Office Gadgets

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.

I totally can’t relate to the concept of having only a few cups of coffee in the morning. And by not relate to, I mean the mere thought makes me break out in an uncomfortable rash.

However, I understand that not everyone is as addicted as I am - thanks be to the all-knowing God (what a world this would be if all of its people were as caffienated as me). In fact, I hear tell that some people actually get by on one or two cups each day - as in, not just the morning. It’s all they have all day.

For those rare birds, something like the Melitta 2-cup travel brewer would be perfect. My mom was this sort of coffee drinker. She’d have one cup in the morning and that was it. She claimed that if she had more than that she’d be awake for days. Amateur!

I always thought she kind of embarassed herself by even having a coffee maker - but she was family and I loved her, so I forgave her for her shortcomings. My dad…now there was a coffee drinker! The man could drink two pots of coffee during the day, then lay down and sleep like a beagle. With people like dad and me…the Melitta wouldn’t even stand a chance. But for the normal people in the world, it might be pretty nice.

From the website:
For the on-the-go coffee drinker, the Melitta Take 2 brews directly into one or both of its 14-oz. stainless steel travel mugs that conveniently fit standard car cup holders. Uses a #2 cone filter, the brewer features dual spouts, which detach for easy cleaning. Added features include an LED power indicator, easy-to-read window water gauge, and auto shut off.

At just a little over $30, the Melitta Take 2 would be perfect for keeping in the office. It’d also make a pretty amazing Christmas gift….. but I didn’t just ring the Christmas bell or anything. Not in August. Not me. And I’m not humming Frosty the Snowman either…..

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.

My youngest daughter once had a friend who’d say coolie when she saw or heard about something cool. If there were more than one, they were coolies. I say she once had her as a friend, because frankly she and her coolies got on my daughters last nerve. Not coolie.

Anyway, I found a few Coolies this week and wanted to pass them along to you. A few may apply to you, a few may not. If none interest you whatsoever, please forgive me and pretend this post never happened.

For Bloggers/Web Designers/Website Owners/Graphic Artists, etc:

Have you ever seen a font and wondered which font it was. There are so many varieties, now, it’s hard to be sure. When I first started out, there was pretty much Verdana, Arial, Times New Roman, Edwardian Script ITC, Courier, and Georgia. The rebels would branch out with Juice ITC, Kino, Edda, Enviro, and maybe one of the Copperplate fonts. Now you’d better be familiar with all of the above as well as Dirty Ego, High Strung, Adorable, Knitwits, and Kiss Me. Not kidding.

There are so many times when I’ll see a font and think how perfect it’d be for a project. I sit down at my Adobe Photoshop and tediously go through our insane font collection one by one. Eh, that’s so yesterday. I found a tool on MyFonts.com called What the Font?! You can upload an image with the font on it (what I did with a particular client’s business card), tap the button and, inside of a minute, it tells you the font’s name. You can also use an image’s url.

IF it’s unable to find your font, the site has a forum with font experts that are more than glad to help you out.

For Everyone:

See the gentleman sitting at the top of the post?…..I’m betting you didn’t miss him. He’s a QMiniMe creation. You send them your picture and they make a bobble head of, well….you! I swear, this is too adorable. Check out the website and see more of their creations. This is the sort of thing that would make the most amazing and fun Christmas presents in the world. Click the little guy, himself, to access the website - you’ll be amazed! They can hook you up with anyone you have a picture of - including yourself, your spouse, a child, your pet, etc.

For Anyone Looking to Save a Little $$$

Click HERE for some really great online Office Supply coupons. To the left you’ll find a long list of other categories such as pet supplies, tools, toys, jewelry, flowers, electronics, etc. Worth checking into.

For Those of us Who Are Sun gods and goddesses:

Did you know that people who drink green tea have lower incidences of skin cancer than those who don’t? It’s an antioxidant thing - and green tea’s packed. Hopefully my addiction to Starbuck’s Green Tea Frap will carry me and my skin through.

If the taste of Green Tea makes you cringe, first try combining it with some regular black tea. And by combining, I mean 95 percent black and 5 percent green! I’m a huge fan of Green Tea now, but I admit, it takes a little getting used to. Work your way up to a 50/50 percentage, then ease into the 100 percent green tea.

For Anyone Who Wants to Get Ahead:

I recently re-read a book that I thoroughly enjoyed the first time around (years ago). It’s called “Conversations with Millionaires,” by Mike Litman and Jason Oman. I’m now prepared to give the shortest book review you’ll ever see.

Read. The. Book.

Never one to keep the good stuff to myself, I wanted to put this jaw-dropping offer in front of your eyes. Cafe Belmondo has a deal that’s too sweet to pass up. If you order two bags of their Artisan Roasted Coffee, they’ll send you a free coffee maker as well as a box of biscotti. I’m taking them up on it before they realize what they’re doing.

In addition to my beloved Tassimo, I have a regular coffee maker, but I’d like to have a second one to use strictly for brewing tea. Some of the best iced tea in the world comes from brewing it in a coffee maker.

But that’s not even the main reason I want to run with this.

The way I see it: They’re giving away an offer worth over $50.00 (shipping’s included in the deal) for under $10.00. They aren’t simpletons - they’re in business to make a profit. So, it stands to reason that they must KNOW we’ll want to order more of their coffee after we’ve tried it. That’s confidence! When someone has that much pride in what they do, I’ll always be first in line, coffee cup firmly in hand and smile firmly on face.

Free  12-cup  coffee  maker and  biscotti with $9.95 purchase of two bags of Artisan Roasted Coffee

Mouse Pads serve as a great source of amusement to me. I’m not totally sure why, really, but I’m all about the mose pad. The Mouse Pad aisle is always a sure-stop for me when I’m in Staples, Office Depot, or Office Max. My husband and I were looking around Staples last night - okay, truth be told, I was happily browsing around while he zeroed in on what he was after. Some shopper he is.

Anyway, while he played it safe, I constructed my mental list of things I absolutely have to have. After I conquered the binder and notebook section, I wheeled over to the mouse pads. They’d recently added to their inventory, so I my purse and I did our little happy dance. When we do that, cashiers scramble into position.

One of the mouse pads that caught my eye right off the bat was a gorgeous…and I mean really gorgeous….Mouse Rug. The Mouse Rug Jaipur MouseRug®
is pictured above. When I was admiring it and getting all kinds of touchy feely, I knew I’d have to blog about the little beauty. I was afraid, though, that any image I found online wouldn’t be able to compare with just how beautiful these mouse rugs are. Unfortunately I was right.

The colors - particularly the deep blues - just don’t get their just desserts online. They’re much deeper and more vibrant. The one pictured above is even more gorgeous in person. And it looks, feels, and acts like a really expensive rug. The texture, the backing, everything is just like a miniature version of the real thing. Trust me, they’re really something to behold.

The manufacturers, who must really want to see the happy dance at it’s finest, have even made matching coasters for each mouse pad.

The coaster rugs are, of course, on a smaller scale but are just as realistically gorgeous as the mouse rugs are. The details…right down to the tassles…are amazing. The only problem is that my desk, at all times, has a mug of coffee, a glass of Diet Dr. Pepper, and (if I’ve been out that day) a Starbuck’s Green Tea Frappuccino. No, I don’t mean or…I mean and, and yes - as a matter of fact - I do believe I slosh when I walk. I don’t think I’d want any of my drinks to perch on the coaster rug. I’m pretty certain I’ll just sit a cup of pens or something else, non-drippy, on it.

Then again, I could find a little Aladdin, his Gilbert Gottfried-channeling bird Iago, and the fair Jasmine to perch on the rug. And, the monkey too, of course…. Abu was his name, right? Can’t have a magic carpet ride without Abu.

Eh. Scratch the whole Aladdin plan. The husband would think I’d lost what little’s left of my mind. Then he wouldn’t take me places and buy me things.

Click through using the pictures or link above to take a closer look. These are more beautiful than you’d imagine. If you have a Staples nearby, go take a look in person. And don’t worry, I’m just sort of maybe kind of kidding about the magic carpet display.

Maybe it’s the Green Tea Frappuccino talking, but I have to say I absolutely love this far out thermometer. It’s the sweetest desk candy I’ve seen in a while.

The wildly colorful sphere displays the current temperature, you just read the metal tag on the lowest floating ball to tell the temperature. Even I could do that - with or without a Frap buzz.

The Discovery Galileo LED Thermometer wants nothing more than to add pop and pizazz to your office or home. My motto is this: When something asks to be bought, don’t make it ask twice.

Ever see something that blows you away so much that you think, “I wish I’d thought of that!” ? The Philips 7" Digital Photo Frame has that effect on me. As freakin’ if I could’ve come up with the hows and whats of the product, itself (I do well to manipulate the remote control to my dvd player - tricky little cuss), but I’d love to be able to take credit for the concept.

The Philips 7" Digital Photo Frame has enough memory to store 100 photos, meaning that even a grandparent would have enough room.

Other Features:

• Innovative frame receives digital images from camera, memory card or PC and displays them automatically. Options to display single photos, thumbnails or slideshows.
• 14 MB of internal memory lets you save 100 or more full-screen photos.
• High-definition, 133ppi screen displays crisp, vibrant pictures.
• High pixel density (720×480 resolution) provides outstanding clarity.
• Adjustable brightness takes advantage of ambient light conditions to make each picture look its best.
• Display can be pre-set to turn on/off automatically at the time of your choice.
• Simple, intuitive operation means no complicated programming (They’ve heard of me and my remote control..).
• Landscape or portrait display.
• Includes: AC/DC adapter and USB cable.
• Rechargeable battery 1-year manufacturer’s warranty.

Fling those old frames and photos off of your desk and into a closet - this is a much sweeter way to show off your loved ones.

This would be the Excalibur Electronic Executive Touch Solitaire from Macy’s.com. What this would not be is me suggesting that any of you take it to work. You leave it at home, no matter how badly it wants to go with you to the office. Sometimes, as the adult, you just have to be strong.

Solitaire is such an addictive game - I play it, without fail, everyday on the computer. I play until I win - but if I win too soon (which is the case because I’m that damngood) I play until I win again. If it’s been an unbelievably stoooopid day, I play until my eyes get so juggled that Jay Z starts to look like Jamie Foxx.

Of course, if you were to buy the Excalibur Electronic Executive Touch Solitaire, you’d have to fight the temptation to take it with you to the office. That just….well…it just wouldn’t be right.

What? Did you think I’d suggest you keep it in your drawer for those times that the boss (or if you ARE the boss, your secretary) is out of the office. Did you think I’d tell you something like “All work and no play makes blog reader a dull boy/girl.”?

I guess I could point out how stress-relieving and calming it is to play a handheld game such as this one. How it helps things to come back into focus, allowing you to see more clearly that which was getting dirt water cloudy. Well, that’s all true, of course. But you can’t take toys with you to the office. Gee Wally, if you do that, the next thing you know, you’ll be surfing the web on company time - going from one celebrity blog to the next…leaving a trail of bald Britneys behind you.

So, it stays home, right?

From the website:
Take solitaire on the road without having to play 52-card pickup in the process. This electronic solitaire game displays everything you need to play on a large touch-screen display. Just grab the included stylus, move cards across the screen and work your way towards sweet victory.

To make it all the sweeter, it’s only $19.98! That practically makes it a must have for taking to the office, to your in-laws for dinner, on long summer trips, etc. Talk about Fun on the Run.

And The Superficial is my favorite. Celebrity blog, that is.

The Golf Pad and Pen Desk Set, above, might be just the thing to get some of you golfers through the off season. Keep your spirits up and remind you that the ground will eventually thaw out. Heck, it might even motivate you to stay in shape.

This Set includes paper holder with 100 memo sheets and an antique brass plated golf ball and pen set. It’s under $20 at GolfBalls.com. The website has an amazing number of crazy cool things - the sort of things that could, would, and should make perfect Christmas gifts.

I’m not a golfer - not off of the miniature circuit anyway - but I did see something kind of cool. They have a Hot Biscuits Ball Warmer (Pro Shop > Accessories > Misc Items > Ball Warmer) for you brave men and women who play in the cooler weather. It says that it’s “a new and exciting performance accessory that can extend your drive distances by over 10% and even up to 16% on cold days below 40F.” But, according to a comment left as a review, you can’t use the ball heater if you’re playing for money. If you’re kicking around with your friends, sure…but if you’re playing for gold, your balls had better be cold.