Kevin's Watch

Open your desk. What's in the top drawer, that catch-all compartment?

Here's mine (just the closest, handiest, most-used compartment):

Box of 5000 staples (less than 100 left)
100 all-purpose labels
A few assorted post-its stuck together
Scissors
A shoe-lace
4 pink balloons
Staple remover
Small padlock with key
Several Sharpie pens
1 highlighter
biros- black and red
wet-erase markers
A plastic whistle, yellow
A pink ribbon
Another, smaller padlock
rubber pencil grips, assorted
A card with an inspirational saying and a kitten picture
A partial sheet of stickers- purple hippos and yellow giraffes
Small pencil sharpener
measuring tape
One Lipton tea bag
Assorted broken zipper pulls (I can't throw them away with kids watching, then I forget about them)
1 blue crayon, paper removed

Boy, do I need to clean out!

.357 Magnum
Crack pipe
Syringe
Various baggies with powdery substances
A can of diet coke
A stuffed animal in the form of a kitty

This the top desk drawer at work. I'll have to check once I'm home what is in the desk drawer of my computer desk that is in the children's room. It's fairly close in content, if I remember correctly.

Very much the same as deer of the dawn plus:
various membership and business cards (other people's)
two of those rubber things you put on the end of your finger to count money with
bulldog clips (various sizes)
paper clips (ditto)
cash box key and fob
blusher brush (used for cleaning dust out of computer tower)
small paint brush (ditto)
two rolls of tape (parcels, doing up, for the use of)
one roll of duck tape (ditto)
letter openers
rulers
compass (for drawing circles)???!
two dead batteries
sharp knife (for getting bits out of keyboard)
Tipp-ex
large collection of various writing impliments
etc. etc. etc.

No stuffed animals, but Pooh Bear sits behind me.

I work for a firm where everyone's desk is a flat-finish door panel on 4x4 legs. No drawers at all.

Despite what you might think, this is not some shoestring startup. It is a big company and a household name; it just has an eclectic and frugal culture, of which these desks are just one manifestation.

(Yes, I do have a bobblehead buffalo. Thanks for asking.)

Mine is really boring, sorry.

Desk drawer organizer tray containing: push pins; a few cool-shaped paper clips; rubber bands; medium, small, and tiny binder clips; blue, yellow, green and pink highlighters; black and red chisel-tip permanent markers; a glue stick that's kind of dried out, but the firm's not buying them any more so I'm keeping it; various sizes of post-its; two cards from an office cleanup several years ago, both proclaiming "I'm Paper-Wise"; scraps of paper listing passwords for people I've worked with, some of which may actually still be good; calculator; mechanical pencil, Bic pen, dead refillable ballpoint; letter opener that I always forget to use; pair of scissors; eraser; an emery board from San Diego; staple remover; wallet card with directions for accessing work voicemail from home (good place for it, huh? ); Blistex Lip Medex
Several empty paper clip boxes, positioned to wedge the tray in place (it kind of works...)
Plastic box containing more push pins
An actual Rolodex card from a visa processing place, as if anybody has actual Rolodexes any more
Boxes of staples for the regular and heavy-duty staplers on my desk
More post-its
Liquid Paper
Two more highlighters, yellow and blue
Another eraser
Two full boxes of paper clips
Post-it flags: blue, purple, pink, red, green, teal, yellow, orange, white ones with a question mark, yellow ones that say "SIGN HERE", green ones that say "SIGN & DATE", and teal ones that say "NOTE"
Spare key-fob-sized CVS card
A couple of horribly outdated business cards
And two Starbucks gift cards with zero balances.

Good thing you didn't ask about the other drawers....

You people are way OCD ...I can't even find drawers, too much stuff on/hanging off/stacked around it.

Anyone surprised
That Vraith cannot find his drawers
Because of his junk?

How should we take that?
It's probably straightforward
But more fun if not

My desk doesn't have drawers, so I am going to refer to a wooden box that I use for the sort of stuff I would keep in a drawer.

Credit card
Checkbook
A $2 bill
My favorite pen, well-gnawed by a cat
3 small origami Borg cubes, 2 of them made from nice paper, one made from a Verizon ad (have a friend who is obsessed with origami)
Instruction manuals for various appliances (unread)
Roll of tape
2 Mini DV tapes and a flash drive
A model of the Starship Enterprise
Ice scraper for my freezer (I totally knew where it was )


I realize that keeping the Enterprise and Borg cubes in the same drawer is asking for trouble, but I have very limited space here.

A picture of Mani, my dog, from the first evening that I brought him home as a pup.
An old set of keys
A small phillips screwdriver
A pocket tire pressure gauge
The manual for my ham radio transceiver (the radio gear sits on top the desk)
A spare 2 foot cable for the above.
A patch for the Ten Ten radio club that I joined.
A lapel pin for the Geneva Lakes Kennel Club, a now closed greyhound racing track in Wisconsin.
An old lighter with the logo of my dad's company when he was a sales rep (dates from at latest 1973)
My H.S. freshman year school I.D.
The sight scope for my 4 1/4" reflecting telescope. The telescope itself is in the garage in need of a major rehab project.
A political type button, but instead of supporting a politician, it was made in memory of a deceased friend of mine.
An Apple USB cable coiled in the tape it came in the box from, either for my iPhone or iPad, I can't remember which.
Several business cards

.... .- -- / .-. .- -.. .. --- ..--.. / .--. .-. . - - -.-- / -.-. --- --- .-.. .-.-.-

At work, not much.

Some pens, (mostly black ones), paperclips, (which I tend to chew on in lieu of smoking in the office rather than their intended use), staples and a stapler, a big lump of Prestik, (like Blu Tack, but white), and, from my days in the printing industry, a rolled up piece of positive, printed with a ruler, protractor, tint and gradient measuring guides, and a scale for measuring printed font sizes. (That last being why I keep it around.)

In descending order, the other drawers contain papers to shred, papers to keep for now and all my full work notebooks (7 so far), and finally, mostly empty files of stuff we'll probably never look at again.

My home desk is much less organised.

--A

Glad to see I'm not the only secret hoarder/clutterer!! My nightstand at home is the same way. I keep my environment pretty organized, and I hate to SEE clutter, but I'm real good at squirrelling it away.

deer of the dawn wrote:Glad to see I'm not the only secret hoarder/clutterer!! My nightstand at home is the same way. I keep my environment pretty organized, and I hate to SEE clutter, but I'm real good at squirrelling it away.

Me too! People at work comment on how clean the top of my desk is. It's just a good thing they don't ever look in my drawers...

Damelon wrote: An old lighter with the logo of my dad's company when he was a sales rep (dates from at latest 1973)

Oh, boy, that is old. I got married that year. I was a child bride of course.

Dread Poet Jethro wrote:Anyone surprised
That Vraith cannot find his drawers
Because of his junk?

I read that to my wife. She cracked up...and said if all poetry was like that she wouldn't hate it so much.
As revenge for her laughing at my untidy-ness, AND for hating most poetry, this is the list for ONE of her small drawered endtables:
wine glass [empty]
nail polish remover [1]
nail polish [2]
3 differents sizes of scissors.
2 different sizes see-through rulers
1 tape measure.
3 click pencils, 2 without any lead.
2 purple pens, 1 without any ink.
knife
needlecraft book.
hostess cupcakes.
2 remote controls [1 for a vcr that is in the basement, non-functional]
empty ziploc bag.
ziploc bag with hand lotion, deodorant, mascara, spool of thread, needlecase, black and green sharpies.
thumb drive
external hard drive
safety pins.
3 old shopping lists.
cat-claw clippers.
chocolate-almond brittle.

Nothing weird in that list but the wine glass. She'd put a wine glass in a drawer?

Good thing I was at work when I did my inventory. My desk at home only has one drawer and it's quite the catch-all....

Iolanthe, I was a sophomore in high school in '73.

Ok, so I got home and looked in my drawer. I decided that this necessitated a rare "from home" appearance. (Usually I read or play games when I get home, and don't go online.)

But there's no way I could remember all this stuff tomorrow.

A swatch of bubble wrap. (Probably from a computer part.)

A 2-pin / 3-pin plug adaptor.

A large matchbox of the type of firecracker that you strike like a match to light.

A box of 5000 staples.

3 pairs of scissors.

2 white shoelaces.

2 Fischer space pen boxes.

A book of matches (2 left) from a night club a friend used to DJ at...15 years ago.

A photo of a model tank.

A photo of me, aged 2, that my father sent to my girlfriend.

A photo of my girlfriend, aged about 10.

A zip-lock bank bag filled with other bank bags.

Some random small zip-locks filled with seeds.

A small ceramic mime mask, about the size of 2 thumbs next to each other.

A stainless steel letter opener, in a sheath that I've been looking for for ages, but for which I now cannot find the knife to which it belongs.

A wooden letter opener...maybe North African.

A small name plate with my name on it.

A couple of notes from the GF.

A small note from my high school English teacher on the occasion of my graduation.

My old favourite pair of sunglasses, that now only come out when I break a current pair.

A small French prayer book, Heures Chretiennes, a daily liturgy I think...it starts with Matins, has the prayer for confession, for the dead, etc. Must have been my great grandmothers. Little paper badge inside of the sacred heart, (blood, flames, thorns) with the motto and a little message below...something about 100 days and Pius IX. It has the date 1877 on it.)

A small perspex square on which is written, "In order to save the world, we must perform acts of random kindness, and senseless beauty."

My 12 year dead grandmothers address book.

A bunch of small iron badges from my GF's fathers annual bike and tattoo show. (Various years.)

A 5-year old invoice from my storage place.

Some 2 year old bank printouts.

A small blue glass "stone" that's chipped. (A cast-off from my Go board.)

A roll of rolling papers. (Like a small thin toilet roll of Rizla.)

A packet of emergency (horrible red) Rizla's.

My 6 year dead mothers old Minolta Pocket Automatic.

A halogen globe for my desk lamp.

A tiny shoe polishing thing from Mauritius Air. (I haven't polished a shoe in more than 10 years.)

A cue ball.

10 smallish safety pins.

A keyring that says "Canada" and has a maple leaf and a picture of a rabbit in blue and white checked shorts.

A silver cigarette case, (once upon a time my snorting kit), that now contains a thin purple braid of my GF's hair, and a small dreadlock from an old friend.

A single screw of the type attached to your computer plugs to keep them in.

A metal tab you break off your tower to make space for a new port.


And that is my top drawer. I wasn't brave enough to open the second one.

At least I threw the old bank printouts away.

--A

aliantha wrote:Iolanthe, I was a sophomore in high school in '73.

Oh dear, another word I had to look up (sophomore)! Dictionary wearing out. Afraid I was in 3rd year of college, post school, almost 21. Still, I chose the right bloke, 40 years next January.

aliantha wrote:Nothing weird in that list but the wine glass. She'd put a wine glass in a drawer?

heh...no...I guess I wasn't clear...it's a very small thing so I included what was ON it as well as IN the tiny space.

Vraith wrote:

aliantha wrote:Nothing weird in that list but the wine glass. She'd put a wine glass in a drawer?

heh...no...I guess I wasn't clear...it's a very small thing so I included what was ON it as well as IN the tiny space.

Okay, I feel better now.

desk at home - just the TOP drawer...

campus police NH State Hospital patch

David Ball UNH football card, signed

Carl Yazstremski baseball card (2007)

19 assorted NH matchbook covers (sans matches)

my social security card

New Hampshire gimmick dollars x4 (with NH facts)

my father's last drivers license

my KoC card (expired)

set of earplugs from work

a letter i've never read

receipt for a money sent to an ex gf

pack of Peanut's unopened Halloween pencils

story of the Christian fish symbol given to me by a priest

artwork idea clipped from the Houston Chronicle

2 packs of papermate pens (1 unopened)

two yellow hi-liters

one unblown balloon from Daniel Johnston's 50th birthday concert

one wristwatch with Red SOx B logo

one exacto knife - blade intact

4 ink pens - variety

one fake jewel encrusted pen - (don't think it works)

one unsharpened pencil

Husker Du sticker (still unstuck anywhere)

two pack hand warmer pads

second set of earplugs from work

three Wizard of Oz glass pieces with pics inside (1 Scarecrow, 1 Tinman1 Wicked Witch)

one boy scout whistle - (year unknown)

compass that belonged to my dad in metal casing - not working

one metal KoC matchbook holder - gold colored. year unknown.

picture of me, Julie and Willie Nelson.

set of 8 keys, origins unknown (from ebay)

set of three keys on ring, personal (two from last unit, and house key)

key and locking thing from car we used to own

father's plastic scratch off coin from NH lottery

plastic NO Mardi Gras coin from 1968 (my birth year)

old skeleton key

old pen knife that belonged to julie's dad

swiss army knife julie bought me

small staple remover

key we got in the mail - car promotion

stone that Jenn gave me from the river on the day we left New Mexico

set of five rocks with paint from David Addickes studio

Harlequin Antiques business card (our favorite local antique store)

one old Tatuey bottle cap from art car museum ground the week after my friend Tom was killed there. (he was the curator)

toggle switch from one our art pieces that was shown at the art car museum.

Mary, Mother of Christ medallion

do not stack sticker - for future art project

Franklin Pierc $1 gold cololred coin

Dallas Zoo flatened penny piece embossed with their logo

brass coin slug

1957 Cinco Centavos piece

two shell casings from the first time i qualified at the range at work - one ar15 casing and one .357 casing.

two Dc Flashpoint buttons (Captain Cold and Secret 7)

eight service hashmarks for work(each reps 5 years - for four uniforms)

legend of Santa Claus card

two decorative keys on ring

two small crosses

two sides screw bit

small Santa Claus charm

small 'two crossed pistols' charm

calculator batter still in box

fsm III pin - no backing , from work

keyring in the shape of a car

one 1971 New Penny

two american pennies

one fortune form cookie (you are endowed with strength of purpose and energy of will)

two spent fuses - very small

one metal playing jack

one green metal piece - origin unknown

metal box thing with clip - origin unknown

faceplate from temp probe from walk in freezer at work

small container that once held Blessed Oil

small welded screw bit to small t-from (unknow inmate made - i found)

various metal bits (pins, paperclips, and stuff from work)