Dapperly dressed in a casual age...

This is the name of a Facebook group I like.

I work from home. And years ago, I learned the hard way that not dressing up for work makes me a not-so-productive guy. So I decided to embrace it. Currently, I do dress up. Even if I'm the only one who sees me. It makes me feel like the work I do is important. Gives me some dignity...and by extension, makes me feel I should be proud of the work I do. I like it. Besides, as I once noted, you have to have a look!

One of my inspirations, I guess, is Dan Newman. He himself is not exactly one of my favorite guys. I've never met him, but he puts his rather Rubenesque self out on social media about daily, wearing a new suit each time with (usually) colorful accoutrements and a cheeky caption. He loves to make people turn their head at his seeming anachronistic sartorial choices, sometimes documenting (or more likely fabricating) dialogues between him and his agog observers. From a fashion perspective, there is plenty to admire. But he himself seems tremendously uptight, the type of person for whom smiles seem utterly foreign and forced. And that does not jibe with me. Having lived in Colorado for a while, I would say he's the type of guy who would benefit from a healthy dose of marijuana on the regular. (And I say this as one who is not well suited for marijuana.) Alas, he is a medical doctor, and a ranking bureaucrat at a major medical center in Boston, so the MJ is a no-go. He does enjoy his wine, though, so there's that. Besides, that goes with his perennially suited appearance. It's like he's very conservative, but because he's gay, that gives him freer reign to play with bright colors than most.

A minor issue I have begun to have with dressing up, however, is that it is not necessarily conducive to good work in many areas. It's constricting. If I have editing to do—and only editing—then I'm fine. But at home, there is inevitably much other work to be done. Household chores. Watering the backyard plants. Mowing the lawn. That sort of thing. So I have to tamp it down a bit. I do choose to wear a bow tie, as per the name of my business, but that is about the end of it for me. No suits or sports coats.

More, perhaps, on this later. Work is calling me rather urgently.