We have all had one of those days where work obligations prevent you from recreating. Today was one of those days for me. But, I am not complaining. As you all know, I love what I do and feel really lucky to have landed at an organization that treats me like an adult (i.e. doesn't baby sit me or my work), allows me the flexibility to balance my work and personal life, and gives me the freedom to work on issues about which I feel very strongly. That said, the rubber met the road this week and I have had to participate on a number of conference calls about issues that have been brewing for months and are finally coming to a head.
Italy is six hours ahead of the East Coast, so a 10 am meeting for my colleagues means a 4 pm meeting for me. While they have the convenience of sitting in a room together, I have the upper-hand by being WIDE awake. And, it is a good thing because listening to a conversation between a number of people who are in a room together is extremely challenging as they talk on top of each other, mumble and say things under their breath. You also have to deal with communications challenges created by yourself or others working via conference call. Yesterday, my first conference call ground to a screeching halt as one of my colleagues put us on call waiting and we had elevator music blasting over the conversation. Because I work from home, the kids understand that a conference call means I am completely off limits. So, unless someone is missing an appendage they shouldn't bother me because I am just going to wave them off.
The one challenge I have been working around is our not so powerful wifi connection. I am doing all of my conference calls via Skype, which means I need an internet connection. The first conference call I participated on from Italy was terrible - I kept losing my connection and the sound quality was horrible. I quickly realized that the kids were trying to occupy their time by watching You Tube (recall the make-up tutorials). So, three people tapping into the wifi at the same time was technology overload for the system in our flat. Now the girls know that if I am on a conference call, they can't use technology that requires a wifi connection.
One of my work projects requires analysis of a technical paper and a quick turn around with comments on it to EPA. I am responsible for drafting the comments on behalf of the organization for which I work. But, I am also responsible for working with an incredibly talented southern gentleman to draft comments to be used by others in a coalition of which we are both members. Many small nongovernmental organizations don't have the technical staff to review and comment upon these types of papers, so they rely on partner organizations that have the technical know how to help them out. So, yesterday my colleague and I were trying to connect to discuss how to proceed with the "group" project. The only time we could have a conversation that worked in both of our schedules ended up being at 10 pm my time. I am notoriously a morning person, so 10 pm isn't my finest hour (particularly not after a few glasses of wine). But, my colleague was very kind and offered to do the brunt of the work on this project with the expectation that I will return the favor when he is on vacation next month. I think he was generally appalled that I was doing any work in the first place, let alone having a phone conversation with him at 10 pm.
In this digital world, it is hard to ignore your work for any length of time. Things move and change so quickly. You have to stay on top of email communications or you are out of the loop when you return. In my opinion, it is just easier to let work interrupt play for a few hours a day.
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