Lifestyle

Liking these posts? Follow Corporette on Twitter — this is the edited version of what we’re reading! (We also Tweet if we hear about a good sale.)

- The NYT proclaims the return of the interview suit.  (To which we ask: did it ever really go away?) [NYT] (We’ve attached one of our favorite interview suits of all time, the suit Christina Applegate wore in the movie, Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead. Alas, we cannot find the scene where she rips apart her mother’s closet to find a suit (her character is 17 pretending to be 29), but we’ve posted a video below that might bring back some memories.)

- Some young workers are rebelling against traditional corporate attire and attempting to “express their inner soul” through their clothes (rather than their willingness to tow the line).  [WSJ]

- The Annual “Women to Watch” issue just came out from the Wall Street Journal, and the WSJ Law Blog offers their thoughts as well. [WSJ via WSJ Law Blog]

- Five easily drinkable wines for under $12 — for Thanksgiving or, you know, Thursday. [The Simple Dollar]

- Forbes offers its advice on ways to dine well during the downturn. [Forbes]

- Finally: new(ish) blog Sweet Hot Justice offers advice on when you have to donate to your client’s charity.  [Sweet Hot Justice]

Wow — in what was one of our most unpopular polls ever, we asked last week whether people nap at the office and whether they have a system to it.  The poll is still open, but the initial results were split pretty much in thirds:

- 32% said that yes, you had napped at the office more than once

- 30% denied ever napping

- 38% said they’d only napped once and weren’t proud of it.

As various articles report, napping for just 20 minutes can increase your productivity by clearing your mind’s clutter, as well as improving memory, stamina, and motor skills.  One article even weighs the different benefits of naps lasting anywhere from 2 seconds to 90 minutes.  Some companies are even installing “sleep pods” to help their workers recharge:

Some articles to consider, if you’re not currently napping:

• How to Get the Perfect Nap [Stepcase Lifehack]
• How and Why to Power Nap [Lifehacker]
• How to Nap like a Pro [Boston Globe, via HuffPo]
• Top 10 Ways to Sleep Smarter and Better [Lifehacker]

Photo credit:  Cat nap, originally uploaded to Flickr by Mr. Miyagi. Note that there’s actually a difference between a cat nap (which one does on a lazy Sunday) and a power nap (which one might do at your office).

Naptime, originally uploaded by Yogi

Sometimes, being overachieving and fabulous means you get a bit stretched too thin.  Like, if, say, you’re working 250 hours, running a blog, planning a wedding 300 miles away, and trying to diet/exercise well in the meantime.  (This, of course, relates to NO ONE we know.)  Anyway, sometimes push comes to shove and exhaustion overwhelms you — and it’s only 3 PM and you’ve got hours to go before you can even THINK of heading home.

Thus, our poll today:

We don’t know of anyone who regularly schedules these things, but plenty of our friends — including us — have taken a cat nap or two at the office.  The only rule we’ve really heard of is to make sure your desk is free of paper clips — those suckers stick to your forehead like nobody’s business — but otherwise, we’ve found that everyone’s got their own system.  What’s your routine?  Do you make up some excuse for your secretary or just turn the ringer off the phone, lock the door, and put your head down?  Do you stretch out on the floor or keep your head on the desk?  Have you brought supplies in — blankets, couches, sleepytime mask — to make naptime go more smoothly?  Also, what’s your average snoozefest at the office? (We like to stick to the 20 minute “power nap.”)

Comment away!

We’ve done the toiletries, the clothes, and the gadgets — now it’s time for Corporette’s suggestions for food stuffs to keep at the office.

Many of you will be asking, what do you mean? Why would I keep food on hand? What about all the long, “power” lunches I grew to know and love over my summer experience? If not, I know of some great little inexpensive restaurants — sandwiches and sushi, really! — where I expect my friends and I will be pow-wowing during the day…

Yeah… here’s the thing:  When you’re busy, half the time you won’t have time to eat. And when you’re not busy, no one really wants to prolong a stay at the office any more than necessary, so you do your work and get out as soon as you can. That said, it’s handy to keep some foods at the office — healthy, low-calorie, filling foods — so that you can nosh while working and not get stuck raiding the cracker closet for food. (This is the glamorous life, right?) Note that this list was written on the assumption that you do have ready access to hot water, but not necessarily a readily-accessible microwave.

1. Peanut butter. If this isn’t a “problem” for you, it’s a great thing to keep around the office.  Spread some on crackers like saltines, and you’ve got protein, fat, healthy oil, and you should stay satiated for at least a few hours.  If portion control is a problem for you, you can keep things like PB2 Powdered Peanut Butter in your office and only make as much as you want.

2. Bars. We highly recommend finding a a low-calorie, high-protein, high-fiber bar that you enjoy eating.  Meal replacement bars (200 calories plus) never really seem to fill us up, and the low-protein bars — such as granola bars — are kind of like eating a cookie for lunch.  Our preferred picks:  Gnu Foods bars (extremely high fiber and high protein for only about 130 caloreies), PowerBar Pria Bars (we like mint), or, if you’re really craving something dessert-like, the Glenny’s 100-Calorie Brownie.  Vita-Tops are also awesome, but require a freezer handy — if you have one, we highly recommend.

3. Oatmeal. This doesn’t have the protein or fiber of a lot of the things recommended above, but it has a warm, cozy, filling feeling — and it’s the closest a busy woman can get to comfort foods a lot of the time.  It also smells wonderful.  (Be sure to get a box of oatmeal that definitely only requires hot water.)

4. Nuts. Portion control can be a problem here, also, but if you can keep nuts around they really are a power food.  Go for nuts that are as close to natural form as possible — avoid things that are roasted, salted, processed.  Raw almonds are, some will say, “the king of nuts,” and available via Fresh Direct and other health foods.  If portion control is a problem you may also try pistachios or peanuts — in their shells.  Everybody’s Nuts! makes some great portion-controlled bags of pistachios, available at Jamba Juice, health food stores, or via the internet.

5. Instant noodles.  There are a ton of options for meals that can be heated by the microwave — from EasyMac to LeanCuisine — but it’s harder to find ones that only require hot water to “cook.”  In general, these things won’t fill you up, but they are a nice alternative to the bars and other things mentioned above.  We like Choice Ramen (an update of the classic that now has less sodium and calories) and Thai Kitchen noodles.

6. Raisins.  Dried fruits can be a bit too much like candy, which is why we like the old standards — raisins and dried plums.  They may not be “sexy” fruits, but you can keep them in your bottom drawer and a handful from time to time will help you feel like you got your fruit in for the day.

7. Emegen-C. When your energy is dragging — or you feel a cold coming on — or you need some extra pep before heading out for dinner or drinks with friends, we swear by Emergen-C.  These lemonade-like packets contain only about 5-25 calories, but pack a wallop of vitamin C — more than 1000% of your daily requirements.  Just add water, and you’re good to go.  We recommend the super-boost ones, such as Emergen-C Super Energy Booster Lemon-Lime

8. Canned tuna or salmon.  We highly recommend going to the office kitchen to drain the cans first and dispose of them (or else your office will smell of tuna for a week!) but with a packet of mustard or mayo mixed in, these healthy fishes are great eaten with crackers or by themselves.  Of course, be sensible about potential mercury poisoning and don’t eat them too often.  (If you’re unfamiliar with canned salmon, be sure to get cans that contain skinless and boneless salmon.)

9. Cereal.  This is another great thing to keep at the office — either to keep a high-fiber cereal to mix into yogurt and oatmeal, like Fiber One — or to keep a favorite cereal from college or childhood, like Cap’n Crunch.  Steal some milk from the fridge intended for coffee, and you’ve got a meal.

10. Pudding. It’s a little-known trick, but if you bring in a box of Jell-O Instant Pudding, you can mix 1 heaping Tbsp with 1/2 cup skim milk, let it sit in the fridge for about 60 minutes, and enjoy a single portion of office-made fresh pudding.  Is it a meal?  Not really, but it is a dairy serving — and it’s yummy.

Final $.02:  When all else fails and you’re unable to leave the office and need to eat something before you pass out, try for a Snickers bar or peanut M&Ms — they’re not, strictly speaking, health foods, but the nuts in them will keep you full longer.

Dear readers, are we missing any favorites?  What kind of foods do you keep in your drawers to nibble on throughout the day?

Liking these posts? Follow Corporette on Twitter — this is the edited version of what we’re reading! (We also Tweet if we hear about a good sale.)

- The bloggers over at Feminist Law Profs consider whether a through-the-legs shot is sexist, but honestly all we can think is:  who let Hillary hem her pants like that?  [Feminist Law Profs]

- Warren Buffett suggests it’s time to stock up on stocks. [NYT]

- Six-inch shoes are apparently “flying off” shelves.  (Not into our closets, thank you very much!) [WSJ]

- Marie Claire’s latest money guide is fun — what women spend on purses, what it costs to own a pet and stay tan, and the top secrets of high-earning women.  [Marie Claire]

- Our favorite quote of the week:  Te occidere possunt sed te edere non possunt nefas est.

Liking these posts? Follow Corporette on Twitter — this is the edited version of what we’re reading! (We also Tweet if we hear about a good sale.)

- How’s the state of women leadership looking?  A variety of blogs weigh in about Newsweek’s article on what women really want, and their recent forum on leadership.  [Jezebel, The Gender Agenda]

- What Michelle Obama didn’t like about working at Sidley Austin.  [ABA Journal via Ms. JD]

- Forbes has advice on how to save money on designer duds, as well as how to live the good life on less.  [Forbes]

- Nine signs for when it’s time to give your financial advisor the ax.  [Wise Bread]

- Lifehacker offers some advice on what to do if you’re locked out of your Gmail account for weeks, as was recently explored in a NYT article.  [Lifehacker]

337/365: The Big Money,originally
uploaded by DavidDMuir

Last week we asked:  How has the recession affected your spending and saving habits?  Although we’re all peeking through our fingers as we check on our 401Ks and various accounts, the good news is that it hasn’t affected us that much.

• 46% of voters said they weren’t doing anything differently
• 28% of voters are looking at these plunging prices as a great time to stock up (ha! ha) on stocks and other investments
• 13% noted that they’d moved money around so no more than $100K was in one spot at once
• 9% said they were carpe diem-ing it up and living for today
• 3% said they were taking money out of their bank and hiding it in pickle jars in their backyard.

Commenters noted that they were trying to take less cabs and eating out less… (same here!)  One commenter also noted that she was going to buy a house sooner than anticipated.  (You go, girl!)

As always, the poll is still open — if you haven’t voted yet, please go do so!  And, just for kicks, if you have a recession-favorite recipe, post it in the comments below…

Welcome to Week Three in our series on Office Staples! We’ve talked about toiletries and clothes to keep in your office — this week, we’re delving into tech-y goodness.

Gadgets

1. Refrigerator — Yes, we’re putting this in with the gadgets.  A tiny fridge is great for the office because you can keep water and soda cool, but you can also keep various low-calorie, healthy items cold — cheese sticks, lemon juice (good for adding flavor to water or as a salad dressing), low-calorie cheese for sandwiches, et cetera.  We recommend one that looks classic, can fit on a shelf, and can run off just one plug, such as this Coldmate MR-128 Mini Cooler/Warmer Deluxe Mini Refrigerator, available at Amazon for $130.

2. USB Flash Drive.  These little guys are great for moving documents back and forth between your office and your home computer — they’re natural carriers for, say, the latest Word and PDF versions of your resume.  Available widely for anywhere from $10 to $40, we like brightly colored ones like this Kingston DTI 4 GB USB Flash Drive, available at Amazon.com for $12.  We also recommend using the “Briefcase” function on most PCs to help keep your documents in sync.  (Have the “real” copies reside on your USB flash drive, and the “sync” copies in the briefcase — if you set it up on both your work and home computer you’ll always have a copy of your document handy.)

3. Extra chargers for your phone and any personal gadgets (iPod, Palm Pilot, etc).

4.  Speakers for your iPod. There’s a wide range in speakers you can use for your iPod (they can double as computer speakers, if your company doesn’t provide those.)  The latest recommendations we saw were for these Klipsch ProMedia Ultra 2.0 PC Speaker System- Black, available at Amazon for $99.  N.B.: We do not recommend putting iTunes on your comptuer — trust us, you’ll have enough to distract you without being tempted to organize and sort all your music.  If you’re working late, are without your iPod, and need tunes, we recommend Pandora.com — you name a song you like and it streams similar music for free.

5.  Phone headset.  If you log lots of time on the phone — on conference calls or in meetings — a good headset might be worth an investment.

6. USB-heated gloves. If you have poor circulation and are always freezing, you may want to prepare for those long stretches in front of the computer by purchasing these USB-heated gloves.  They plug into your computer and warm your hands as you type and click your way through the day.  Available at Perpetual Kid for $24.99.

Download

7.  Leechblock. We’ve written before of our affection for Leechblock to help keep you focused — note that you’ll need to be using Firefox.  (We prefer Firefox anyway as a browser.)  Once you’re using Firefox you can use other fun add-ons, such as the ones for RememberTheMilk as well as RetailMeNot.

Software

Most businesses supply you with all the software you need.  Still, we’ve had great success with a few programs and had to recommend them.

8. PDF Factory. This program is hugely helpful if you sit far from the printer, if you want more control over picking up your printouts, or if you email a lot of PDF’d documents.  (For the lawyers out there, it’s very helpful if you frequently review documents in .tif format, as well as if you print cases from Lexis or Westlaw.)  Basically, when you click “print” you can choose to print to PDF Factory.  The program opens a new window on your comptuer, and begins to compile a PDF.  When you’ve finished printing, you can save the PDF to your hard drive, e-mail it to a coworker, and/or print it to your local printer.

9. Microsoft OneNote 2007. This is similar to PDF Factory, but allows you to create “notebooks” that will be word searchable, printable, e-mailable, and so forth.  We primarily find OneNote helpful in working on a project — planning a vacation or a wedding, decorating an apartment — but it’s also helpful in keeping track of restaurant reviews, recipes, articles full of gift ideas, and more.  (We also find it useful on an organizational and environmental standpoint, because we now have a single place to put all those articles we used to just print out and leave in various places in our apartments.)  Available at Amazon.com for $70.49.  (OneNote is frequently included in Microsoft Office bundles — you may find it cheaper to buy such a bundle and upgrade Word, Excel, and other programs.)

10. Dragon NaturallySpeaking 10 Preferred. This is pricier than the others, but this software is extremely helpful for those of you who practice the lost art of dictation.  Dictating is a great skill to pick up  for a variety of reasons — it’s much easier to summarize notes from all-day meetings via dictation, or to make sense of documents as you review them without constantly toggling between screens to be sure you’ve gotten the numbers and quotations exactly correct.  (We’ve been using this one for about a month — seriously, it’s a great dictating program.)  Available at Amazon for $127.49.