working from home...

...before July, this was quite a foreign concept to me. Working from home is not one of the usual perks of a profession in surgery; to the contrary, I'm accustomed to spending around 80 hours a week IN the hospital. Operating is one of those things that you simply need to practice...and aside from the dicing and filleting I do in my kitchen, there isn't a whole lot of operating that goes on at my house. But, since July, I've been on my research hiatus...a 2 year stint I've inserted in between the 3rd and 4th clinical years of my 5 year residency. Yes, it will bring the sum total years of training to 7 years, but it's worth it. Worth it because the breast cancer research is interesting, meaningful and worthwhile. And worth it because the 40 hour work week gives me a bit more time to read, get to know my old friend Sleep, chew my food more thoroughly, see my friends and family, and rediscover the hobbies that I used to do more often...before I became a surgery resident.

So today. I woke up and, from my bed (where The Brit had left to go to work over an hour before), looked out of the huge window and saw white where the city usually is. The view of SF from every north- facing window in our rented house on the hilltop, on a clear day, is absolutely spectacular. The brand of spectacular that inserts a sort of refreshing pause into whatever kind of day I'm having...everytime I look at it, day or night. The fog has its way with our view, though...and it certainly has its moods. Thin. Thick. High. Low. Hovering. Lifting. Blowing. Lingering. This morning it was thick. And wet. The perfect kind of day to work from home.

So, a few long luxurious snoozes later...I put my cozy pink robe on, brewed my favorite black current tea, selected Sigur Ros as the soundtrack for my day (perfect rainy day mood music), and went about the business of getting to work. Read several articles on the pathologic assessment of breast cancers after preoperative chemotherapy...Rajan et al, Ongston et al, Carey et al. Ate english muffin. Made progress on a manuscript I've been working on. More tea. Stretched legs. Folded laundry. Worked on a short presentation for a data meeting tomorrow. Daydreamed a bit...mostly about what kind of dance I'd choreograph to this one particularly good Sigur Ros song that was playing. Fog lifted. City revealed. Down the hill for some grocery shopping with Vinja (roomie who also happened to be working from home today). Home again. Chatted with Vinja over a lunch of macaroni and cheese (good rainy day comfort food). Emailed and IM'd a bit. Back to the manuscript.

All in all, very productive...for a day spent working from home. A new favorite simple pleasure of mine.