Last night I created a new desktop wallpaper style that I think I'm going to stick with. Essentially you divide your important icons/items up using vertically striped wallpaper the width of each column. Here's a visual so that it all makes sense:
I was inspired by a tip at the Action Method website. While the tip is used to support their own system for getting things done, I think the basic idea is very good. I added labels just to be clear: work, personal dev, and personal fun. Work is for files that come to me for work. Personal dev is for items that are for personal development or personal projects; things like my updated resume, blogs ideas, todo, and web designs. Personal fun is for items that are just for fun. For me this includes photography ideas, music to download, music sent to me, and fun photos. Also, the far right column that contains my drives serves as kind of an inbox for newly downloaded files that aren't sorted yet.
The text at the left of the screen is what is contained in my todo file. While it's kind of nerdy to have text on your desktop, I find it is a more accessible way of actually realizing what is in my todo file. The program that creates this text is called GeekTool.
For icons in the top right taskbar, from left to right, iScrobbler, iBiz, Twitterific, and Caffeine. iScrobbler is for Last.fm integration with iTunes. iBiz is for time tracking. Twitterific is for desktop notifications from twitter (which I will probably remove soon as it drives me crazy). Caffeine is probably the most useful. It lets you turn off your screensaver and screen dim, and that may sound like a small thing, but it's nice for when youtube videos are playing.
For those interested in pursuing this further, here is a PSD of the wallpaper.
