To Whom It May Concern,

As your friendly IT staff member who, for whatever reason, has been assigned to work on or move your computer, may I make a few recommendations?

1. This is NOT your computer.  This computer is on loan from the company for which you work.  Please treat it as such.
2. If you must eat at your desk, please put up your keyboard and mouse before eating soup, chili, pretzels, chips, anything with grease or anything with food in it.  This also pertains to drinking.
3. If you must eat at your desk and you can’t put up your keyboard and mouse - please use napkins, paper towels, toilet paper or better yet LYSOL wipes to clean up after yourself.
4. If you can’t remember to do clean it after each meal - make it your Friday end of day closing ritual.
5. If you can’t make it a Friday ritual, please at least clean it before I have to fix or move your equipment.

I suggest this with love.  Trust me as someone who has to move your computer/keyboard/mouse/printer/etc. I really don’t need to know what you have for lunch just by looking at your mouse pad, wrist pad or keyboard (or in some cases all of the above and the monitor).  Would you want to move a germ ridden, crud encrusted, sticky piece of equipment?  Well neither do I.

I appreciate you reading this and hopefully taking time to order some Lysol (or whatever branch) wipes or possible a can of compressed air (just be careful you can use it too much and freeze a keyboard or mouse). Keep them in your cubicle so they’ll be handy.

You will find your computer/keyboard/mouse/mouse pad/printer has been wiped down and now in better condition than when I found it.  Please for the sake of the equipment and those that have to work on them - keep it this way.

I thank you in advance

We are living in an age of noise and movement. Shops open 24/7, television offers choice beyond what we dreamed even 20 years ago, information is coming at us from every source, our rooms are filled with wireless signals that allow us to access the Internet form anywhere and we use technology so that we can work from home and yet never be away from work.

Every Modern City?

This is of course progress, it is convenient and when we can afford it we all try and benefit from it. The credit crunch is taking a grip and the need to work and keep up with the demands of our kids, the expectations of society and our personal frustrations at never escaping the rat race lead us further into a rat race of debt and hollow ambition.

It is naive to think of being able to escape all this and in most cases most people wouldn’t want to be without it completely, but there is a need for balance a point where we take what we need from life and then enjoy being in control of our choices. Sometimes it’s just what we need to take a walk somewhere quieter and simpler….

A time to relax

Another aim of this blog is to highlight ways to make life a little more quiet, to turn down the volume so you can still enjoy the sounds but you can also hear yourself think. In making things a bit simpler, you get to spot the pieces of life that are quietly waiting to make you smile.

Vote for my idea!

S.L.M.
8.25.08