[geeks] What desk toy or "tchotchke" says "geek" to you?

Sheldon T. Hall shel at tandem.artell.net
Sat Mar 25 17:51:02 CST 2006


 Dave Fischer says ...
> patrick at zill.net writes:
> 
> >What item that you might put on your desk means "this cubicle slave 
> >must be a geek" to you?
> 
> One wall of my room consists of the CM5 chassis that was used 
> in the computer room scene in Jurassic Park. (Minus the 
> lights & skins, unfortunately.)

My office is fairly free of geek tchotchkes, actually, but I don't think many
visitors are fooled.

Over the telephone, I have a sign that cautions callers against discussing
classified information "while communications systems are activated."

In the corner across the room is a woodstove.  The wall behind it has a
nautical chart of Puget Sound and a burlap coffee bag from Flor del Lago.

In the far left corner is the bar, with the espresso machine, fridge, etc.
More coffee bags from "name" growers, a couple of beer signs, and the previous
owner's collection of liquor labels stuck to the ceiling.

In the corner of the bar is a string bass.

Down the left wall are bookcases.  Floor to ceiling, 8 feet long.  Mostly
computer books and software, though a couple of shelves collect miscellaneous
crap.

On the wall behind me are some old photos of steam locomotives, some routers
stuck on the wall, and a stack of Sun lunchbox computers on shelf brackets.

On the floor in front of my desk is a 120-pound Old English Sheepdog, still
wet from his swim at the beach this morning, snoring.

My desk is U-shaped, with three laptops, an SGI Indigo2, and space for
whatever else I have to use for the current project.

The real geekery is across the hall: the black-on-black-with-black
Tandem-badged SGI Challenge L.

Yeah, I have an SGI "MIPS Power Challenge" sweater, but it's too small, so
I've lent it to my son so he can wear it to his job at Intel.

-Shel



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