A Planner For 2013

We're all pretty pre-occupied with the holidays right about now, but don't forget that the new year is looming on the horizon. 2012 is just about in the books already, and that means you need to think about 2013. Once the ball drops, your life resumes as usual, and that means you'll still need to keep track of it. You don't want to flip your calendar on January 1 only to find a chipboard backing or a friendly reminder to buy a replacement. You need to be ready!

Calendar Buying Guide

If you already have a planner and just need to refill it, consider this that friendly reminder in advance. Manufacturers stop making new appointment book refills for a given year soon after that year begins. It's important to make sure you're taken care of for 2013. For those looking for a new planner or calendar, there are several things to think about before purchasing.

The first thing to determine is whether you want a calendar, appointment book, or organizer. Calendars tend to be stationary, sitting on your desk or mounted to the wall. Appointment books and organizers are both designed to be carried around, with organizers including additional features like a zipper enclosure, address book, scratch pad, pocket, business card slot or even a calculator. Organizers are also more likely to be refillable than appointment books.

The next thing to think about is how detailed your schedule needs to be. If you plan your day in fifteen minute increments, or need to add additional information to hourly appointments, buy a daily appointment book or desk calendar. Weekly planners still allow some space to list daily appointments and are considerably less expensive. Monthly planners only give you a small box per day, but allow you to view a whole month at a time.

That's the third thing to consider: do you take things day by day or do you like to have the whole week or month in front of you? If you've opted for a calendar, going daily gives you the satisfaction of tearing off or turning a page every day, while a desk pad livens up a workstation, giving you space to plan every day while viewing an entire month at a time.

 

Plans by Day, Views by Month, Keeps at Desk, Likes Kitties

Office Chairs with Free Returns

Buying office furniture can be fraught with tough decisions. Do you purchase more expensive higher quality furniture that will last longer? Do you purchase cheaper furniture that will need replacing sooner? Do you buy online to save money or in a store so you can sample the product?

DiscountOfficeItems.com has solved all your chair buying problems by allowing free return shipping on select office chairs for a limited time. This is your chance to shop for chairs online with no risk! If your chair isn't as comfortable as you would have liked, you can send it back at no charge.

Rather than saving money online, many people shop for office furniture at big box stores only because they can sit in the chairs and get a feel for them before buying (sadly, racing chairs down the aisles is frowned upon at most retailers). Now you have a way to take advantage of online savings without having to worry about being saddled with an uncomfortable saddle.

The six qualifying chairs represent a variety of products from Basyx, from an Executive Leather Chair to a Mid-Back Work Chair with a Mesh Seating to a Guest Chair. Basyx is a division of Hon Furniture, offering the same Hon quality at lower prices. One of these chairs could very well be the one for you. If so, you'd better make sure to get it ordered. If not, the free return shipping means no harm done.

Update! The free returns policy now applies to all chairs!

Holiday Planning

Yes, it's November already. Yes, you have to start thinking about it. No, you shouldn't wait. The holiday season is approaching and you have to be ready for it.

You don't have to have gifts purchased for everybody on your list yet (although if you are looking, check out this selection of printers, digital cameras and mp3 player accessories), and you should definitely wait before you start blasting the Christmas music, but there are things you can do now to be prepared for the impending festivities.

Time To Get Reacquainted

DiscountOfficeItems.com has created a holiday headquarters covering all of your seasonal needs. You'll find everything you need to package presents and cards such as tape, boxes, envelopes and labels. Make sure you're not caught without when it comes time to get that parcel in the mail. If you're planning a party for your office or your friends, you'll need enough plates, plastic cups, napkins and other party supplies to properly celebrate.

If your office is doing a Secret Santa exchange, do you need something for that special somebody that you vaguely recall seeing in the breakroom once? Check this page for cheap gift ideas that will still put a smile on someone's face.

I Hope Amy in Returns Doesn't Read This Blog

Of course, DiscountOfficeItems.com will be rolling out some amazing Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals in two weeks. In the meantime, every week leading up to the big days, there will be big savings on different products to keep the spirit going.

How to Create Personal Space in an Open Office

Design by Julio Radesca de Carvalhom – via inhabitat.com

If you work for one of a growing number of companies that have adopted an open office environment, someone nearby may be reading this blog post right now over your shoulder. That's not such a bad thing, but you may feel differently about your neighbor's glances when you work with sensitive information, or when you'd prefer to work without your performance being monitored. And if you're also someone who is easily distracted by chatter, music, or ringing phones, you're probably more challenged at times existing in your open office than performing your job.

Even extroverted individuals who love an open office need quiet, solitary moments on occasion – and not just in the restroom. Below are some suggestions for how open office inhabitants can attain a comfortable amount of privacy without resorting to eye poking or phone smashing.

• Bring in plants. Place greenery on a variety of levels to create barriers, and enjoy some privacy without blocking out your coworkers entirely. Large plant containers can also provide some privacy.
• Hang curtains or screens. Consider using transparent materials so light can pass through, and feel free to open and close these decorative blockades as needed.
• Install room dividers. Panels come in a variety of heights, so walls don't have to seal you off from the rest of the room, and you can arrange individual panels into cubicles or something more area specific.
• Arrange desks strategically. Bring together the best Tetris players in the office and have them figure out desk arrangements that make it harder for coworkers to stare at each other, while maintaining an open office setting.
• Wear headphones. Your ears will sustain privacy from onlookers, but most importantly, you'll drown out distracting noises with your favorite music or sounds of ocean waves crashing on a Caribbean shoreline – whichever works best for you.
• Add filters onto monitors. Privacy filters help protect sensitive information from being viewed on computer screens by unauthorized gazers.
• Designate private workspaces. If your office still has a spare room where privacy seekers can temporarily relocate, establish that space as a leave-­me-­alone zone, and enforce rules that protect employee privacy.

So, there you have it. Feel free to turn around now and discuss these ideas with your neighbor so you can both come to an agreement about how to best create privacy – quickly. Do you already have some ideas for creating privacy in the office that you've successfully implemented? Please share your ideas with the rest of us!

Prepare for Back To School Preparation

Now that the 4th of July has officially come and gone it is time to get ready for the next big holiday, Labor Day.

Most adults love Labor Day. It is one of those great holidays in the US that almost all employers (except retail and food-service) treat as a holiday, so the hardware store is open and all the kids are getting butterflies in their stomach because of the impending math homework. This creates a perfect environment for getting things done. If you ever see a kid looking like they are having too much fun on Labor Day just find a Back To School Supplies List and wave it in their face. That face will turn a whiter-shade-of-pale in no time.

If you have any student going to Grade School you might not be able to pull off instilling the fear of God in their little hearts with the threat of school if they like to hang out with other little kids and eat paste. Once they get to 5th or 6th grade you should be able to work them a little harder. They'll have to do some math and memorize geography. Kids always hate that.

Back to school for kids in High School is probably the worst for everybody. The social cliques are the most defined they will ever be and expectations from Teachers and Parents are at all time high. If you are attempting to get your kids under control on Labor Day just remind them that first impressions are everything and that they need to pull off decent grades in High School if they are going to do anything positive with their life. If that doesn't get the Back to school butterflies in the stomach a fluttering I don't know what will.

If you have a College Student preparing for back to school and you want them out of your hair, just tell them that. They are probably a legal adult and you don't have any legal reason to keep them around any more.  You can remind them of that. You might feel obliged to buy some College and Dorm Supplies for them, but don't go overboard. College kids aren't going listen to anything you tell them, class attendance just became optional.

My personal favorite crowd to remind about back to school is the teachers.  I've never met a teacher who didn't put off projects until the summer when they would have free time and didn't plan well enough to get them done. So of course they won't have though about what back to school supplies they'll need for the classroom. They'll want to hang out and BBQ like the rest of the adults, but they can't enjoy themselves because they know they'll be under the same pressure as the kids in a matter of hours.

It is one of the few seasons that those of us 9 to 5 working stiffs really have it made. Unrelated, if you are one of those people who like to attempt to impress your friends with worthless knowledge you should learn the difference between Labor Day and Labour Day and celebrate both.

Staplers: Commonplace or Uncommonly Cool?

When you ask people about office supplies they'll usually talk about pens, post-its, and staplers. Everybody has their own take on pens and what qualities they value most. Conversations on post-its, or adhesive notes if you prefer, usually center about the color, regular vs. accordion fold, and brand name vs. generic. Ask somebody about their stapler and you'll usually get a blank stare.

...or a blank stare from your stapler.

With the exception of people who have gone out of their way to find a red Swingline stapler or have an electric stapler most people just have whatever is in their desk. Not everybody has a need for a Commercial Grade Stapler all the time, but maybe it is time to appreciate staplers and give them their just deserts (not desserts, sorry).

I'm not too proud to say that the stapler I keep at work is nothing more than the lowly Swingline 545 Economy Model (technically it's a 545xx, but that's a story for another day). When it is time to buy staplers I'm still of the mind that you should go for an all metal stapler. It is priced competitively to similar plastic model, although it is less ergonomic.

Brand Spirit

Recently, a Tumblr blog was setup as Brand Spirit where 100 objects were spray painted white and photographed so that people could compare how easily certain objects were identified when they lack all form of identification.  They do have a stapler that they label as a prime form of the Swingline brand.  I'm not sold though. Swingline has been building their 747 model, the classic stapler so classic they actually call it the Swingline 747 Classic Stapler.

A True Classic

Look at the silhouette of the Brand Spirit Swingline and the 747 Swingline and tell me which is the most "classic." I'm no expert, but the actual, unpainted, Swingline feels like the prime example of 50s function over form.  The Brand Spirit Swingline has the sloping back-end that might as well be painted avocado green to me. This could be a case of reinventing a product so it appears older and more classic than it actually it, so feel free to leave a comment and prove me wrong.

Jetstream Premier by Uni-Ball

If there's one thing I'm pretty good at it's judging. Some of my friends have even told me to put away my judging finger. I guess my ability to make snap judgments, even when they are wrong, leads my interest in Judge Dredd and the Pope. Even if they make a decision that ends up being wrong... too bad, it was correct at the time.

Speaking of him (Judge Dredd, not the Pope), have you seen the trailer for the new Judge Dredd movie? For some reason they have left "Judge" out of the title. That doesn't make any sense it's like leaving "Warlord of Mars" off the title of a storied science fiction franchise.

That's not the point though. The point is I like to make snap judgments. One of the things I like to judge quickly are pens. If a pen feels light or has more girth than it needs I'm pretty quick to push it aside as an also ran. If you recall, the weight of the pen was featured heavily in my review of the InkJoy pen series. So when a Jetstream Premier from Uni-Ball crossed my desk the other day, I ripped open the packaging, dropped the pen in my pen cup and went about the rest of my day-to-day business. When I had a few moments to think, I went back and picked up the Uni-Ball Jetstream and it didn't pass my completely subjective size-to-weight ratio test (not a good sign). In the interest of fairness to the people at Uni-Ball I thought I'd give it a quick test run and see just how poorly it compared. I clicked the clicker and HOLY CUSS!

Uni-Ball Jetstream Premier Rollerball Pen

Much to my shock, the pen has an almost silent click. I don't know if you've ever sat in on a meeting with a obsessive-compulsive-pen-clicker and an anti-pen-click-stick-in-the-mud but the fireworks fly. This pen could potentially solve all the pen click-related problems that have been keeping the United Nations from actually making progress toward ending famine and getting Bono's plan for world peace off the ground.

I was sure that the silent click of the pen was just a gimmick and that it would be a standard ballpoint pen, but I was wrong again. The black ink from the Uni-Ball Jetstream surpassed the much loved InkJoy. The lines were smoother and darker. It had me intrigued... what else is there to know about this pen?

I went to Uni-Ball's page, since I had thrown away the packaging, to see what they had to say about their pen. They identified the silent action and smooth ink, but also touted its quick drying ink. As a right-handed person who writes small I rarely run into the problem with smearing ink when a portion has yet to properly dry. So I had to setup a test to give it a run through. I'll draw a circle with my right hand and immediately drag my left pointer finger through it to see how it smears. True to their word the Uni-Ball Jetstream Premier does dry faster than the competition. The difference between the Jestream and the InkJoy was almost negligible, but I'm sure it makes a difference to somebody. Just for the sake of argument I performed the same test with a Gel pen and they just got ink all over my finger.

Is the Uni-Ball Jetstream a nice pen? Most definitely.
Is the Uni-Ball Jetstream worth the premium price? Maybe if you are left handed or are a compulsive pen clicker, but not to me.