I haven’t hunted for my keys in years. I have a long lanyard on them with which I attach them to the strap of my bag (they remain in the bag, but are very easy to retrieve by following the lanyard). I also have a key rack, and have discovered the critical factor of success: it must be closer to your front door than any other conceivable place you might leave your keys. This saves me from absent-mindedly putting them somewhere I will promptly forget.
Oddly enough, I’m left-ear dominant on the phone not because I hear better from the left, but because if I put the phone on my right ear, my brain doesn’t understand the words coming out so well. I guess since I never use the phone on that side, my brain has a hard time hearing muffled phone voices. Strange.
Genius!
I have even better luck by adding a touch of dish soap as well and then filling it back up with water. The soap gradually peels almost all of the residue off while I’m eating.
The most troubling part of this whole thing is the implication that if Koxinga had two noses, most of his/her coworkers would think it were no big deal.
As for my “little thing”, I read a few articles from a French newspaper every couple of days. I don’t actually know French. It’s a frustrating exercise, but it keeps me sharp; I’m (very, very slowly) making progress in understanding written French; it helps me internalize new grammar rules in my Spanish class; and it reinforces my understanding of grammar principles in general, which is big since I’m a linguistics major.
I need some of these badly. Where do I get one?
OTOH, a great way to frustrate your coworkers is to wait until they leave their phone or car keys lying around while on a break, then stick it in the fridge. Feign incredulity when they come back to find their stuff missing, then the next time they leave, grab the item and put it right back where you found it. Repeat as necessary.
The *nixean diff function is great too. You could probably find it for Windows or Mac OS, and it works with any filetype.
Most hardware stores carry them. For example: Home Depot and Ace Hardware
Well, I figured out how to fix my putter grip. 
I don’t know how fancy diff is, but DOS (and that brash upstart “Windows”) has had fc (“file compare”) for ages.
I wanted a way to carry a book in my old jacket, but it wouldn’t fit in the little pockets. I thought it would be nice to have a large inner pocket. Unfortunately, the only thing I can do with thread and needle is poke myself, and it wouldn’t make sense to pay a tailor to make a pocket for a cheap ratty old jacket. So I made a pocket entirely out of duct tape.
It’s remarkably sturdy and has held to the inner lining of the jacket very well for a few days now. If it starts to fall off, I can always just add more duct tape.
I use my genius to try to break a new (40-year-old) cow-orker of his habit of ending about every third spoken sentence with “and stuff”. He thanks me and says he now catches himself at it when off duty.
Another good way to alert people of their nonverbalisms is to mimic them. Without taking on a mocking tone, just use as much “like” and “and stuff” as they do.
Unfortunately for me, I’ve lived in Southern California for 10 years now and by this point I say “like” and “and stuff” just as much as everyone else.
Oh, yeah? 
You think that’s bad. I almost caught myself calling my Administrator “Dude” several times. And she’s a she! And that’s on duty! I think that’s why I try so hard to be really serious at work, because I’m pretty silly in private and sometimes it spills over, especially when I’m nervous.
Unless they’re printed as transparencies, this wouldn’t help me ensure that a change was made to a couple of individual words in the middle of separate paragraphs. Or when I’m comparing a blue copy from the printers’ vs. a printout from my office’s laser printer.
Likewise, if I want to make sure the semi-bound blue copy I’m getting from the printer reflects the absolute final version that was supposed to be sent to them, this wouldn’t help much.
I keep my keys on a good sized changed purse. Makes them impossible to lose, and I can leave the house with just the keys and cash if need be.
Whenever the office gets a box of paper or folders, I immediately tape it shut, rip off the smaller end of the cover, and rip the sides of the smaller end of the box to make a flap. I then print out a label and tape it to the flap, and put the lid back on.
We now have a clearly labelled box with a flap that can be opened to get the inside contents. Keeps the lids on and makes it easy to find stuff.
I print out a list of my phone’s contact list, and stash a few copies in strategic places – an inside pocket of my suitcase, the glove compartment, at my mom’s house. This is great in case I find myself separated from my phone while traveling, or with no charge. About every six months (or ya know, when it occurs to me), I replace with updated copies.
This is an updated idea from my former practice, which was to photocopy my address book so I had a back up. I also have a photocopy of my mother’s giant paper address book. This is good for emergencies – I wouldn’t normally have handy contact info about my mother’s friends. I’ve only used it once or twice in actual urgent situations, but it’s also handy for general reference.
I do. I also do Kuyboydol’s all one kind of sock thing.
ETA - My own addition is a separable link for my ignition key, so I can take it off my key chain. Less stress on the ignition switch.
Just realized a new one I have been doing recently…
Scanning in all of that paper that piles up.
I bought a very simple scanner that has nothing more than a USB cord and a button on front “Scan to PDF” (It’s a CanoScan LiDE 70)
Now, when I have a pile of papers I want to dispose of, but I can’t bring myself to do, I just scan them in and put the PDF files in a safe place.
The key point here is ease of use. I tweaked everything so that it truly was a one-press scan. In addition, I set up a custom workflow on my Mac that allows me to select multiple PDFs and join them into one document – this is convenient for ten-page scans.
What better way to keep that page from an English assignment where the teacher wrote such kind things? How about that sheet of paper where my Chinese friend drew a funny cartoon based on Chinese characters? How about important letters that I really don’t need to have hard copies of?
I store these on my network drive (a Linux fileserver), which I back up weekly to a MyBook drive, so with luck these docs will survive anything that the paper docs would have survived.
Here’s a usefull one. When I go to the grocery store and the clerk has bagged up everything, usually three or four items to a bag :eek: I take an extra bag and run it through all of the handles and tie it. That way I’ve got one easy to carry bundle and the groceries won’t spill out all over the car seat.
When I need to spray paint a small area with other parts nearby I will use aluminum foil to mask the other areas. I wraps around things nicely and stays in place. It is easy to apply and remove. I also use it when degreasing an engine and don’t want to get the electronics under the hood wet.
I also keep a few old caps from milk or ketchup bottles to mix small amounts of paint or two-part epoxy together.
I have an old coffee can (with a lid) in the freezer for meat scraps (fat, bone, gristle, shrimp shells, etc.) Keep 'em in there until trash day, and they don’t stink up the garbage. Happy neighbors!
Here’s how I unload my groceries at the checkout. ccc = my cart, M = me, < is the conveyor, C = the checker.
ccc
<<<<<<M
C
I stand at the end of the conveyor with the cart in the lane on my right. I pick up something with my right hand, then transfer it to my left hand. My left hand places it on the conveyor. Years ago I saw someone else use this method and I adopted it immediately. It works so much better than standing at either end of the cart that I just can’t understand why everyone doesn’t do the same. I see someone else use this method only a handful of times a year.
I tried this at the produce store this weekend with small plastic produce bags (they don’t provide ties) and it works like a champ!
The other plastic bag ideas look good, too.
A lesser person than me would hold that against you… you poor, poor bastard you 
I forget whether the idea originated with Typo Knig or with me, but we label the tops of our spice jars.
See, we have bajillions of jars of various spices and herbs. Far too many for any conventional spice rack, and if we put them on the pantry shelf we’d have to sort through too many, knocking most of them down in the process. So I bought 3-4 plastic bins and stuck 'em all in there. However, the bins make the labels impossible to see. Now, when we get a new jar, we take a Sharpie and write the name of the spice on the top.
If it’s a black jar lid, we use a silver Sharpie (that idea was definitely Typo’s - he jokingly suggested it when I was headed to the grocery store, I looked, and sure enough they had 'em!).
Now, we still have to sort through 3+ bins - every attempt to keep them organized by type (savory/sweet/herbs) or name (allspice…basil…coriander…) has failed miserably. Still, it saves a lot of rummaging.
When we remember, we label them with the purchase date also so we can toss the really elderly stuff.