I’m lucky enough to be working at home these days. On the plus side, no commute. On the minus side, you never get more than 20 feet from work.

In the house I at least have room for a dedicated office, which is much better than the old (tiny) apartment. However, it uncovered a new problem–how does Evelyn know if it’s safe to open my office door? Am I on the phone? Really busy? Or is it okay to ask “what’s for lunch”?

Here’s our solution:

Evelyn took a little vending machine toy capsule and put in some large Red, Green, and Yellow LEDs. It has a control line (3 wires and 1 ground) that goes back to a rotary switch installed in an old pill container. The pill container has enough space for the switch, wiring, and a 9V battery.

So now, when my office door is closed, Evelyn knows what’s up. Green means it’s okay to come in. Yellow means I’m on the phone. Red means I’m either busy or pissed off, so don’t bother me at all.

Maybe I need to make a hat with an indicator light, so Evelyn can tell my mood.

Update: We have the little orb sitting at the corner near my office door, mainly because I didn’t want to drill a hole or anything. Another option we were thinking of is drilling a hole in the middle of the doorknob and using a bi-colored (red/green) LED. Then you’d glace at the knob to see the status; though the install would be more complicated.