For reasons unknown, there seems to be intense curiosity about exactly where I work — where do I sit, what does my desk look like, what do I look at all day, stuff like that. I just moved desks this week (amusingly, I moved maybe 20 feet to a cubicle just across from me) and when I got everything set up, I took photos. I am warning you, this will not be interesting to most people. But enough weirdo stalkers have asked so I will go ahead and oblige…with not just photos, but annotated photos!
1. This is a fraction of the toys and weird stuff I have in my “office toys and weird stuff” collection from over the years. I got rid of a lot of it before I came to LA, and I rotate the rest every so often. Current highlights include Jessica Rabbit, Ray Stantz (“the heart of the Ghostbusters”), the Dan Elektro and Miss Spell action figures, the entire series of Resaurus Pickups, some D&D dice, and a copy of the Activision Anthology for PS2 (a gift from my musical partner Jude when I got the job — it has a Post-It on the front that says “NEVAR FORGET!”)
2. PC running Windows XP. Not exactly a powerhouse, but it runs Outlook, Photoshop CS4, and Modern Warfare 2, and doesn’t crash as much as it probably wants to!
3. Another gift from Jude — he found this little statue of a hand making the rock horns in a Ross or some similar remainder store and said “I think that was made for Dan.” Jude is a good friend. And Jude was right.
4. The wall of guitars — Eddie’s Ibanez Destroyer from the cover of Women & Children First, a poster of Paul McCartney’s Hofner bass, and the calendar that Kat made for me featuring some of my real-world guitars. She says it makes me less likely to want more of them. And Kat is wrong.
5. MacBook Pro. This is how I record the podcast and it’s portable so I can record it in various different conference rooms. The monitor is shared with a debug 360 when I need to use one.
6. I am Knicks fan. This official bench towel soaks up the tears that come with being a Knicks fan.
7. I’m also a whiteboard guy. All the ideas for the site, podcast, and videos go here. Squint all you like, there’s no spoilers.
8. The locked shelf of prizes. The most significant loot is in here…and I will send it out to you soon enough.
9. The mics, cables, and various A/V gear is stashed in these drawers. It’s not what I’d call organized, but at least the drawers close.
10. I recommend everyone keep a Guitar Hero controller hanging on the wall, close at hand at all times. In case of rock, kick ass. (You can get the EVH faceplate at Amazon.)
11. When everybody moved their workspaces, a friend who’s been here a while gave me this adorable little Activision desktop fridge. It holds two energy drinks.
12. The Mackie ProFX8 mixer was backordered for two months, and it made the first several podcasts trickier than they needed to be. But it was really the right gear for the job; it’s the heart of my podcasting setup when I’m running with my full gear. It also doubles as an audio bridge for the debug 360.
13. More boxes. More prizes for giveaways. Please, I want to get them off my desk.
14. When I was at GamePro, we had a broken Super Nintendo, so rather than throw it out, I took it apart, hollowed it out, and converted it into a tissue box. I mean, I just couldn’t see tossing the thing out! It only holds about 25 tissues at a time, and I have to disassemble it every time it needs a refill. The only person who has ever been offended by this “SNEEZ” tribute worked for Nintendo. I showed it to them proudly and they just went pale, said nothing, and walked away.
15. A very special souvenir: a canvas Ocarina of Time bag signed to me by Shigeru Miyamoto. I got to meet him at a special press event for the game’s launch, and it was just as humbling and awesome as you would think.
So now you know “where the magic happens.” And if you ever come to visit me at the office, you know what to steal.
