ukulele mousepad: the silent way to keep your hand on your uke all day

I've got a corporate day job that goes back and forth between being stressful and mind-numbing, and often wish I could pick up my uke and strum away the stress in my office. However, that sort of thing wouldn't exactly go over too well.

So on a whim I designed a mousepad with a picture of the body of one of my ukes, and it came out great. I did it at Zazzle.com, a site that makes custom merchandise, using designs or photos that you provide. I've made a few things there - t-shirt, mugs, etc. - and they've usually come out great. And when they haven't, Zazzle has been cool about giving me a refund.

It arrived in the mail yesterday, and the photo is almost exactly the size as my uke. Two thumbs up to Zazzle! (Note - this image is a mockup from the zazzle site, not an actual photo of my mousepad. But the colors on the actual pad came out very much like this - vivid and rich.)



I'm not affiliated with Zazzle - just wanted to pass on this idea to you folks. This month they offer free shipping, using the code "JUNESHIPFREE." Another site I've used for custom merchandise is Cafepress.com, which is very similar to Zazzle.

Anyhoo, I thought some of you might enjoy having a photo of your uke under your hand, even when you're not allowed to make any noise.

Now you have to get a mouse shaped like a hand and you can strum away all day

This is a wonderful idea for those of us with thankless office jobs who couldn't get away with bringing a uke. What's even better is if you can have the office pay for your new mousepad and write it off as a business expense. You wouldn't believe the crap I've had work pay for (but don't tell my boss!)