Filters ain't sh*t but holes and tricks

I'm glad to see everyone responding so nicely to my work slacking. Honestly, I'm not surprised; ever since Office Space it's pretty much become the new American Dream. You could argue that it was before the movie, but you'd be lying to yourself. Mike Judge made it what it is today. Before that it was cool, but less socially acceptable. Now it's bragging rights.

Anyway*, knowing who's coming around the corner is only half the issue with work slacking. It certainly frees you up to utilize your computer to your heart's content, but what if you can't access anything worthwhile because your internet is filtered all to hell? And what if all hell has broken loose and you need to switch over from your game/website/movie without a lot of obvious clicking and keystrokes? Well, my friends, there is a solution.

I fought my most evil foe to date in the form of a firewall/content filter by the name SmartFilter. I came to loathe it. SmartFilter blocked everything from Boing-Boing to Overheard in New York, and for the most asinine of reasons. For "profanity" or for "provocative attire." Yes, god forbid adults with 15 minutes to kill read the word "fuck" or see a woman in a bra (or whatever the hell else they might be posting on Boing-Boing.)

I had to get around SmartFilter. My first attempt was a do-it-yourself effort which worked roughly half the time and used up all my resources when it did. But after a little research I found Circumventor. It's the ultimate solution to all such woes. See the below "How To" post for more information.

That takes care of the ability to browse teh intarwebs to your heart's content, but what about that panic scenario I mentioned when your boss is an arm's length away and you need to switch from a lot of entertainment based programs to a few work-related ones?

Well what we at Wonder Blog Labs have created (well... found on the internet) is this:

Pretty impressive, no?

Ok, it might not look like much. But the StealthSwitch is essential work slacking gear. I wouldn't recommend entering a cubical without one. $25.00 of your hard earned cash gets you a programmable foot switch that can easily be set to hide one set of programs (for instance World of Warcraft, Security Camera Feeds, and iTunes) and bring up another (for example Excel, Outlook, and Word).

That's all for lessons in slacking this week. Look forward to next week's installment where I show you how to track your boss's location with a tiny USB compatible LoJack system.

- Scott

* I think on roughly 90% of my posts the second paragraph starts out "anyway." This is because, as a writer, I need a little scaffolding going in. And as a chronic rambler, I have a lot to say. In fact, if a post looks too long... just start on the second paragraph. I promise you won't miss anything.