In an attempt to keep things neat and tidy, I always look for ways to eliminate clutter, cords, wall warts, etc. I also like to keep a clean life in general. I like digital paper as opposed to real paper and keep both my home desk and work desk as free of paper as possible. So against actual paper am I, not long after I'd been hired by JNR, one of the other account managers in the office was asked by my currently assigned sales guy to go into my office and see if she couldn't find something pertaining to his program while I was out of the office. After entering my office and pulling all the drawers open only to find lint balls, 3 ball point pens from the last desk inhabitant, and no paperwork in sight, she asked the salesman if I was still an employee because it looked as though my desk had been vacated or cleaned out by management.
This has turned into somewhat of a joke around the office because coworkers mistake an empty desk for nothing to do; they will come into my office during crunch time before a program is about to go live and comment that I actually DO WORK, having seen my desk is cluttered with menus, contracts, entertainment write-ups, band CDs, etc.
So, the other day while working at home on a far smaller desk than my U-shaped 6x8x6 foot monster at work, I had my MacBook open streaming music, my work laptop open and plugged into my 2nd monitor, a third laptop open on the floor that I was rebuilding and no room except for the keyboard tray for paperwork (final billing requires actual paperwork). Giving in to my penchant for procrastination, I set about figuring out how to make things better with the overall goal including the fact that I would soon be rid of my work laptop but still wanting nothing on my home desk except for the pens/pencils, coin jar, and lamp.
For a bargain at $8.29 down at the local hardware store, and about 20 minutes of my time, I devised a safe and secure "iMount" for my MacBook.
First, I mapped out where I wanted the MacBook to reside on the side of my desk. Having already mounted the surge protector to the back edge years ago, this was a simple task. I would just have it butt up against it along the bottom corner. Next, I used a pencil and drew a line around the exposed three sides of the MacBook, using the lip of the top of the desk as my top guide. It's beveled so there would be plenty of room for what I had in mind. Once that was done, I snagged on of the coaxial cable-ready staples from along the wall behind my couch where the TV cable being a little loose isn't noticed and used it to secure the SVGA cable to the side of the desk so that it wouldn't be resting it's weight against the laptop's interface and ultimately damaging it.
Now I went to the hardware store and bought two 2" L brackets, one 1" L bracket, two 1/2" brass flat head screws, one 1/4" brass flat head screw, and some adhesive-backed felt. I took the 2" brackets and bent them at approximately the 1-1/2" mark in my vice (the MacBook is 1.08" thick). It was a little tricky and required some hammering of the brackets on the anvil portion of my vice to get them straight. Once done with that, I took some of the felt and trimmed it to fit the length and depth of the portion that would be exposed to the laptop. Then I screwed them to the side of the desk just below the penciled in guide. Then I took the 1" bracket, applied some felt and screwed it to the bottom of the top of the desk using the 1/4" brass screw since it's tapered and thinner than the side wall of the desk.
With that done, I slid the laptop into the new home, hooked up the SVGA cable to make sure my stolen staple held it at a non-fatiguing angle (I actually had to move it) and then attached the power cord and USB Mac keyboard.
Voila! I have a cleaner desk, I can use the keyboard tray for paperwork (or nothing) and there's room for...well, nothing (or another beer since the one in the picture is nearly empty). Genius.
