Best Office Purchases

[backatit]

I have bad migraines so can't handle some fragrances (cheap air fresheners are a no-non, expensive perfume - not department store - is, of course, just fine if applied very sparingly LOL). Our department is a fragrance free zone though, as we have someone with chemical allergies (she really does, too; it's not an affectation) so it's pretty strictly enforced when she's around.

So in my home office, DH has co-opted my big recliner. I picked up an Ikea Poang chair off Craigslist for next to nothing (in perfect condition) but I'm having an issue with it. Everyone who sits in it falls asleep! I've had multiple people over and it's a real thing! I can't work in it, so I don't know what I'm going to do (kick DH out of my chair, obviously, but installing metal spikes in the Poang has come to mind).

[ergative]

I have that chair in my office too, although I got it from Salvation Army. I regularly take small naps in it. I love it to bits.

[pink_]

I have two of those chairs--one that I inherited from a grad school friend when she moved in with her boyfriend, now husband 20 years ago, the other that I bought at the IKEA. They're awesome. I can't sleep in mine (I generally can't sleep sitting upright), but they are wonderful for reading and grading. But despite my warnings, almost everyone else who sits in them basically falls into it because its farther down that it must seem.

[Liquidambar]

When I moved into my current office, I had the luxury of time (it was summer and I wasn't concurrently moving house) and some spare funds.  The office floor was dreadful.  They'd been waxing around the furniture for 50 years, so it had mounds of wax mixed with dust outlining where all the old furniture had been.  I bought some wood-look vinyl flooring.  The pieces interlock and float over the existing floor, so I was able to install it myself despite having no construction skills.  And I didn't have to get permission since the old floor is unharmed.

I also got some wood bookcases from Ikea to replace the industrial metal shelving and some large pieces of art to cover portions of the ugly walls.  All told, I spent about $500 to end up with the nicest office in the department.  It's a luxury, not a necessity, but it has improved my quality of life.

[AJ_Katz]

This thread reminds me that I need to step up my office game.  I have been in my office for 5 years and it is just about as drab and institutional as the day I moved in....

I did get a magnetic white board and an espresso machine, which are both awesome, but my office is quite Stark.

I've been waiting for tenure to step up my office game. I'm the only TT woman in the department.

I'm also a minority and so when I first arrived, I used the bulletin board that I inherited to display all of the proposals I submitted (not just the ones awarded), all of the tear sheets and white papers I'd written, and all of my publications.  It was all beautifully organized and essentially my "wall of hard work".  I did this to help advertise myself as a researcher first (since stereotypes are often the opposite).  This also became something that kept me motivated.  I highly recommend this.

[Parasaurolophus]

I should add that mine is definitely my office chair, which I got for my 17th birthday and which is amazingly comfortable and reclines at the perfect angle.

How do you typically handle that?  Say something?  Avoid all areas with strong scents?  Our latest office staff person is very fond of air fresheners.  The department office reeks of air freshener.  It even escapes into the adjacent hallway.  I merely dislike the smell, but I worry that it could cause medical issues for some.  I haven't said anything since I'm not her supervisor, but sometimes I wonder if I should.

If it's avoidable, I'll avoid it. But if it's wafting into a public space, or into my own space, I say something (provided it can make a difference, anyway--no point telling someone on a plane, really. In that case, I hope I'm sitting close to them and that I sneeze on them).

That never occurred to me! Maybe that's why nobody comes to my office hours? Guess I'll be stank-free in the new academic year.

Sorry to have ruined your best office purchase!

I've been waiting for tenure to step up my office game. I'm the only TT woman in the department.

Get a load of this office...

[the_geneticist]

I think it's time to resurrect my "quote door" of science related phrases.

"When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest of the world." John Muir

"Dans les champs de l'observation le hasard ne favorise que les esprits préparés." Louis Pasteur

"I was taught that the way of progress was neither swift nor easy" Marie Curie

Anyone have other favorites?

[eigen]

Yeah, I also need to work on my door decoration. I tend to favor PhD comics, but haven't put any up here (yet).

I also need to bring in my PhD comics collection for students to read....

[drbrt]

I've been waiting for tenure to step up my office game. I'm the only TT woman in the department.

Get a load of this office...

I do have a quilt in my office but it's a landscape quilt

[Beebee]

Oh, one more thing though not a single office purchase: Candy bowl, with refills every sale. Small treats for students that definitely helps their morale. Several have given me a pack of small chocolates upon graduating as a thank you for all the candy I provided along the way :) I don't have a big sweet tooth, so they are mostly for the students (I keep my salty snacks separate).

[eigen]

Oh, one more thing though not a single office purchase: Candy bowl, with refills every sale. Small treats for students that definitely helps their morale. Several have given me a pack of small chocolates upon graduating as a thank you for all the candy I provided along the way :) I don't have a big sweet tooth, so they are mostly for the students (I keep my salty snacks separate).

I do this occasionally, but it would be nice to make it a more consistent thing. What types do you usually fill it with?

[Liquidambar]

Yeah, I also need to work on my door decoration. I tend to favor PhD comics, but haven't put any up here (yet).

Oh, that reminds me...  I didn't have to purchase it, since it came with the office, but I really like the strip of cork on my door.  I use it to display one comic at a time and rotate them frequently.  I like this better than having lots of stale comics.

[Conjugate]

Door decor: lots of cartoons (mostly XKCD, but lots of others). In strategic window locations, posters on Math. The white board was snagged from a colleague who didn't want it.  It was ruined (washed with something that made it hard to erase) but I've been patiently working on it with fancy whiteboard cleaner and it's gotten better. 

Two large bookcases (one "swiped" from the to-be-discarded place) with seven or so shelves each, all packed full.  There are two smaller, four-foot-high little shelves from a dollar store, also packed full.  There are also some paper boxes with stuff, including books, in them.

Then the dorm-sized refrigerator, on which is a coffee maker and a water heater/dispenser for tea.  The file cabinet in my desk contains (sometimes) snacks. The desk is a mess, covered with books, papers, and other odds and ends.

[ergative]

Door decor: lots of cartoons (mostly XKCD, but lots of others).

Yes, me too, although in my case it turns out that Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal (currently) outnumbers XKCD.

Folks, what are some good sources of academic cartoons for door decor? Currently I have representatives from:

xkcd
Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
Tom Gauld
The New Yorker
The cartoon on this twitter thread about conference Q&A sessions

[pgher]

Door decor: lots of cartoons (mostly XKCD, but lots of others).

Yes, me too, although in my case it turns out that Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal (currently) outnumbers XKCD.

Folks, what are some good sources of academic cartoons for door decor? Currently I have representatives from:

xkcd
Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
Tom Gauld
The New Yorker
The cartoon on this twitter thread about conference Q&A sessions

PhD Comics
Dilbert