What's in your office?

[geographyrocks]

I found out that I'll be in a two person office. I will have my own desk and bookcase. So I've been thinking about what I should take. Apart from the standard office supplies (which is a given), what do you have in your office? How did you choose what books to take? Do you have academic awards that you've won on display?

I scoured past threads and didn't see any similar topics so I thought ithis would be a fun (and informative) discussion.

[fuzzylogician]

I remember writing about this is an old thread. I'll try and find it. 

 

ETA:

Here, from last year and revived again a few months ago: 

Edited July 21, 2014 by fuzzylogician

[geographyrocks]

You have got to be kidding me. I swear I almost wore out the search button looking for past threads! Thanks for the link!

[fuzzylogician]

No problem. It was easier for my to search since I could use some keywords based on my own post (the stuff on my desk is still the same as last year ). 

[rising_star]

If you're sharing an office, I'd wait to decide how much stuff to bring in until you actually see the space. As a grad student, I shared two and three person offices, which limited the amount of storage each person had for their course materials, their books, etc. Different offices have different sizes of bookshelves, desks, etc., which will affect what you can bring. I tend to start with less and then bring things in as I realize I need them.

[geographyrocks]

I've already seen the place. I somehow lucked out since I'm only sharing with one other grad student. I think most of the other incoming students are in a room partitioned into eight spaces.

My side of the office has a full-sized desk and a full-sized bookshelf. I just bought a file cabinet so I'll have that in there too. I'll probably just start with a few books and journals and all of the stuff I used to have on my desk at my last job. I'm just not sure if I'll spend more time working at home or at school.

Edited July 26, 2014 by geographyrocks

[Monochrome Spring]

I share a big room that serves as the office for all of the grad students in my lab (currently 3). We each have a desk, and the other new student and I are sharing a small shelf for snacks, books, etc. that we don't want in common space that undergraduate assistants also share. I recommend thinking about how much stuff you want to leave in your office all of the time versus just when you are using it frequently. I keep most of my books at home, because I work from home pretty often.

[Pol]

Books, mugs, espresso machine, laptop stand, extra screen, keyboard, trackpad, extra pair of shoes, cactus. 

[rising_star]

In a few of my offices, there was either a small microwave or a mini fridge. Both were awesome for bringing in lunch or snacks. Plus, with the microwave, I could make tea whenever I wanted. I also used to keep some community snacks in the drawer of my file cabinet (I had a GF officemate so made sure everything was something they could eat as well), just in case the blood sugar crashed or the hunger creeped up unexpectedly.

 

I never displayed awards or degrees or anything. I probably never will because it's just not my style. But, I did hang up cool posters or pictures I found, which was pretty common in my department.

[booksnlooks]

Textbooks, teapot, mug, teas, snacks, and a few pictures. Enough to keep me happy without being cluttered

[reinhard]

A sleeping bag maybe?

[GeoDUDE!]

skeletons

[Eigen]

I share an office with one other grad student and my undergrad(s) as they rotate through for research. 

 

Each of the grad students has a full sized desk, and the two of us share a bookcase, dividing up shelves. 

 

We've got a mini-fridge/microwave that we split use of, and we have one desk that we have stocked with snacks for when we forget to bring in food. 

 

The other desk has a permanently set up lab computer that we can either use for long-term simulations we don't want to run on our PCs, or can let our undergrads use for specific software. 

 

Personally, I find in/out boxes and binder racks to be especially useful for me, and I'm a fan of music in the office so we've got a nice set of bluetooth speakers.