Livingin close proximity to your office is both a blessing and a curse. I feel thatI’m able to speak authoritatively on this subject, because for the last15 months I’ve been living in an apartment building less than a blockaway from my office building. Kitty-corner, actually. I’m somewhathesitant to admit this publicly, but that’s ok because I’m movingso it’s moot now anyway.

On the plus side, the commute I have now absolutely kicks ass. 78 seconds doorto door, assuming I don’t have to wait for the light on the one streetI have to cross to change. This enables me to do things like roll out ofbed a half hour before my daily stand-up meeting. I can also hit“snooze” with almost unlimited abandon (which is great, becauseI’m a chain-snoozer). On the way home, I can laugh at the people backedup waiting in the traffic to get on the Alaskan Way viaduct. I can leave myoffice and be home in less time than they’ve spent sitting in theleft-turn lane.

However, I’ve noticed over the past few months that living so close towork also has its detractors. The lack of physical separation means that workand life sort of blur into each other – I’m very inclined to comehome, sit down in front of the TV, and continue working on the problem I wasworking on before I left the office. Sometimes, my living room becomes justanother office with different decorations. I find that I have very littlemotivation to leave a two-block radius, because everything I need is rightthere. It’s very clear that my current living situation has beenhaving an adverse affect on both my social life and my mental state, andsomething needs to change.

So, today the movers came and took all my furniture to my new place. It’sup in a neighborhood called Capitol Hill – not too far away from where Iam now, but far enough. By all accounts, this neighborhood is quite cool. Ihaven’t spent much time in it, but it feels right. The new place is cooltoo – same size and a little cheaper to boot. But the best thing aboutthe new place is that I can’t see my office building from the livingroom window!

I’m optimistic about the new place – I think it will be a welcomechange.