Setting an email timer is one of my favorite tricks for making your boss or colleagues believe you're hard at work while they’re enjoying their beauty rest. Ahem. Here's how to pull it off:

You can write an email message at, say, 2 p.m., but configure Microsoft Outlook (sorry, not Outlook Express) to send the email at 1:31 a.m. What praise you may receive from the boss for your tireless work ethic! Or if it’s Friday afternoon and your boss is on the golf course, cue up a bunch of emails to be sent at 4 p.m., 4:30 p.m. and 5:05 p.m. -- even though you ducked out at 2 p.m. for a pint with your friends.

Step one is simple enough: Write your email message. You can refer to the fact that it's quite late/early if you want (in case they don’t read the time it was emailed).

When you're finished writing your text, click the "Options" button in Outlook, and from the list of delivery options, click the box beside the words: "Do not deliver before." Here you can select the date and time this message should be delivered.

Once a date and time is chosen, the last step is to click "Close" and then "Send." You should see this email message pending in your Outbox folder! Oh, for this to work, you need to keep Outlook open and your computer turned on.