Deskish

When all else, fails, do something completely random: Here is a list of crap I have on my desk, right now. Without cleaning up first. By zone, moving generally front to back...

On the left edge:
- A tupperware bowl that I use for breakfast and afternoon snacks like soup or popcorn (I hate eating popcorn out of the bag). It usually contains my spoon and fork, but since I just finished breakfast a few minutes ago, I haven't cleaned up yet.
- A box of kleenex.
- A 4-tier letter tray. The top tier has some long-term projects in it; the second one down has a couple of folders that I use for some of my secondary work functions; the third one has a few notepads and copies of my security application paperwork; and the bottom has some more notepads, notes for various story ideas that never went anywhere, a broken watch, and an old class schedule for the YMCA.
- On the far left corner that I can't reach without standing up, an outbox, currently filled to overflowing with folders that I really ought to take back to the filing room and file.

In the middle - left side:
- Some hair bidgies that I keep around for when I go to the gym.
- My iPhone.
- A fork.
- A couple of stickynote pads.
- Two paper towels that I got at breakfast and which will sit there until I use them to wipe my fingers after I have my oranges for afternoon snack.
- A mostly empty pack of gum.
- A roll of correction tape.
- A red pen and an orange highlighter, both of which I use on a near-daily basis.
- A hair clip and a barrette which I keep around for those days when my hair is making me batshit crazy and I need it out of my face.
- My laptop, in its dock.
- A desk lamp that only gets turned on when Penny is here.
- My badly-designed "binary" clock.

In the middle -- middle area:
- My mug of tea.
- A pad of normal-sized notepaper.
- A printout of instructions for the 200 sit-up challenge.
- A listing of open bugs from our database. It's been marked up (with red pen and orange highlighter) so I know who to bug about the ones that really shouldn't be open anymore.
- Some stickers from gmail.
- A loose kleenex (I hate when you have a new or old box and multiples pull out at once.)
- Two miniature pirate ships. (The "La Manila" and the "Persian Victory," if it matters.)
- My computer monitor. Taped to the bottom of the monitor are two hearts. One was cut out by Penny and is colored in with purple highlighter. The other was from a pad of heart-shaped paper, but Penny wrote "LOV MOMMY" on it.
- A mug that I inherited from the person who had my job before me that is filled with an assortment of pens, pencils, and highlighters of various colors. I use the highlighters fairly regularly; the other items, almost never.

In the middle - right side:
- Some more sticky notes of various sizes.
- A black ink pen that was a freebie from my chiropractor's office. My office does actually supply black ink pens, but they're really crappy quality by comparison.
- A spoon.
- My iPod. It's plugged into some speakers, and one end of its charge cable is on top of it.
- A printout of an email from our test lead that I'm supposed to mark up and stick into a folder somewhere for future reference.
- A small stack of documents that represent a long-term project.
- My phone. It's not easy to reach if I have the keyboard tray pulled out of my desk, and I used to have it in a more convenient spot, but it turned out I needed easy access to the printer more often than the phone. I have to push the keyboard tray back under the desk to answer the phone, but as I'm not on the phone a lot (except for conference calls, for which I close the door and use the speakerphone), it's not that big a deal.
- I think there's a couple of power bricks behind the phone, but I can't see them without standing up and going around to look.

On the right edge:
- My printer. Taped to the printer are some pictures Penny drew and cut out for me (our family -- me, her, Alex, Matt, and Ziggy), a medical appointment reminder card, a business card for my favorite massage therapist, and a couple of pieces of paper with the home/cell numbers of people I sometimes need to reach.
- The speakers for my iPod. I hate wearing earbuds, and am very grateful to have a private office.
- The inbox for my CM paperwork. Currently there are two folders in there that I ought to get to eventually.
- A power strip that I brought from home because my office only has two reachable wall outlets, and one of them is on the far side of the room. The other end of the iPod charger is plugged into this, as well as various other office equipment.

...Man, I have a lot of crap.