Top 10 weird things on your desk ATM....

dalecosp

Another regular and I were chatting on [url=irc://chat.freenode.net/#phpbuilder]PHPBuilder IRC[/url] (which you can read more about here) and, as a result, we have a kewl new thread idea.

What are the top 10 weird things on your desk at the moment?

For example, ATM, I have on my desk:

A child's mitten.
A dynamic microphone.
A flattened, empty tube of superglue.
A peroxide bottle containing "hawthorn extract", given to me by another geek, which was given to him by some mountain man who claims that it's better than Tylenol, Sudafed and Viagra all rolled into one.
Microsoft BackOffice SBS 4.5 CD, center taped over to act as a coaster.
An unknown quantity of computer case screws.
Just about every part needed to build a working computer system except case, cables, and motherboard (none of which are there for that reason).
"Guide to Self-Employment", Robert L. Perry, (New York: Franklin Watts, 1989).
dead laptop battery
Ignition module for a 1992 model Ford Taurus

, and much, much more.

Now, I realize not everyone's a pack rat, or as disorganized as I am. You may not even be able to list 10 things on your desk, much less 10 kinda oddball ones. But, why not try?

Drakla

one of those super compressed flannels that expand in the bath in the shape of Homer Simpson... and a tiny teapot full of vodka. Only I didn't realise this was odd until you came along.

Elizabeth

Cell Phone
Empty Diet Coke Can
Play-Doh (who doesn't?)
A stack of CD's
A Screwdriver
Almost empty bag of cashews
Pink Bubblegum lipgloss
Work "stuff"
Pringles can lid
Bottle of Children's Tylenol

Wow, I'm disorganized too 🙂

dalecosp

OK; need measurements on your stack (of CD's, I mean) 😉 😃

[edit]I've a stack of "various floppy diskettes" that's 2.5 inches high.[/edit]

dartcol

Nothing strange just a bit of a mess but the strangest thing is a miniature brass statuette of siva. The most important is of course the can of Bass Premium Ale, especially at this time on a Friday night - yes, I really am that boring! (actually just saving the pennies - American Idol is entertaining enough ... for all the wrong reasons)

bubblenut

I'm in bed at the moment, but on my bed (and on the floor beside) I have a bowl with a spoon in some clothes, the remains of a bottle of wine and a glass, a copy of Linux Format and a book on writing good use cases.

dartcol

Erm, Bubblenut, aren't your clothes getting a bit messy with all that soup?

[Edit: remind me to read the post properly next time - soup-spoon - you know they sound the same! 🙂 ]

dream_scape

Here is my list of oddities.

A Motorola screen wipe (came with the RAZR), an odd item in itself. But good thing they included it, as the RAZR requires 2 parts screen cleaning to 1 part use.
A dusting rag, old and dirty.
1 Christmas tin, empty.
An out of service cell phone.
A stylish, but empty fruit bowl.
An unhooked nearfield studio monitor (its mate is sitting in a box on the floor).
An Amazon.com packaging slip for someone else's order (on the other side of the country).
A Chinese scroll.
7 copies of Black & White for Macintosh.
A large coat button in a tiny zip lock bag.

goldbug

Normally my desk(s) are usually as empty as I can make them....
At work top 10 "odd":
1. 3" high stack of napkins from Chipotle.
2. My whiteboard (odd because it's lying (angled) on my desk, not above, near it.

....and that's it; I'm really that tidy. ...unless you want to start counting the stuff I've got pinned to my cube walls (Kaba Kick, hilarious chop-stick instructions, etc...)

At home:
1. Small plate w/ pile of shells from Chile&Lemon flavored Pistachios
2. A bottle of Resolve (thanks to the cat)
3. PowerPuff Girls mouse pad
4. My work ID (really, it's got a photo, so that automatically qualifies it.)

...and that's good enough to remind me that I need to clean my desk. 😃

Weedpacket

I don't have ten weird things on my desk. At least I don't reckon they're weird. I just have things on my desk. Whether they're weird or not is somone else's opinion.

A computer, with keyboard, monitor, optical mouse, and two speakers (or is that six things?)
a piece of cardboard (for the mouse)
cabling for the above and other items not on the desk
an ink cartridge for a printer I do not possess
a fossilised booklet of post-it notes.
three watch batteries from a ballpoint pen
a fly button
a pair of sunglasses
a photograph of a dead cat (in frame)
two insurance worries
two glow-in-the-dark garden pebbles
a busted hardrive
a power distribution board w/ surge protector (in use)
a power point double adapter (not in use)
miscellaneous dust particles and coffee rings; the hairs are mine 🙁....
...except for one long (35cm) black one which I don't recognise off-hand
a 38cm ruler with scales in inches, cm, 10pt and 12pt.
a shirt label (horrible back-of-the-neck scratchy thing) - hah, not any more
a small (50mL) bottle of isopropyl alcohol (reminds me to get it back in the fridge)
and there's security transponder peeled out of an old library book and stuck to the front

And of course who knows how many things that aren't visible to the naked eye. And it's not counting the lid of the school desk I ripped off on my last day of high school as a souvenir. But I'm not inclined to rummage around on that to see what it's supporting. It's supported by the top drawer.

Looking around me at the moment, I realise that right now this room possesses no horizontal surfaces that aren't loaded to capacity with supporting stuff.

jazz_snob

Last week I had junk on the desk and floor. Now its all business :- (

I have 3 keyboards and 3 monitors (linux, os X, windoze 2000) out of necessity. The only interesting bit is my PDA: it became the victim of 'working in haste' and as a result was squashed by 80 lbs of IBM CRT. I assume the PDA's death quick and painless.

dalecosp

bubblenut wrote:
I'm in bed at the moment

Ahh, so you do that, too.

Of course, you're single (m/l), so that's probably perfectly normal. I really need to cogitate why I'm married and lie around posting in the EL || IRC'd into #phpbuilder @ freenode when I'm in bed (and oft when she is, too).

OTOH, it could be better than some other possibilities....

dalecosp

Weedpacket wrote:
I don't have ten weird things on my desk. At least I don't reckon they're weird. I just have things on my desk. Whether they're weird or not is somone else's opinion.

<snip>

And of course who knows how many things that aren't visible to the naked eye. And it's not counting the lid of the school desk I ripped off on my last day of high school as a souvenir. But I'm not inclined to rummage around on that to see what it's supporting. It's supported by the top drawer.

Looking around me at the moment, I realise that right now this room possesses no horizontal surfaces that aren't loaded to capacity with supporting stuff.

So, the list of 20 items is twenty visible items, chosen either at random, in order of descending area measurement, or order of interest?

Just trying to figure: if you've only twenty items on your desk, you might border on the "slightly an*l" thingy above, but if that's just the top layer, then you're more like me in this respect.

I started cleaning up when Elizabeth and I were discussing this what, y-day afternoon (18 hours ago?) and am not really much closer to "being there" than when I started ... though I did have a fun hour sorting screws into a desk tray.... 😃

rikmoncur

just the usual detritus on my desk but there are 3 rubber ducks - one with a crocodile clip sticking out of its head.

vaaaska

"Weird" Things On My Desk (right now):

Dell 19" monitor
Generically packaged can that says 'Ethnic Food'
A tiny screwdriver
New business cards that don't have my name or any info printed on them
60's stype plastic clock that has never worked (since I've owned it)
Large stack of cd's...from the past 2 years that I don't think I've ever looked at (but I've moved them - how do they keep coming back?!)
Flyers, handbills and promo items from just about every event in town + odd scraps of paper that I have found interesting.
Large stack of stickers that promote different kinds of #1'ness (if I print a shirt for you, you might get one of these)
Random cables
Paper samples (yeah!)
My name cut out of plastic and attached to my monitor that sort of looks like it might be a tiarra

With the exception of #1...probably rather normal stuff...

😉

piersk

Playing cards
Tube of pringles (mmm munchies)
4 x espresso cups and saucers (unused... I've just unwrapped them)
Mickey Mouse ears
A fluffy bug
A stress-toy pig
Honey
box of tunes (menthol sweets to clear my nose)
shot glasses
miniture of moet

madwormer2

Wallet
4 remote controls, one of which I still can't figure out what it's for
About 5 pens, and 10 pencils.
A few keys...
Postit notes
A photo of me on Colossus - Thorpe Park
BF2
Homework...
After shave
Oyster card

As for the rest of the stuff, that's on the floor...

3 sets of headphones
2 PS2 controllers, 2 Xbox controller, and a PS1 controller
XBL headset
Tons of paper and homework and whatnot
Four bags with varying contents
A PC tablet
And a load of school books.

Now, you wouldn't believe me if I told you what was on the ceiling

dalecosp

madwormer2 wrote:
3. About 5 pens, and 10 pencils.

OK --- but, in a container, or not???

😃

Weedpacket

dalecosp wrote:
So, the list of 20 items is twenty visible items, chosen either at random, in order of descending area measurement, or order of interest?

By mental association.

Just trying to figure: if you've only twenty items on your desk, you might border on the "slightly an*l" thingy above, but if that's just the top layer, then you're more like me in this respect.

Yes and no; that's only what's on the desk per se, it doesn't count things on the cantilevered school desk (e.g., desk fan and a bank book for an account I closed in 1995), the shelf above the desk (e.g., small carved bull and home-made clay sculpture), the shelf behind the desk (e.g., small black rock and pocketwatch), the bookshelves (which double as desk space, hence the scanner and tin of dry pens), the floor....

I started cleaning up when Elizabeth and I were discussing this what, y-day afternoon (18 hours ago?) and am not really much closer to "being there" than when I started ... though I did have a fun hour sorting screws into a desk tray.... 😃

Ah; what I found useful last time I embarked on this was a nice big swap partition. Pick another room, move everything into that, and then move it all back again.

Elizabeth

Usually my organizing consists of throwing everything in a big box, and then if I need it, I know where to find it- and if I don't, after a period of time I figure I can safely throw it away. The problem is I never have time to go back and sort out my boxes of "stuff" so I have those everywhere.