MadMode

Dan Connolly's tinkering lab notebook

My own bit of office space... come join the fun?

The cube I work in is pretty typical, I guess, but I'm going through a bit of culture shock after 13 years of working out of an office in my home. Look what my wife got me to celebrate the transition:


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How thoughtful... she confirmed that this is the exact model that Milton valued more than his job in Office Space:


Milton Waddams: [talking on the phone] And I said, I don't care if they lay me off either, because I told, I told Bill that if they move my desk one more time, then, then I'm, I'm quitting, I'm going to quit. And, and I told Don too, because they've moved my desk four times already this year, and I used to be over by the window, and I could see the squirrels, and they were merry, but then, they switched from the Swingline to the Boston stapler, but I kept my Swingline stapler because it didn't bind up as much, and I kept the staples for the Swingline stapler and it's not okay because if they take my stapler then I'll set the building on fire... (imdb)

I'm not really that picky about staplers, but one of the first things that bugged me about life in a cube was the distracting sounds, and back when I spent a lot of time on airplanes, my thoughtful wife got me something that comes in handy for that: a pair ofSennheiser PXC 250 Active Noise Canceling Headphones. When I put those on and tune in tomy last.fm neighborhood, I can maintain flow state just fine.
Plus, working on campus has its benefits. At the fitness center, Jeff's boot camp class has me sucking wind so badly I couldn't possibly worry about anything else. Or sometimes I'm just up for a few laps (salt water pool!) and a soak in the hot tub.

The reason I'm in a cube is that our department is growing in people faster than it's growing in space. If you'd like to join the fun, we're hiring! Consider applying: