> I am charged with providing more insight into the functioning of the system.
That's pretty generic. Do they have certain metrics they want to see in black & white?

> I'm looking for other important and useful information I can report up to better illustrate my efforts
Then that's your answer. You just need to find out what is important & useful to them.

> I also simultaneously perform all IT related tasks in the office, which may also be important to report
Whatever you send them, be sure to word it in terms of business value. As far as providing insight - you may want to create overview docs of most ALL of the processes/systems you manage; your job will be that much more secure if the non-tech folks are truly aware of how much you do around the office. As the only IT person, you provide biz value that no other in-house employee can, AND you save them money. Show them how by providing high-level workflow diagrams of these processes.

Heck, you may even get a raise if you word it right. ; >

> Just because its more distracting doesn't mean its bad for you

True, but it's also important to remember that some of the brightest minds of our time had "ah ha!" moments while "getting away from it all".

Nikola Tesla sketched out a rough design for his rotating magnetic field device, and J.Robert Oppenheimer often preffered walks in nature to let his mind roam free. Albert Einstein was a well known fan of getting away from it all (the answers are right there - in nature).

Wether are not you're comfortable with city life isn't what the article was about.