Mel and I went to Vermont this weekend. We arrived in Middlebury late Friday night and spent all of Saturday walking around town and stuff ourselves with fresh local breads and cheeses. On Sunday, we left Middlebury and enjoyed a 3-mile hike that began with the Robert Frost Trail and veered off into other mini-trails. One of these mini-trails was called “Afternoon Delight.” (see photos)

There were poems by Frost mounted on wooden posts along the trail. This one stuck in my mind:

Nature’s first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf’s a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.

After 3+ years of updating this blog, I’ve decided to finally include photographs as part of my posts. Why? A few reasons: a) I was having trouble coming up with interesting things to write about – my most recent posts have been a bit whiny; b) I got a new digital camera (the Canon SD1000 – fits perfectly in my pocket); c) visual aid is an easy way to write about things; and d) I want to become a better photographer.

I worked from home today because the water at the office was scheduled to be shut off the whole day. Where there is no working toilet, I find it nearly impossible to work – and I did not like the prospect of walking to Starbucks each time nature called. Working from home, which saves about 30 minutes of commute, afforded me the opportunity to make myself a luxurious breakfast (1). I sauteed baby portobella mushrooms and cherry tomatoes in olive oil and had whole wheat toast with fig jam. I also brewed some coffee I bought from Grab, a gourmet specialty shop on 7th Ave (5). I love a good breakfast, and I was inspired to take this pic after seeing this collection of breakfast photos and the people who eat them.

After getting some work done – I’m usually more productive when alone – I called Kiku Sushi to order some lunch just before 3PM, when the lunch menu expires and dinner prices go into effect. I got myself the two roll special, opting for spicy crunchy salmon and the eel cucumber rolls. On my way back, I saw the storefront for Greenjeans, a small crafts shop that I had read about on Iridesco’s Hear, Hear site (interview article here). The store looked very tiny, and I was tempted to check it out, but I was starved, so I decided to check it out another day. The stuff they sell look really nice, but they’re very pricey.

While walking, I had a great time just shooting photos of the neighborhood (most came out blurry or washed out – I need to get better at taking pics on the move). A large bird feeder (6) caught my attention because its sun-drenched red transported me momentarily to somewhere very rural, like a farm in the Midwest. I took a snapshot of this corner of 7th Ave and 15th Street (5) because I’ve frequented the wine store, Slope Cellars, a few times, got my coffee from Grab, and tried the lamb kebab sandwich from Laila the other day (it sucked). An action packed block for sure, and just two short avenues from our apartment (4), which doesn’t look too pretty sitting on top of Blockbuster, but it gets good sunlight – maybe a bit too much.

For dinner, Melanie cooked up a delicious turkey chili (3). I went across the street to the grocery store to pick up some cheddar cheese and scallions. There’s still a big pot of it left, and I’m tempted to have some at 1:39AM, but I shouldn’t, since I forgot to work out earlier tonight. It’s actually great to see all the things I ate today – I think it was a pretty healthy day overall, although the midday beer I had with the sushi roll lunch was probably unnecessary.

Working at home is nice, but I appreciate the fact that it’s an option rather than the only resort. I’ll be back at the office tomorrow since the water is back on, but it’s great to know that there’s a very fluid mobility to getting work done – it almost makes me want to pack my bags and travel around the world while doing work on the side. But for the moment, I am content with two very comfortable and familiar environments where I can get things done.

How does it feel with photos?

It takes me between 30 to 40 minutes to get to work every morning, and, depending on the day, between 40 minutes to an hour to get back home. It’s quite a change from the days when I worked in my own room, when there was no commute, and I could be tapping away at my computer the moment I woke up.

One problem I had when I worked at home was the lack of discipline when it came to time away from the computer. Whether it was going to the gym, writing, or brainstorming, I had trouble pulling myself away from whatever was happening on the screen. What frustrated me the most was my habit of constantly refreshing nytimes.com and going through various design and business blogs. While I would occasionally pick up some helpful information, the majority of the things I read online were quickly forgotten or quick distractions that were the data equivalent of junk food.

I still find myself wasting time at the office in this manner but being forced into a computer-less subway twice a day has definitely helped me to find the time to read, write, and think. Here’s a rundown of some of the things I’ve had the pleasure of doing on my commutes in the past month:

Read/Reading
– The Life of Pi by Yann Martel – a very sweet read with a great payoff; I can’t believe I almost missed out on the significance of the ending!
– Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
– Master of St. Petersburg by J.M. Coetzee
– Austerlitz by W.G. Sebald
– a bunch of New Yorker articles (loved Menand on Kerouac and Mead on an unlikely liaison to North Korea)
– a couple books on logo/stationery design

Wrote
– half of a short story about a guy who comes across an old email from an ex
– a subway observation of a white woman and a black man, complete strangers and both middle-age, engaging in a conversation (and exchanging emails)
– lists of things to do at work for the and for the rest of the year

Listened to
– Kanye West’s Graduation album, especially Big Brother, an emotionally transparent song about his relationship with Jay-Z (both wince-inducing and interesting at the same time)

Ate
– Kimbap from Woorijip

There are some days when a thing or two would heavily occupy my mind, making it hard to read or do anything else – these instances are not so pleasant. And then there are times when the trains are just too packed, so it’s hard to hold a book. And since it’s hard to get a seat on the morning commute, I find myself writing only when I am on my way back home, late at night. I have also fallen asleep a few times, but thankfully never long enough to miss my stop.

It’s a bit embarrassing to admit that I get most of my reading done during my commute. That is, reading outside the scope of online blogs, newspapers, and non-New Yorker magazines. But aside from the few moments I spend in the bathroom every day, the subway seems to be the only other sure place that is absent of the distractions that make reading, writing, and reflective thinking harder to do. This is not so much a complaint about the overabundance of distractions in my life – and by “distractions,” I mean other people, phone calls, emails, television, computer, and beer – but more of a self-reproach. On a daily basis, it’s an improvement over the days when I worked at home, but I no longer have the luxury of taking off entire afternoons to go to a Starbucks to read and write stories to keep me happy. I’ve been lazy and uninspired, and finding myself in such a state has been both disappointing and frustrating (how’s that for transparency?).

So, what next? I’ll need to suck it up and make sure that half story turns into a full one.