Hey Jakey,

Today I'm C&P'ing an article for all us peeps who blog at work. Some nice tips on how not to get caught:

Hit the Boss Button!: R&R on the Cube Farm
by Mikki Halpin for Digital Living Today

Don't you hate it when you're doing something really important at your desk and your boss wants to know why you aren't working? It's tedious to have to explain why you had to check the humidity in Micronesia, figure out your Wu-Tang Clan name, or throw the online I-Ching while technically being paid to do something else. Of course, the ultimate solution is a telecommuting job, but if you haven't managed to talk the company into that yet, there are a few clever ways to seem like you?re representin' when you're really only frontin'.

The best defense is always a good offense. Dropping hints that you?re working on some top-secret project for the head office can go a long way towards explaining some of the items on your screen to prying cubiclemates. This strategy works best if you have a content job. Techies can often explain away a salacious URL by claiming to be checking out the site's code ("Look at this ingenious way that HooHah Hut has implemented Java!"). You also might want to head off nosy neighbors and hovering bosses by installing a rear view mirror on your monitor. Cyberguys (www.cyberguys.com) offers a monitor mirror for only $2.29. Bonus: if the sun hits your desk just right, you can adjust the mirror to send death rays to annoying co-workers.

Slackers, short-timers, goof-offs, and honest folks like you and me just looking for a bit of R&R, have a spiritual home at Don's Boss Page (www.donsbosspage.com). Need to catch forty winks or work on the NY Times crossword puzzle? Don?s handy Sound Busy program will play a convincing audio track of industrious typing while you take five. The perennial favorite here is Don's Personal Protector, a small window that you keep open while surfing -- hit the boss button when you sense authority bearing down on you and a spreadsheet will launch. Great tool for accountants, not so great for other types of pixel pushers.

Don's page also has handy tips from around the globe (really!) about covering your slack tracks. From little-known properties of the Alt-Tab keys (for quickly switching to another application) to a guy in France who went so far as to swap IP addresses with other hapless word workers so that none of his surfing could be traced back to him.

The ultimate tool is often the simplest one. A removed computer cover, toolbox, spare circuit board or other "my-computer-is-broken" prop can provide you with a convincing excuse to blow work early. Then you can go home and have the rest of the day to devote to pressing personal needs. And while you're at it, bookmark a couple of employment sites in case the boss finally catches on to your shiftless shenanigans.

TIP: If your company uses software that counts keystrokes, you can keep up your impressive typing speed by repeatedly hitting the caps lock while you're on the phone "finding your motivation" by talking to friends.