Trick or Treat! There are so many things to celebrate with regard to Halloween at the office… eating candy, dressing up in ridiculous costumes, and of course, scaring your co-workers! The first things that comes to mind when decorating your cube for Halloween are mini-pumpkins, faux spider webs, plastic candy cauldrons, and of course lots of orange and black. Or you could go with a theme, for example, if you and your fellow cube-mates were dressing as the Wizard of the Oz, why not make your adjacent cubicles into a mini-Oz city. Martha Stewart offers a Halloween decorating slide show which can easily be adapted for your office or cube on a smaller scale (tip: use an LED light to safely create the effect of a burning candle). Also, be sure to bring in treats, have an office costume contest, or a scariest cube decorating contesting. Remember, the more effort you put into Halloween, the more fun everyone will have! Happy Haunting!
For creative, cost-conscious, and nimble-fingered folks desk accessories can be created using the Japanese art of origami. The best part of creating your own origami desk accessories is that they are easily customizable depending on the color, size, pattern, and texture of paper you select. Now you can create cute paper clip boxes and adorable pencil boxes for the price of paper… and hopefully minimal blood, sweat, and tears (watch out for paper cuts!!). Visit the Origami Resource Center for directions on how to construct up to 50 different types of boxes. From the “Fancy Box” to the “Star Box” you’re sure to find a box to suit your tastes. Happy Paper Folding!
There’s no easier way to communicate, “While I may be in a cubicle now, I’ll soon be in the corner office” than by adorning your cube with well-engineered, sleek, stainless steel desk accessories. The leading designer in the stainless steel craftmanship is none other than a German company called SKS Design and the line is called Blomus. Each Blomus designed piece appears to be a modern piece of art and is designed with a simplistic, yet functional flair. While the line is a bit pricey (we’re talking in the range of a $55 stapler), it may be worth the price for the type of statement you’ll be making around the office. Now your only problem will be vying with your tape dispenser for your coworker’s attention.
Setting up your desk so that it is ergonomically correct will help resolve life’s complex questions such as: is my pounding headache caused from happy hour last night or from the annoying angle of my neck as I stare at this mindless spreadsheet on my computer? All kidding aside, desktop ergonomics has become a huge industry over the last few years with large companies hiring private consultants to evaluate worksite setups and has generated such buzzwords as “neutral body positioning” a.k.a. “a comfortable working posture in which your joints are naturally aligned.” Making a few adjustments to how your cube is setup can improve the quality of your life on a daily basis. As such, we turn to the real ergonomic experts “OSHA” (or the long-winded version: US Department of Labor - Occupational Safety & Health Administration) for the following tips on how to produce an ergonomically correct workstation:
* Your head should be in-line with the torso and approximately 20-4o inches from your monitor. The top of the monitor should be at or slightly below (15-20 degrees) eye level.
* Your shoulders should be relaxed with your upper arms hanging comfortably at the side of your body. Your elbows should be close to your body and bent between 90 and 120 degrees. Your hands, wrists, and forearms should all be straight, in-line and roughly parallel to the floor. Consider a wrist pad if your wrists tend to bend while you type.
Switching jobs, one inevitably finds a new cube which has been hapazardly deserted by its previous occupant– complete with stray pen marks on the desk, dust in the corners, and crumbs in the drawers. In addition, there are the horror stories about desk tops having more bacteria than your average public toilet seat at almost 21,000 germs per square inch! In order to transform your cube to create a somewhat sanitary environment look to the following products:
Mrs. Meyers Countertop Spray - an all natural product made of essential biodegradable substances that won’t leave your entire office gagging on the toxic fumes emanating from your cube. Also, a similar product that is available at your local Target store is called Cleannote.
Mr. Clean Magic Eraser - A sponge-like cleaning product that will dissolve any hard to clean stray marks with minimal rubbing. Unfortunately you won’t be getting Mr. Clean’s muscley arms anytime soon with this wimp-friendly product.
Swiffer Sheets - A great dust gather and crumb picker-upper, that you should use at least once a week, plus once you’re finished they’re fun to look at to see how dirty your desk was… it actually makes you feel like you accomplished something for the day!
