Office Equipment

Geeks.com
is in the middle of an End of the Month Sale that’s pretty amazing. Big Deals…Huge Savings….all to the tune of up to 85 percent off in a lot of cases.

The Compaq Presario SR2170NX tower system
(to the left), for example, is regularly $349.99, but it’s marked down to $299.99. Even with my math skills, I know that’s $50 saved, and I didn’t even have to use my fingers.

From the Website:
This Compaq Presario SR2170NX tower system is powered by an Intel Pentium 4 3.0 GHz processor and 1 GB of RAM. Its 160 GB hard drive provides ample storage space for music, photos, critical data and other files. Plus, Microsoft Windows Vista Home Basic comes pre-installed.

Access CD and DVD media and burn CDs and DVDs with the DVD±RW Lightscribe drive. There’s plenty of room for expansion with three PCI slots, one PCI Express x16 slot and two DIMM sockets. A keyboard and mouse are included so just add a monitor to start computing!

This is just one of the big sales going on, so be sure to visit Geeks.com
before all the penny-pinching geeks in the world buy everything.

They’re just so that way.

The Creative Labs Zen V 1GB MP3 Player (White/Orange) Retail ***Free Shipping*** is as hot as it looks. This is the sort of MP3 Player people sit up and notice. It does the whole “stand out from the crowd” thing like no other MP3 Player I’ve had the pleasure of looking at - well, ever.

I did, in fact, list this under the “Office Productivity” category. Everyone has certain things that make them more productive…things that kind of keep them motoring along. Caffeine and music fuel me - even when I have the cold from hell like I’ve had the past week. Chug a little coffee…listen to Kanye West…chug more coffee…Sing along with Fergie…..Make a Starbucks run with Gets me through the day.

I think a lot of my infatuation with this particular MP3 Player has to do with the ridiculously hot colors. Sexxxxy.

From the Website (ZipZoomFly.com - also sexy):

How will you deal with all the attention?
The ZEN V player was designed for people like you—those who walk a step or two ahead of the pack. So don’t be surprised when people take notice of your cool, colorful music and photo player.

Tell them you carry up to 2,0001 songs with you. Show them just a handful of the photos you’ve stored on the pocket sized powerhouse. And tell them there’s even more but they’ll have to get their own.

ZEN V is available in 1GB2, 2GB2 and 4GB2 capacities. Get yours today!

Dangerous curves ahead!
ZEN V is so tiny that it will fit into almost any pocket–jackets, purses and more. But don’t let the size fool you. ZEN V is packed with all the great features you desire.

Find your own way
Fill your tiny ZEN V with up to 2,000 songs1. Pull out your CD collection and rip your albums. Log on to the Internet and browse different music services for the songs you want. Download your favorite songs without paying for the whole album.

Plus, for a low monthly fee, you can join a subscription service and fill and refill your ZEN V with new tunes everyday.

Enjoy the show
Show off your favorite photos of friends, vacations or cool skateboarding stunts. All of your pictures will look amazing on the stunning 1.5 inch color screen. Rich, vibrant photos, album art, and menus burst to life.

Navigate all of your content with remarkable ease using the patented ZEN™ user interface. Your music and photos are all available at your finger tips.

Avoid the Burnout
No need to burn CDs to your PC then download to your ZEN. Connect to the line-in jack on your ZEN, and record your CDs, records, beats and more. The automatic track detection will even separate each song for you.

Sporty yet sexy
ZEN V is ideal for your next jog on the trail or trip to the gym. The optional armband and case fit comfortably on your arm and keep your ZEN V safe and secure while running or lifting.

Stay connected
Record notes, thoughts, and meetings using the built-in voice recorder. Sync your player’s personal organizer with Microsoft Outlook to transfer your calendar, contacts and task list so you won’t miss your important appointments and anniversaries.

Click through to learn more about the features and benefits. You’re going to want the Creative Labs Zen V 1GB MP3 Player in the worst possible way.

You know what you do when that happens right? - You buy it in the fastest possible way. Yeah, that’s pretty much my creed. That, and Coffee Cures Everything.

I can’t explain it entirely, but I’ve got a real thing for pens. Pencils do diddly squat for me, but pens…wow! Pens with black ink, pens with red ink, pens with blue ink, pens with green ink - I don’t play favorites. Red, yellow, black, and white, they are all precious when I write.

I get pretty creative with my pen containers, too. On my desk is a hollowed out coconut with a face. He holds about 20 pens. In the kitchen, near the phone is a clear Starbucks cup filled with coffee beans - a variety of lucky-albeit-it-highly-caffeinated pens call this home. In the den’s a mug from Wichita Kansas with around 30 pens. There are others throughout the house….you know, it’s just beginning to occur to me how deep my pen fetish runs.

I’ve found just the holder for my husband’s desk. I’m looking over there now and it’s a complete and total shame - his pens are just lying around with the riff raff (a.k.a. pencils). Sadly, they’re homeless. But that’s just about to come to an end. I’m moving his pens into my coconut penthouse, and I’ll even take in the riff raff. I’ll replace them all with the Golf Cart Pen Set from The Paragon.

From the Website:
Cleverly disguised as a miniature golf bag, this unique office accessory is a desk-bound golfer’s delight. The clubs are ballpoint pens, one each of black, blue, and red ink. And the classy plastic bag and metal cart have wonderful details like zippered pockets and movable wheels. Pens use standard refills. 8 1/2″ overall. A fun gift!

This would be a perfect gift for any golf lover. The website also has a cute Golfer’s Desktop Zen Garden. Click the link and give them both a look. While you’re there, take a look around - The Paragon has some totally amazing and original lovelies. There’s a cast iron bunny plant stand (yes, a cast iron bunny plant stand) that I’m not sure I can live much longer without.

Printer paper is one of those office necessities that night gnomes love to hide from people. You can have at least 100 sheets in the printer, itself, on Tuesday - but, come Wednesday, you run out of paper 3 pages into a printing.

So, bumfuzzled, you start looking around for the package of printer paper. It’s where you left it, right? Hell to the no, it isn’t! The night gnomes have put it in some fool place you know for certain you’d never even visit let alone store printer paper in. And Heaven forbid you should find yourself in need of ink cartridges. The gnomes don’t just rearrange them - they eat them.

Score 1 for the humans. The handsomely functional and functionally handsome Clutter-Free Printer Caddy
will catch the night gnomes completely off their game.

The Details:
Capable of holding a printer, paper, ink cartridges, and other print necessities in one convenient place, this stand efficiently organizes cluttered work areas and optimizes desk space. Finished in a dark cherry color, the stand has a black leather inlay top that supports the printer, while cable slots keep cords together and out of the way. Two glass inlay drawers have ample space for supplies, while two open shelves keep paper organized and close at hand. Medium density fiberboard construction. 61/2″ H x 21 1/2″ W x 15 1/4″ L. (23 lbs.)

In all seriousness, when things are organized, our work is made easier and more efficient. Time NOT spent looking around for this or hunting high and low for that can be spent actually accomplishing things that matter and scratching things off of your unforgiving to do list.

This is just one of those deliciously clever office products that can put us back in control of our working lives.

What do you have to say to that, gnomes?

P.S. If for some reason, you like theMooning Gnome - you can find him by clicking the link or the gnome, himself.

What? You like him? I don’t even know you anymore.

You gotta love the 4th of July if you’re an American. Not only is it a time to celebrate our country’s history, it’s the perfect time to celebrate all that’s right with the U.S.A. - and there’s A LOT right with it. Its also a time to stop and think about all of the men and women who serve us (and have served us in the past) in the armed forces. Everyone loves heroes and heroines in the movies - these are the real thing!

Independence Day is absolutely one of my favorite times of the year. I love the grilled food, the fireworks, and the waving flags that I wish would never go down. I also have a strong respect for the sales that present themselves during the first week of July. I’ve noticed some pretty great ones lately - especially online.

CompUSA
is feeling the Love American Style, and in a big way. Through the 7th, CompUSA has….

• Notebooks priced ridicuously low - with some starting at $399.00.
• Desktops starting at $299.00.
• 50 percent off printers.
• 19 inch LCD Monitors starting at $129.99.
• ipods and MP3 Players are all on sale.
• 20 percent off of all office supplies.
• Save up to 45 percent on accessories.
• Save up to 85 percent on Networking.

The icing on the cake? Free shipping ALL DAY on JULY 4! So if there’s anything your Office Freak-y heart desires, today’s the day to act and CompUSA is the place to do so.

There’s another option for you to strongly consider when you’re shopping for Computer Supplies. If, that is, you’re interested in a huge selection of supplies at better prices. At Supplies USA.com, you can find original computer supplies and printer supplies at better prices than large office supplies or computer chains. How huge of a selection? The Over 50 brands and more than 5000 items type of selection. The best kind!

……3M, Apple, Avery, BenQ, Brother, Canon, Citizen, Compaq, Copystar, DEC, Dymo, Epson, Exabyte, Fuji, Genicom, Gestetner, Hitachi, HP, IBM, Imation, InFocus, Iomega, Kodak, Konica, Kyocera, Lanier, Lexmark, Maxell, Memorex, Minolta, Mita, Mitsubishi, Muratec, NEC, Oki, Optoma, Output, Panasonic, PM Company, Printronix, Proxima, QMS, Quantum, Ricoh, Riso, Samsung, Savin, Seiko, Sharp, Sony, Tally, TDK, Tektronix, TI, Toshiba, Troy, Verbatim, Viewsonic, Xerox…

The names I just dropped are the quality brands you’ll find at Supplies USA.com. They have a massive selection of computer supplies, printer supplies, projector lamps, data supplies, high quality oem toner and inkjet cartridges (no refilled or reconditioned).

• Discount prices on all items
• Easy web site navigation
• Shipping from warehouses nationwide
• Orders processed same day
• A current Shopzilla customer rating of 10/10 (2/28/07)

The fact that orders are processed the same day combined with shipping from 20 locations nationwide means that you get your order sooner than you’d imagine.

From the website: We ship from more than 20 locations nationwide so we are always close to your location. Most orders placed before 4:00PM local time ship the same day so we provide you timely delivery no matter where you are in the USA. We gladly ship to APO and FPO addresses via USPS. We also ship bulk to International Customers.

New items and new brands are regularly added to Supplies USA.com, so check back often - the chances are excellent that they’ll have exactly what you’re looking for and at a price you couldn’t have even hoped for!

As a bonus, from my experience, you often get better service from a quality business like Supplies USA than from the larger chains. Their service is more personable. You feel like you and your business are important to them, rather than feeling like you’re just another order.

Check out Supplies USA.com, you’ll be impressed. If you don’t need any supplies at the moment, bookmark the site and give them a chance the next time a need (or want!) comes up. I have a very, very good feeling that you’ll use them again and again.

*The above was a sponsored post - which means I was paid to give a review. The praise is my own because I was genuinely impressed. You know me, by now, and know that I’d never recommend anything to you that I wouldn’t use myself. Supplies USA.com will get my next order, because I really like what I see.

Over at 37Signals, I noticed a post linking back to Cooper’s new office phone and a question.

” If you were tasked with redesigning the corporate office phone system from scratch what would you focus on ? What’s key ? What’s not ? What’s overlooked ? What’s missing ? What stays and what goes ? What annoys you most about the office phones you’ve used ? ”

Head over there and throw some freaky phone feature suggestions their way. If we can’t give them great advice, who can ?!

Like coffee needs cream, like steak needs A1, like the Cubs need a break that doesn’t involve bones…. That’s how badly I need a few of these Document Organizers. They’re only $7.99 each, when you buy two or more at Home Focus Catalog.com.

These organizers have 12 see-through pockets and hold up to 22 documents. Sounds like they’re ready and willing to safeguard our papers as well as my sanity.

You know how maddening it is to have to search and search for something! Just this week I was searching high and low for a vital piece of paperwork. My cat and I looked in all the normal hiding places, but couldn’t find it. Like, 12 drawers later, it turns up. I pointed out to the cat that we had just wasted a whole morning looking for a lousy piece of paper. We vowed that we had to bring a little more organization into our home.

We’re just covered up in paperwork! My husband has some from his nine-to-fiver, we have piles from our home businesses, and then there are the standard, everyday bills and correspondence. There are also piles that have to do with my mom’s estate.

You know the scene from “Mommie Dearest” where she goes 7 kinds of psycho over wire hangers? By the 10th drawer, I was beginning to have visions of me inside of my own little melt down. Fortunately for me, and the cat who would have been perfectly mortified, I never arrived at that point.

But I don’t want to chance it again. Everything would just go so much more smoothly if all the important papers were separated, organized and divided. A place for everything and everything in its place.

What a concept!

I was looking around this morning for something alltogether different for an alltogether different type of post, but I came across this unique product and pulled into a different lane. The
Emergency Center Battery Rack
from The Home Marketplace is, in my opinion, something we should all have in our homes, as well as our offices. It’s pretty ingenius and could prove incredibly helpful in the event of an emergency - and I don’t need to remind anyone how easily an emergency can rip open our lives.

Check out the ingenuity of this organizer! It’s designed with:

• A built-in AM/FM/Weather Band radio
• A digital clock
• An emergency tap light
• A powerful flashlight
• A battery tester

Other Features:

• It stores and organizes 22 batteries of different sizes.
• Includes a tilt-out compartment for spare keys, flashlight bulbs and other small items.
• Durable plastic Rack fits in drawer or mounts on wall with hardware provided.
• 13-1/2″Hx8-1/2″Wx2-1/2″D

All for under $40.00 - that may be the most impressive thing of all. It’s hard to put a price tag on peace of mind. When grabbing one for yourself, an extra one would be an incredibly thoughtful idea for a loved one.

Does your keyboard get all crunked up with dust and bits-o-whatever ?

Does your computer case have a layer of dust an 1/16″ thick ?

Do you like to way over-do it when you clean ‘em up ?

ME TOO !

Today I dropped by my local Staples store and grabben a kit called the AirDr from Digital Innovations.

Now you can BLAST away dust from cameras, keyboards, computers, A/V components, and office equipment with pinpoint accuracy.

It contains pure, oil-free, anti-static CO2 gas and delivers higher-velocity airflow than canned air.

It’s compact size houses an easy-to-replace 16-gram air cartridge and replacement cartridges are available.

It was only $14.98, which maqkes it about 3 times the cost of canned air, but I’m betting it will do more than 3 cans of that weak stuff will do and do a way better job in the process.

It’s much more agile and I can access parts of my computer case that have never been cleaned before.

I’ll let you know how long it lasts.

My CPU cooling fan and all the nooks and crannies in my case have never been cleaner.

Be careful, though, this puppy is way more powerful than those cans of air that are only good for selling and not for using.