Yes...excellent post. I couldn't agree more. I (along with my one other co-worker) have just started working at home 1 day a week in the quest for blocks of time uninterrupted by visits from the boss. Today was my day at home, and I did more work today than I'll probably get done for the rest of the week. No meetings, no phone calls, email set to update once every 60 minutes. Oh...and I hate to quibble, but here's an excerpt from the Colophon of the Baroque Cycle: The manuscript of The Baroque Cycle was written by hand on 100% cotton paper using three different fountain pens: a Waterman Gentleman, a Rotring, and a Jorg Hysek. from http://www.nealstephenson.com/