Next To Godliness

For the first five years of my career, I worked for a defense contractor located on-site at an Air Force research facility. My job was to write software, but the lab had quite a bit of hardware as well. Over time, things could get pretty messy as we were regularly reconfiguring the setup, leaving random cables and parts strewn all over the place.

We must not have been unique in this, because about half-way through my tenure there the powers-that-be started a “tidying up” initiative that everyone was required to participate in, up and down the ranks, including uniformed military, civilian, and contractors. Being already something of a neat freak, I bought some split loom tubing (from Parts Express, my absolute favorite source for A/V parts) and used it to bundle all the cords at my desk. Apparently I’d done such a good job that word got around about my setup, and one afternoon the person at the top who’d launched the cleanup initiative stopped by and thanked me for my efforts, and said my desk was the example that others in the building should emulate.

Ever since I learned proper cable coiling technique I’ve enjoyed keeping areas with many of them as neat as possible, ideally with none of them visible. Today I was happy to do so in my wife’s classroom, including installing a light strip since the cubby where her desk lives is in a poorly-lit corner.

I didn’t need much nudging to do this; now the drive to tidy cables is a bit of a compulsion. If I ever see random ones laying about (such as on a conference room table), I’ll coil them out of habit. And if I ever see someone doing it wrong you can be sure I’ll have something to say about it. Yes, there is a right way, and it’s easy to learn with a bit of practice, so no excuses.