Tag: Sheveling

It’s been a year since I last sheveled so it’s time for my 2024 National Clean Off Your Desk Day sheveling.

Along with the typical dust, receipts, and miscellaneous bits of paper and trash, I found things such as:

• An empty box of See’s assorted chocolates
• 1.5 bags of Ginger Chews (original)
• Half full box of “Megamix” Mike and Ike candies
• One-third of a large Toblerone
• Yellow paper crown
• Thirteen guitar picks
• Tin of Trader Joe’s Organic Pastilles Gingermints
• Cheap combination lock
• Four juggling bags
• Doctor Who hat (with white pompom)
• Tangram set missing one piece
• Name tag
• Six chip bag clips
• Two sets of flashcards (Korean)
• Rubber locust
• Assorted paperclips
• Whistle keychain
• Seven expired credit and insurance cards
• Someone else’s keys (that needed to be returned)
• Program from the Westview performance of “School House Rock Live! JR.”
• Rubber light-up flower ring
• Mask (lower face, not my “Man in Black” mask)
• Two bank statements (now shredded)
• Ghibli-themed Reversi game
• Luggage label
• Effective Java: Third Edition
• Program from “Westview Band and Choir Present…Sleigh Ride Songs & Deserts”
• Five snowflake multitools
• Receipt for my Zamberlan Anabasis Mid GTX Hiking Boots
• Goodwill tax receipt
• Notes from a meeting and various numbers/timings as I was measuring performance of a data import task
• Program from the Westview Choir 2023 Awards Concert
• Hand-doodled diagrams for an eventing architecture
• ESP8266 with attached submersible thermometer
• Kermit the Frog water bottle
• Old wallet
• COVID-19 Vaccination Record Card (card was in the same place from when I last sheveled)
• 75 cents in change
• Yo-yo string
• Empty Altoids tin (amazingly only one)
• Garage door open (was actually expecting to find two–not sure where the other one is…)
• Bookmark
• Pointy bit for electronics screwdriver set (since returned to case with other bits)
• Dice set (including the D10 that I couldn’t find when I last sheveled)

Apparently it’s been six years to the day since I first recognized “National Clean Off Your Desk Day” with My Sheveled Desk. And of course, like every time before, now my office is in dire need of tidying . . .

Once again it is the second Monday in January and hence National Clean Off Your Desk Day. Time to shevel, but perhaps my desk isn’t in as bad of shape as years past?

At work today there were a lot of times where I would work for several minutes but then need to wait for a couple minutes while tests or other checks ran. During those breaks I would grab a couple of things off the desk and figure out what to do with them. Here are some of the items I encountered:

• Two tape measures (in case one is under a stack of stuff when I need it).
• Empty bag that previously contained peach Jolly Ranchers (the best flavor).
• Printed Allergen Guide for Buffalo Wild Wings.
• Two ice scrapers (for car windows).
• Fitbit charger (for a Fitbit model I haven’t owned in years).
• Empty bag that previously contained Ginger Chews.
• Invitation to 2022 Christmas Eve Musical Celebration (it was a nice event, but less-well attended than previous years likely due to the weather). Later on I also encountered the program.
• Three handkerchiefs (two nicely folded, the other crumpled and it may or may not have been used for its intended purpose).
• Two garage door openers (this was a surprise as I was expecting to find three–I did eventually locate the third one in the pocket of my biking jacket).
• A rubber locust.
• Various notes from work including notes about six people I interviewed (we hired one and he’s great).
• Page of notes from previous job.
• Empty, reusable cloth bag that previously contained beef jerky.
• Ninja brand tabi socks.
• Tickets to the Portland Choir & Orchestra 2022 Christmas concert (it was a great show).
• Many receipts. In all they totaled around $4670.
• Peppermint bark and two candy canes (from circa Christmas 2021).
• Two not-so-smart light bulbs (one went psycho and just flickers like crazy, the other won’t connect and so just functions as a regular bulb).
• Three masks and my COVID vaccination card (card was in the same place from when I last sheveled).
• Goggles.
• Most of a dice set (cannot find second D10).

My desk looks a lot better. The floor of my office, not so much . . .

I was planning to wait until next National Clean Your Desk Day (10 January 2022), but it had been 16 months since I last did a proper desk “sheveling” and I realized it was time.

As always, it was a bit of an adventure and also a trip down memory lane. Here are some things I found:

• Weed eater line (now in the shed)
• New health, dental, and vision insurance cards (insurance changed with the new job–cards now in wallet)
• Various receipts (now recorded and filed)
• Covid vaccination card (I knew it was somewhere on the desk)
• Parts of a microscope from a Saturday Academy gala
• Two small screwdriver sets
• A one year anniversary card from Circle (card was from April)
• 26 pages of notes from my previous job
• My solution for a Mind Your Decisions problem (I solved it)
• Various swag from gopuff (my new employer)
• Instructions for my outdoor grill (a Father’s day present)
• 9 guitar picks
• Precision knife set (like x-acto) that I couldn’t find last month
• Diagrams, rosters, etc. for the fall SWSC Microsoccer Jamboree
• Plastic Easter egg
• Small, wooded treasure chest filled with gold and silver candy
• A :(){:|:&};: mug from a friend at Data Machines
• Root beer and ginger beer bottle caps
• R2D2 Happy Meal toy
• Two Raspberry Pis and an ESP8266

For extra credit I updated the printer firmware.

Apparently its been more than two-and-a-half years since I last had a completely sheveled desk. When it comes to horizontal office surfaces, my tidiness level remains an abysmal constant, but a lot of other things have changed during that period and my desk has evolved. Below are a few highlights of changes I pondered while sheveling.

• I’ve changed jobs twice since the last sheveling which means switching out work computers (I’ve gone through four work laptops) and using a Mac.
• Working from home used to be more rare and meetings were often on conference calls. Now most people in the tech industry work from home and meetings are video chats. So out with the phone and in with the external web cam.
• On top of her job, my wife increased her volunteer activity and also started a graduate school program–the nine-year-old printer couldn’t handler the increased load had had to be replaced.
• I really need to clean my desk more frequently.

It’s no secret that my desk is neither neat nor tidy.  Apparently the second Monday in January (today) is “National Clean Off Your Desk Day”, so I decided to clean off my desk.  Here are some items I encountered:

• Three paper crowns (one from Christmas dinner, one from dinner of New Year’s Eve, and I’m not sure about the third–perhaps Christmas 2016)
• Screws for the upstairs tub faucet (now reinstalled)
• Two tape measures (not counting the one on the shelf across from the desk)
• Tickets for the Lantern Tour of Jewel Cave from 21 June 2016
• The case for my Leatherman multitool (on the opposite end of the desk from the actual tool)
• The case for my HP 48G calculator (on the opposite end of the desk from the actual calculator)
• Eight tins originally containing Altoids, Trader Joe’s Gingermints, etc. (now mostly empty, but one containing ear buds and two contained dryer lint and matches)
• Two pair sunglasses (I never wear sunglasses)
• Three D20
• Random dusty picture of me and my wife (taken by an elephant statue in Dallas, Texas in 2000)
• Container of BB’s (last used in early 2016 to add mass to a Pinewood Derby car)
• Battery cover for a remote (no sign of the remote)
• Several batteries of unknown charge (mostly size AA and AAA )
• Dozen CDs and DVDs (including Ubuntu 15.10, DBAN, and “A Sesame Street Celebration”)
• Numerous checks that have been deposited via smart phone

Basically I removed pretty much everything from the desk that wasn’t connected by wires (and some things that were).  Cleaned and sanitized the keyboards and mice and phones.  I decided the second phone doesn’t need a spot since I only use it every three months or so.  I replaced items that I frequently use (such as glasses, calculator, box cutter) into the usual locations.  The improvement is significant.

Now I’ll wait for “National Clean Up the Rest of Your Office Where You Dumped All the Stuff When Cleaning Off Your Desk Day”.