CNN iReport

Here's how I woke up this morning.  Grabbed a cup of coffee and kept going on the project pasted to my bedroom wall.  I'm working two projects at once, late into most nights and certainly weekends.  I won't turn down work--any work.

One project I work from home, obviously, and it has taken over every room.  Luckily, the cat didn't pull down all the power point ideas in the middle of the night.  I work from home because my apartment/office located near this client is rented out now to conserve cash. My home is 700 square feet, so I migrate around to keep from going nuts.  The bedroom works late at night and early mornings with the laptop where it was designed to go.

The other project is a winery located 45 minutes away from home.  Nine months' ago I would have winced at this project that will likely become my full-time job.  The location is not only drab-- a warehouse-based production facility in an industrial area--it's also a very long commute.  I live in an agricultural area, and the benefit is supposed to be living and working surrounded by beauty and vineyards, and no traffic.

You get that in exchange for lower salaries.

I would never have agreed to the salary nor that drive before, but oddly enough, it doesn't bother me in the least now.  I'm plum grateful for the opportunity to work and contribute!  And the winery is cost-conscious and delivering an excellent product to consumers for a reasonable price!  I respect that.  Keep drinking value-priced wines please, responsibly.

The only thing that's annoying me today are people who are asking for too much money for the contribution they make, and people who are too good to work on projects "beneath them."  Hope I don't get stuck on a desert island with these people.  Oh, wait I am.  Called the American Economy.  Pitch in people, have fun.  If I can buckle down and do it, so can you.

I sure enjoy my few minutes off, more than I ever did leisure time before.  And I spend them with people I like--mostly laughing, mostly at ourselves.

That's the real dividend.