on this most awesome of names!

Dream report: I dreamed that I was taking a class in high school, and not only did I get a terrible grade on the test, but it turned out that you had to pay a fee if you did poorly on the test. By the end of the dream I had accumulated around $1000 in penalties and was pretty worried about how I'd pay for it all. Kind of the worst aspects of adolescence and adulthood combined.

I desperately want to be near the windows so I can see some sky.

After 2 1/2 years here, I finally got to move to a cubicle by the windows a couple of months ago after a coworker retired, and it's pretty remarkable what a difference it's made to my mood and my willingness to come to work and sit at my desk for hours. I can see the sky, and the sun, and the green trees in the park, and open the window for a breeze if I want! It's really nice.

I bet you're joking, Kate, but beware that naming a child Serafina now will make some people think you got it from the Garner-Afflecks. IJS.

Well, I know somebody that named their baby after Aeryn Sun and that's still awesome!

Oh, we definitely have at least one beloved-fictional-character name in the running. Just not Serafina (sorry, FutureSprog!).

More good news in the "things are changing" front:

Starbucks Boycott Over Marriage Equality Spurs Tenfold Backlash

The National Organization for Marriage’s decision to boycott Starbucks for the company’s support of the freedom to marry has turned out to be a dismal failure. In the five days since NOM launched its “Dump Starbucks” petition, it has only gotten 19,000 signatures, compared to the nearly 250,000 individuals who have signed SumOfUs’s retaliatory “Thank You, Starbucks” card. In fact, SumOfUs has gotten over 8,000 new signers since 8:30 this morning.

Not only is NOM’s petition failing when it comes to numbers, it’s also failing when it comes to authenticity. As Jeremy Hooper has tracked, Dump Starbucks counts any information that is submitted, but that hasn’t stopped NOM from boasting about its campaign repeatedly all weekend. Worse yet, it seems that the site can’t even provide an accurate count of who is signing — either that or the organization is intentionally manipulating the numbers to make the petition look more successful that it is, which of course it isn’t anyway.