Develop Daly » Smashing Magazine

My Desk

Patrick Daly — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 08:00:46 +0000

Some of you have been curious about what my office environment was like now that I’m working from home.

Show and tell…

The Overall Situation

You can tell that I have a nice big desk. I can’t remember what it’s called anymore but Ikea sold it for awhile and for some stupid reason discontinued it and started selling a smaller version. I love the size.

Nice, Comfy Chair

This aint no $900 chair people claim changes your life – it’s from Wal-mart or Target, but it’s padded, has arm rests, and sits atop one of those plastic things that pokes “holes” in your carpet. It suits my needs.

The Peripherals

Coming in third place in the line-up — keyboard, mouse, and volume control…and notepad. I have a wireless Dell keyboard and the wired default mouse Dell sent me which I actually like better than the wireless one I paid extra for. The volume control is for the 5.1 surround sound setup featured in the next picture.

Big Sound

I couldn’t be nearly as productive as I am without music. Fortunately, between iTunes and Pandora I have plenty to keep me occupied and I have 5.1 surround sound to thoroughly motivate me and annoy my neighbors.

Big Screen

I have a floating 24″ monitor with a sweet background from Smashing Magazine.

You’re so gullible…you believed that it actually floated, ha. Actually it conveniently moves around on an arm so that I can spin it around to face the futon off-picture so that I can catch up on The Office.

The Black Sheep of My Desk

Neither mouse, chair, monitor, nor notepad or even desk like the far corner. It’s so boring over there. It’s kind of dusty, and definitely laden with a little bit of procrastination. Nevertheless, paperwork gets a spot.

How About You?

I’d love to see your working space. What am I missing? What might you want to get me for Christmas? ;)

Also, stay tuned next week because I’ll be showcasing my mobile office as I’ll be on the road for two weeks.

My Favorite Websites

Patrick Daly — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 17:16:43 +0000

Nearly everyday (or at least multiple times a week) I visit this list of websites. The list is tailored to web design, SEO, & WordPress related sites.

I’ve gained much knowledge from the authors and contributors of these sites and I owe much debt. If you’re interested in any of the things I do for a living, then this list is MUST read.

In alphabetical order…

A List Apart – design, development, content
Copyblogger - content
Freelance Switch – business
Matt Cutts – SEO, Google
Michael Gray – SEO
Official Google Blog – SEO, Google
Pearsonified - SEO, WordPress, content
PSDTUTS - Photoshop, freebies
SEOmoz - SEO, content
SEO Book – SEO
SEO Theory – SEO
Smashing Magazine – design, freebies
TechCrunch - business
Weblog Tools Collection – WordPress
Yahoo! Search Blog – Yahoo!
Yoast - SEO, WordPress

Blogs You Should Be Reading

Patrick Daly — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 18:24:32 +0000

I’ve filtered through a lot of blogs the past few years. Often I’ll subscribe on a whim, only to find out that 20 posts later I’ve gotten nothing of value from the site, so I’ll remove them from my reader. Still, I have plenty more to keep me busy because there are some truly great resources out there.

You can subscribe to these without hesitation, because they’ve stood my test of time.