It’s not all that hijack-y. My mom was in the landscape design business when I was a kid, part of planting the idea that I am perfectly capable of doing anything that I want.
She was very big into xeriscaping, which was new at the time, and very appropriate for California.
Two answers:
#1: I don’t. However, getting paid by the hour and working on deadline means that I have to get the work done regardless of how much time I spend screwing around on the Internet. When you work in an office what counts is physically being there for 8 hours. When you work from home, it doesn’t matter how long you’re sitting at your desk. The work is either done or it’s not. Sure, I check the dope during the day. But if I screw around too much, that means I have to stay at my computer later into the night. It’s pretty good motivation to get things done by 5 or 6 when I know that a glass of wine and a sunny deck await me if I can get done by that time.
#2: if I’m really under the gun to get something done, I tend to dive in and get upset at any little interruption. I can get a whole lot done if I can get four to eight uninterrupted hours. Programming is like that - if you can get yourself into a groove, you kind of lose yourself and there really isn’t much temptation to go screw around on the Dope (or anyplace else) because you’re so into what you’re doing. Mr. Athena has learned this the hard way, as I tend to bite his head off when he comes in to my office to say hi and I’m “in the groove” and don’t appreciate the interruption. Poor guy. Luckily he still loves me 
Just designing? Or actually implementing as well? God, I need help with design.
Just designing - all the implementing I do is in my own yard (which is a fairly good laboratory for learning what does and doesn’t work on the design end).
Xeriscaping ™ is very appropriate for Calgary, too, with our semi-arid climate. The endless green lawns here are a little heartbreaking, once you realize how unnatural they are and what it takes to make and perpetuate them. I definitely consider education part of my mandate.
OH OH OH - I just got an email with pictures from my very first professional design implementation - honest to God, it made me cry a little. It’s so beautiful! It’s like seeing my firstborn child or something!