Working from home yesterday had its downsides. The biggest of course is one you wouldn't expect -- noise.

For those that have known me for a while you probably know that my hearing is particularly sensitive. In high school I could tell which room had a television on not by the sound coming out of their speakers, but the high pitched electronic hum from the high voltage capacitors powering the CRT. This could be up to 20 meters away from the set around walls and hallways. In college, sound was an issue I negotiated with my roommates. Today I often wear sound-isolating headphones to block out conversation noise when on airplanes. 

When I'm relaxed, noise doesn't bother me so much. I can let it wash over me and ignore it entirely. When I'm stressed, however, noise can almost be debilitating.

The apartment I share with Pazi is small. Our desks are only a meter or so apart, and the air conditioner hangs from the wall nearest my desk. During the winter I never notice the thing, but the sumer is a different story altogether. It's constant hum can be grating and interferes with my concentration. It makes sharing conversation difficult as the white noise obscures voices easily from my ears. 

After work, we had a guest over, whom I shall call 'M'. M is a delightfully geeky woman whom I've had the pleasure to share many a movie the last few weeks. This evening we were discussing what sort of entertainment we should have this evening. As no one had a preference, Pazi rebooted her system into Windows (it tickles me to no end how much she uses Linux these days) to play Touhou games.

And this is where things went a bad direction. She had the volume for the game especially high, and even after turning it down, it was nearly painful for me to listen to. The combination of it, the A/C, and the intermittent griding of our failing refrigerator fan pushed me to the limit in less than a minute. Not wanting to break her concentration -- Touhou games are not the kind to play when easily distracted -- I picked up my things and went back to the bedroom.

I had hoped to spend only a quarter of an hour there before returning to the main room to be social. I started an entry in my paper journal. I managed precisely one paragraph before I fell asleep. For the most part, I remained that way for nearly 6 hours. 

I guess I needed a nap...

Today was difficult due to a bad bout of insomnia last night. For whatever reason, I just couldn't seem to sleep no matter how much I lay there in bed. My mind raced in spite of grogginess, revolving predominately around my soon-to-be-arriving toy.

I'm embarrassed to admit it, but I'm excited about my new phone. Over the last three years having a proper smartphone has become essential to me. I use it as my music, device, my podcast system, often my IM client, and almost my GPS device. It's the modern Tricorder.

It's also an escape. Working for a tech company, I spend a huge amount of time in front of a monitor. For many years I couldn't imagine that coming home to spend more time in front of another monitor would have been a problem. "The trick," I told people, "was not to see the monitor, but to see through the monitor." The last year, however, that trick has become less and less effective. 

For whatever reason, that's less a problem with a smartphone. I can still maintain a social online presence without feeling the constant need to be productive. It's easier for me to lay on a bed, belly down, reading a book with a blackberry or an android device nearby without becoming tangled up in the notion that every, single, moment, must, be, productive.