It seemed like the usual standard affair: couple with pet struggles to find pet-friendly home. Yet it turned into something entirely different along the way, presenting The Observer with a housing problem we never knew existed.

A place on East 21st Street, renting for $2,400, was well kept. But Mr. Spevak was ambivalent about the loft bedroom, which to him seemed dormlike. Furthermore, the building was too close to his office at a small publishing company. After taking Max for an hourlong morning walk, "I want to take my time going to get an iced coffee or a coffee or whatever" before work, Mr. Spevak said.

Maybe the Real Estate Desk is biased because we all live in the far reaches of Brooklyn (one of us so far down the N line you can sometimes hear the Atlantic churning upon exiting the train) and it takes us nearly an hour as a guest of the M.T.A. to get to work. Still, it sounds like the boyfriend, and not the dog, is in need of some serious house training.

mchaban@observer.com

A new study from Xobni and Harris Interactive found that 60 percent of people check their work email over the holidays, and a third of those folks will check in multiple times a day.

True, 41 percent of people said they were annoyed that they felt the need to check in with work during turkey time.

But amazingly, another 19 percent said they were relieved to have the distraction. Anything to avoid hearing Uncle Mort tell that pilgrim joke for the third time. 

bpopper [at] observer.com | @benpopper