I started writing this column while spending the weekend at the Jersey Shore where my mom has a home, and where, for most of my childhood life, work and life blurred together. My parents, who owned a series of beachfront motels while I was growing up, made little effort to separate work and life.

If we went out for dinner, we always stopped by the motel on the way home. On these visits, I sat in the car, listening to the radio or dozing, wondering what was keeping them. Sometimes my mom waited with me while my dad went inside. After my dad passed away and my mom took over the business, she was the one going inside.

When I finally joined her a few times, I realized why she stayed there so long. She enjoyed talking to the night clerk and whoever else was hanging around. They chatted about mundane news and local gossip: a guest disliked the room and wanted a refund; a family had driven all the way down to the shore only to learn of a crisis that required them to turn around; a crowd of drunken promgoers had ransacked the motel next door; the local convenience store now stocked vanilla-flavored coffee. These moments were more than merely catching up on business. My parents were checking in on another child, something they had built, nurtured and loved.

Click this sentence to read the rest of my NYT.com column, “Blurring by Choice and Passion.”

For today’s Shifting Careers column at NYT.com I got a chance to interview Herminia Ibarra, author of Working Identity, my all-time favorite book about careers. Ibarra, who has spent the past several years working in France had interesting insights about European vs. Americans attitudes towards work/leisure/unplugging.

then you need to get over to Penelope Trunk’s blog and check out the e-storm over her posts about the state of her marriage. This post, and the one she wrote about her first marriage counseling session with her husband have resulted in a rich and interesting discussion on privacy boundaries for bloggers, marriage, stay-at-home parenting, and a grab-bag of other stuff.

I had a brief appearance on CNBC this morning talking about the rise in workaholism. As my mom commented, my piece is so short that you can miss it if you blink. But it was great practice. You can watch it here.

Ironically, I left my Blackberry in a taxi on the morning I taped this segment. It wasn’t returned and I was Blackberry-less for about four days that week. Aside from the initial few hours of withdrawal, those were the best four days of the past year. The Blackberry wasn’t returned and I had insurance so I got a new one within a week. Wish I could tell you I stayed off the wagon.

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This week I’m at the Jersey Shore where I did a book event organized by my mother (who I should have officially hired to help with my book’s promotion, but that’s another blog post.) Since I’m staying in the parental home, I’m thinking a lot about my dad, who passed away about 15 years ago, and who is responsible for a lot of the life and career choices I’ve made. My dad showed me the importance of fitting your career plans into a greater scheme for the life you want to live.

When my father had a career change in the 1970s, leaving the hair salon he owned in Brooklyn to buy a motel/marina on the Jersey Shore, people thought he was courageous. And a little crazy. He had a thriving business, yet was ready to toss it aside for a pipe dream.

My mother’s rich uncle owned a hotel on the beach in Miami, and that hotel is where we went on our occasional family vacations. Uncle Benny and aunt Helen lived above the hotel in a sprawling penthouse apartment, and Benny was a gadfly about town (and later, literally its mayor). He worked in shorts and took a swim each morning in the pool after his walk on the beach. My dad wanted Uncle Benny’s life.

Being a fairly persuasive guy (who always had good business instincts), my dad convinced my mother to abandon her dream of becoming a suburban housewife to join him in building what she liked to refer to as “his” dream.

Rather than moving into a penthouse above a hotel though, my parents, my brother and I (along with the family dog) settled into an efficiency apartment at The Trade Winds Motel and Marina in Sea Bright, NJ. We lived in that one-room apartment for several months until my parents were ready to give up some income and move us into an apartment above the motel. That apartment was a huge upgrade, but even though it was at the top of the building (2 floors, no elevator), it didn’t feel like much of a penthouse. Still, we had views of the bay and the 100 boat slips where our customers docked their boats. The dream was beginning.

For the first six-months or a year, my dad commuted back to Brooklyn where he continued to cut hair for his customers in the salon. He wanted to build up some security before he severed ties completely. He was a weekend entrepreneur.

In my writing travels, I am meeting increasing numbers of folks like my dad with “businesses on the side.” And I just discovered a blog written by Michelle Anton, completely dedicated to this popular breed of slash. This particular post is loaded with smart tips about building a business on the side. Anton also wrote a book, Weekend Entrepreneur, which you might want to check out.

As a journalist, I turn to the experts for advice. So this year, at Passover, I asked my 93-year old nana for the secrets to her longevity. It’s simple, she said:

1. Eat right. (Nana has followed a pretty simple diet for the past 50 years. Take whatever you were going to put on your plate and cut it in half. If at a restaurant, cut it by 2/3. Save the rest for tomorrow.)

2. Watch the trees grow. (This she said while pointing to the Magnolia tree on the side of her driveway, planted about 60 years ago. A tree grew in Brooklyn.)

3. Make jokes out of everything. (Of late, she is especially fond of ribald humor you wouldn’t expect from a nonagenarian).

(Note: I know this is a little off topic for my blog, but we should never lose sight of the “life” part of “work/life.” And I hear that tips do well in the blogosphere.)