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.

DiscountOfficeItems.com Racing

Any racing fans here? If so, you'll have something to watch for at Sunday's Toyota/Save Mart 350. If not, you now have a reason to tune in as DiscountOfficeItems.com will be a featured sponsor on one of the cars! We haven't been this excited about auto racing since Sharpie stopped sponsoring the race in Bristol.

Remembering The Good Old Days

Thanks to 3M, DiscountOfficeItems.com will be riding with Greg Biffle in the #16 3M Ford at the Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, California. True to the mascot, the logo will be near the trunk.

For anybody jumping into the sport, here's a quick primer- DiscountOfficeItems.com is particularly excited to be sponsoring Greg Biffle's car as he's one of the fastest-rising drivers in the NASCAR Sprint Cup. Biffle is currently in third place in the point standings with one win and eight top-five finishes. If you're skeptical about the prospect of watching cars drive in a circle for three hours, you're in luck: it's a road course!

Infineon Raceway Layout

Yes, this will require drivers to turn right and yes, they can handle it.

To celebrate, DiscountOfficeItems.com is offering 16% off 3M products from now through June 28. This is a great opportunity to replenish your supply of Scotch Tape, add a dry erase board to your office, or load up on Post-It Notes for communication, art or political reasons.

Head here to take advantage of the promotional offer and make sure to tune in on Sunday!

Comic Books and Furniture and Stuff

Have you seen The Avengers movie? It is so hot right now it could fry an egg on the sidewalk. Some people might think that it would be a boon to local comic book shops, but oddly enough, no. I have heard that many comic book shops are selling out of Infinity Gauntlet books though (if you don't know, don't ask). Anybody who thought that this movie might spur on the comic book frenzy of the mid 90's was sadly mistaken. All the comic geeks out there will still have to explain who The Badger and The Tick are to the non geeks. Feel free to share your jokes about the Ottoman Empress and the Ottoman Empire with me because nobody else will get them.

It's funny because an Ottoman is a piece of furniture.

If you are lucky you might be able to engage in a conversation about how the movie adaption of the Avengers isn't exactly the same as the comic book Avengers or the comic book Ultimates, but finding a middle ground that tends more towards the old Jack Kirby and Stan Lee adventures.

You could also attempt to engage those more economically minded with a conversation about the estimated $160 billion worth of damage the alien invaders would have caused to Manhattan. You could talk to people about the implications this has on the Marvel Universe and how it doesn't matter to Bruce Wayne because he lives in Gotham which is like New York but it exists in a different universe. Maybe you'll want to talk about Damage Control if you just want to prove your chops in annals of fandom.

But what about the human face on all that destruction? Those poor people will need to rebuild their homes and offices from a veritably pile of rubble. From what I remember it was mostly high rise office buildings that were getting thrashed by the Chitauri which means somebody is going to need a whole lot of new furniture for their office.

Luckily, DiscountOfficeItems.com is having a super powered sale on furniture.  You knew I couldn't keep up with all that comic book talk for too long did you?  This is an office supplies blog after all. You have probably all purchased office supplies online before but you've probably never thought about buying office furniture there as well. Let me drop some science on you my friend, it's more affordable than you think. When you can find bargains on furniture like this you'll easily be saving scads of money.

Discount Furniture Sale - No Coupon Neccesary 

Yes, when you buy something like a desk or a chair online you might end up paying a bit more for shipping than if you picked up that same item at a big box retailer, but you'll save money on those products in the long run. Plus, they will be delivered to your building and nobody has to bother with trying to figure out how to haul a desk in the trunk of a Prius or carry it on the train and/or bus.

So when you are recovering from the next super villain attack and on a budget (assuming Tony Stark isn't fronting all the cash for your operation), don't forget to price out your furniture online. You'll save time and money over looking elsewhere for the same product.

How To Not Touch Touchscreens

Since the advent of the LCD screen, one of the traditional commandments has always been never to touch the surface. Contact with the screen can distort images, ruin pixels and wear out a pristine monitor quickly. This still applies to standard desktop and laptop monitors, so if you like to take the hands-on approach in your computing affairs, stop reading and get a screen protector pronto.

As we proceed into the age of smartphones and touchpads, those of us used to the “no touching” rule find ourselves in a foreign, backwards world where touching the screen is not only acceptable, it appears to be necessary to use the device. All the new toys use capacitive screens, which require something conductive in order to work... such as a human finger. It's madness, I tell you.

Capacitive screens are protected from the aforementioned dangers, of course, but that doesn't mean it's always pleasant to use fingers to touch them. Screen smudging is an issue, fingers may not always be clean and jobs may demand a stylus for better accuracy. Most PDA styli don't work since they aren't conductive. It's a problem that had gotten so bad that folks in South Korea started using sausages once they discovered, through what had to be some fantastic trial & error experimentation, that they somehow worked. Thankfully, Targus has a conductive stylus on the market now.

Targus Conductive Stylus

Making a conductive stylus is more complex, so they aren't cheap and only recommended for those who either need the accuracy of a stylus or dislike sausage.

3M Screen Protector Film

If you're only worried about screen smudging or just can't stand the thought of making direct contact with an LCD screen, try 3M's Screen Protector Film. It can be cut to the size of your phone and reduces smudging while keeping the device fully functional. You can feel better touching this with your fingers or, if you still prefer, your favorite encased meat.

Whiteboard Tower Defense

It was recently brought to my attention that an artist/game developer was bringing his own unique brand of physical gaming into the world.  Rather that just create a project and move on he decided to start a Kickstarter campaign to try and get this project moving a little faster (if he could turn a profit, I'm sure nobody would be crying).

Doodle Defense

If you've ever played a Tower Defense game you get the general scheme of things here.  Create a path, setup towers, enemies approach your defense system and wipe you out as they exit the screen. Doodle Defense takes the tried and true formula and just changes the medium you play it in.  Rather than using your fingers or a mouse you use dry erase markers on a whiteboard. If you are interested in the tech that powers this game, good on you, it isn't very interesting.

The demonstration videos and photos aren't very clear or useful, but here's what I could glean from it. You have to use a red, blue, green, and black marker so you'll have to make sure you have a package of all four color dry erase markers.  I saw that at least two different types of markers were used, both Quartet dry erase markers and Sanford Expo dry erase markers.  I couldn't tell what kind of whiteboards were used.  I couldn't see the brand or attempt to divine the size of the boards.  I assume it'll all depend on how close you keep your projector to the board.  The source code for the game is available if you want to try to build your own rig, but that's too much effort for me.

So I just went looking to see if any other whiteboard games were available and found Whiteboard Tower Defense.

This is really just a standard Tower Defense game and the only reason that "whiteboard" is in the name is to excuse the poor art quality in my opinion.  You can see in the screenshot that somebody took a photo of the whiteboard in their office and used that as the backdrop for the game.  They even left the Quartet logo in place on this game's backdrop so you know they have a Quartet whiteboard.

I doubt that Quartet officially sanctioned this game, but whatever.  That's for the lawyers to fight about.