End Game: Stay Cool and Chill Out

It's not even 9:30 a.m. yet, and several of my sleep-deprived associates are already filing down the hall for their second cups of coffee. There goes Redeye Joe, who has colicky twins at home, and Singapore Sarah, fresh from another trans-Pacific flight. Twilight Tim, who has been up all night working on a client presentation, is bringing up the rear. Once the shot of caffeine wears off, they'll be back yet again.
Unlike my highly caffeinated colleagues, I already know that an espresso chaser isn't likely to recharge my oh-so-expired batteries. What I need is a nap. You, too? Well, try to keep those lids propped open a little longer, and read on. Certain firms — Deloitte Consulting, for example — have opened their eyes to the sleep-deprived state of their workforce and created nap rooms in some of their offices. I don't work for them, so I improvise. Borrowing a page from a time-tested manager (a.k.a. Seinfeld's George Costanza), I close my door and pull out the goose down pillow stashed in my lower desk drawer. The pillow, which comes with attached ties, rolls up into a six-inch cylinder for discreet carrying in a briefcase or for taking on a plane. Unrolled, it puffs back into a fluffy 16″ x 20″ noggin rest.
The travel pillow costs $39 and is available from The Company Store in La Crosse, WI, at (800) 285-3696. It comes in five colors. For the allergy-prone, the pillow is available in a synthetic down called Primaloft. Thirty winks and I'm as perky as a Starbucks in Seattle. Somehow, miraculously, I have managed to resist the Costanzalike urge to curl up in the chair well of my desk — but it wasn't easy.