My department at the office has begun incorporating a new tradition into our staff meetings: peer recognition. What probably began as an effort to encourage relationships, I guess, was quickly discovered to be a no-cost incentive program that works like this:

Employee A is given an award. It could be anything – an old bowling trophy, for example. Employee A holds onto said award until the next staff meeting, when he/she is supposed to pass it on to another member of the staff and give their reasoning behind why the recipient deserves this prestigious honor.

The one rule (besides a strong probability that the giver will be instructed by management who gets the award next) is that you are supposed to add something to it before passing it on.

Some sort of personalized touch to commemorate the time that you spent with the award? Perhaps. But really what it’s turned into is whatever loose crap sitting near it on the desk gets hastily tied or taped or rubber banded to the it five minutes before the next meeting.

The result is the wonderful objet d’ art that you see below:

When cash isn't an option, apparently
rubbish can be substituted

And yes, it was my turn to hold on to the coveted Rooster – at least for the next two weeks.

And what about my contribution to the award? Well, since you asked, I’m trying to figure out how to affix the spray painted gold mallet I received at the last white elephant gift exchange. And keep the Rooster in one piece.

What’s the strangest/worst incentive you’ve ever seen? And if you won it, what did you do with it?

In an effort to be a little more easygoing with my schedule, I got rid of the clock in my menu bar.

Sort of.

I recently came across an application for OSX for Mac called FuzzyClock, created by ObjectPark. Rather than the sterile digital 10:15 AM that is normally displayed in the menu bar, the application displays the time in what its creators call a “more readable human style”, in this case, “shortly after ten.”

While it does take a little bit to get used to, once I did I’ve found it’s more calming. The application is obviously not geared towards the type of person who lives and dies by the second hand on their atomic clock, but then again, I don’t work for NASA. An approximate time is fine for most of the things on my daily schedule. If there is ever a need to know the “real” time, clicking on the application displays the time and date in normal, Type-A specificity.

So, if you ever feel the need to soften up your schedule, try snuggling up to FuzzyClock.

If Batman had an iPod, I bet he
would protect it with this.

I recently bought the new black-keyed MacBook Pro. Because this was such a serious chunk of change, at least for me, I wanted to protect the investment. Granted, the unibody shell is carved from a solid piece of aluminum, but I still wanted to protect it. I’ve had good luck with the Speck line of rubberized protective products for my iPod (while mountain biking down the Galvin Parkway in Tempe, my iPod managed to jump out of my Camelbak and bounce across the road. Picture an expensive black brick hopping through traffic), so I went to them for a laptop cover.

Enter the Speck See-Thru Satin hard shell. Feels like soft rubber, yet sturdy enough to protect it from the wear and tear from my daily routine. The only drawback to this design, in my opinion, is that it does take away from some of the Apple-esque sexiness of the MacBook Pro. The new laptop has a graceful sloping bevel to the edges, where as the last one was pretty much a silver rectangle with rounded corners.

They did a good job with making the cover semi-transparent so the trademark illuminated Apple logo still shows through, but I think you really have to be looking for it unless the room is dimly lit. While they have a collection of colors available, the black color that I purchased really accentuates the black keyboard of the MBP. Fits like a glove, and doesn’t interfere with the operation of the screen or hinges. And now it’s easy to tell my laptop from the others in the sea of laptops at the coffee shop.

It’s the MacBook that looks like a Dell.

One issue I had is that even though the cover is thin, if you have a laptop bag specifically designed to carry your MacBook Pro, it may not fit with this cover on. The extra few millimeters width added to my laptop now render the padded area in my briefcase useless. Again, not a huge deal, but if I had just purchased this bag to fit this laptop I’d have been disappointed.

Over-dramatic diagram

Another issue is that the cover seems to be too heavy for the MBP’s screen hinges. Open the screen past, say 125°, and the screen has a tendency to slowly drift open to it’s maximum. While it isn’t a deal breaker, it was a little annoying at first.

The MBP has a glossy screen (no other option at the time), and while it makes everything on screen look amazing, I don’t enjoy looking into my screen and seeing my reflection all the time. My cheap work-around was to open the screen a little further than I normally would, thereby eliminating the mirror effect.

Perfect for the utilitarian.

Of course, two weeks after I buy this laptop Apple introduces a new anti-glare screen on their 17-inch models, but that’s the nature of the industry, I guess.

At any rate, if you’re in the market for a decent laptop cover that adds that that extra level of protection for a laptop or iPod, I think you’d be well-served to look into the Speck products.

I wonder if they make car covers…because that would be an idea I could get behind.

In case you're living under a rock, this is President Barack Obama

After a solid day of Inauguration Day coverage, I’m ready for things to get back to normal. Anyone else feel the same way?

Please don’t misunderstand, I get it – historic event, change has come, etc., but in all reality, Barack Obama has literally just stepped into one of the most stressful jobs in the world. And with the pedestal that he’s on, even if he does everything right, he has no place to go but down.

Say what you will about the man, but George W. Bush has been through hell the last eight years. Starting with the attacks on September 11, then the war in the Middle East, and now the crumbling national economy, I can’t help but think he’s glad its over. I’m not naïve enough to believe that all the country’s problems are a result of his leadership, even though most of the blame has found its way to his doorstep. Similar to the way a quarterback gets too much credit for a win and too much responsibility for a loss, personally I think Bush has been given too much responsibility for the situation we find ourselves in.

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After 20 years in the valley, with what seems like one set of disappointments after another, it hardly seems like it could be true. The Arizona Cardinals are going to the Super Bowl.

I’ll admit it – I’m not fanatic about the Cardinals, but then again, I’m not a huge fan of any team in football. By default I support our local teams because they’re just that – the local teams. If that makes me a bandwagoner, then so be it, but I like to think that I’m more than that.

At least a little bit.

Way to go Cards. Stick it to the Steelers on February 1.