The old saying goes, “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.” Why can’t you play while you work, and get the best of both worlds?

No matter what I’m doing, high on my list of important things is to have fun while doing it. I like joking around and I like having fun, as anyone forced to be in the next cubicle over from me will attest. (Ask anyone who tried to get work done within, say, 20 feet of my cubicle at Woodshop News.)

Being the class clown happens all the time in these blogs – whether you’ve noticed or not – because I love to hide little “Easter Eggs” for the eagle-eyed to spot. Sometimes they’re general that anyone could find; sometimes they’re just for one or two people I know may be reading. But the thing of it is, is that they always fit with the text – if you don’t spot the joke, the text reads normally. I also play around with my projects, hiding little jokes and references where I can.

Those are some old-style shipping crates I made for living history use (the ones I created the “rough-sawn” wood for last week). I wanted some generic markings and created a couple stencils, putting a small Easter Egg in each. The one on the flat crate should be obvious to any Trekkie: 1701 is the number on the hull of the USS Enterprise. The other is a bit more obscure, and only someone into a particular series of pulp novel adventures from the 1930s and ’40s would likely spot that one.

Yeah, I can be both a geek and a nerd sometimes. But you know what? It’s harmless and I get a chuckle out of doing it. They don’t affect the end result in any way for those who don’t see or get the joke, having fun makes the work go faster, and if someone spots it then as far as having fun while you work goes it’s a win-win for me. I don’t believe in the all-work scenario; play is just as important to me as work.

Say what you will, but I don’t think anyone would accuse me of being a dull boy.

A.J.