We’re beginning preparations here for The Great Household Shuffle now that the new year has arrived. When you live in a rowhouse, you’d think the amount of rearranging you could do would be limited, but necessity is the mother of deck chair-shuffling. And in this case, the necessity is that I have a newly 14-year-old son who needs his own room.

So, I’m surrendering my office of the past 8 years, and moving my business operations below the waterline, as it were, into the “clubbed” half of our basement. That happens to be our family room as well, so I’m doing a bit of downsizing in the process. But on the plus side:

I’ll be able to:
• play Katamari Damacy during teleconferences.
• ride my mountain bike on the trainer stand, also during teleconferences, on mute
• hear when people walk up to the front door
• fold out the sofa bed if it’s a slow day

There is the small matter of reduced daylight, being next to the laundry area, and having to deal with children’s toys scattered across the floor of my workplace. But I’ll burn those bridges when I come to them.