The Spider in My Office

I have had a spider in my office terrorizing me for most of the summer. I first noticed him when sitting at my desk, and he was on the floor approximately 13 feet, 2.7 inches away. I was fine with that distance, but kept an eye on him just in case. Every time I looked up from my desk, he was a foot closer, but I never saw him moving. (Kinda like stealth cat, for those of you familiar with that you-tube sensation.)So I am sure he was watching me just as I was watching him.

I accidentally got absorbed in my work and didn't check on him for about an hour. When I looked at his last location, he was gone. I looked all around the room and couldn't see him, but spiders are wily, so I figured he was hiding in some nook just waiting to jump out at me. I was wrong. On a whim, I looked under my desk. The spider was one inch away from my bare foot. Yes, he was able to check off "Make the fat lady jump and scream like a lunatic" off his to-do list that day.

The next time I saw him, several days later (I assume he was regaling all his spider pals with his awesome feat of making a person that big get that far off the ground), he was on the counter above the laundry chute. The same counter where I keep my fan. When I looked up, he was gone. On to him, I quickly checked under my desk. Not there. Still, I kept my feet off the ground for the rest of the day.

At the end of the day, I powered down my computer and went to turn off the fan, same as I do every night before bed. F'ing spider was sitting in a crook at the base of the fan! He won. The fan has been on for about 48 days straight now. Not sure how I'll address this come winter.

Apparently not satisfied with me compulsively checking my feet and leaving the fan on so he could enjoy a nice breeze 24/7, the next time spider showed up, he was trying to look innocent while perched about 3 inches above the hook on the wall where I hang my headphones when not in use. Now, I don't have cable and I don't have an iPod and I'm a gamer, so there's no way I'm going to avoid my headphones, spider be damned. Although I did go to bed early that day, rather than watching TV and playing games in the evening as usual. By early, I mean around 11am.

Next day, he was gone. Yes, I do inspect my headphones now before putting them on. But I'm concerned I may have missed him one time because he's been MIA for about a month now. My hearing is fine, the side of my face hasn't developed a swollen lump and I haven't had any creepy-crawly sensations coming out of my ears. Yet.

You may wonder why I didn't just kill the spider when I first saw him. Thing is, I know he's good to keep around, keeps the insect population in check. That, and his spider black box would've been activated, letting every spider within a 5 mile radius know I'd squashed one of their own. I was not about to open THAT can of worms. One spider in my office is about all I can deal with.