Unfortunately, when I worked for the state, we had middle management that didn't trust us 'drudges' to put in 8 hours/day unless our butts were in that office chair. I wish I could telecommute. Any day I don't have to get 'dressed' is a good day.

>>No, contrary to some beliefs, money is not all that life is about.
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>>As an example, the job I got laid off from, I was grossing 80+K/yr, but was paying almost 10K in insurance per year, along with about 1500-2000 per year in gas in the commute, so in reality I was grossing 68 K per year, before taxes.
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>>The job I have now, in a 4 man office (I'm on of 2 developers) is half the distance - so I'd be spending (at the same prices as last year) 600-800 per year in gas and about 1200 for insurance - so I'm grossing about 58K per year, before taxes. And I'm starting 20K less. I'm also sleeping better, losing weight, friends say I'm more relaxed and it takes me about 20 minutes to get to work/home as opposed to the hour I used to spend in Austin traffic, which is insane on any given day and triple during full moons.
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>News from the nirvana: telecommuting is good as ever. I'm deciding, fourth time in a row, to keep the old Corolla simply because I don't want to spend $10K (the price of a decent 4year old small car around here) to spend $250 instead of $400 on gas every year. It still takes about fifteen minutes to commute, because I spend some time in the bathroom until I wake up sufficiently to dare go down the stairs. Then I have to make about 14 steps to the kitchen, to take the coffee, and then take it back to my chair which I passed along the way. Then I sit and have some rest from all the commotion.
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>(ok, vent it... now. you'll feel much better :)