The Olympic gold medal men’s hockey game is on in the background as I re-type this (I’ve already lost it once in blogger – NEVER type in blogger, ALWAYS type in Word and then copy and paste it to blogger – you’ll save yourself some major headaches). Canada is tied with US at the moment. Wouldn’t it be nice to see the United States men out on the ice after the game…celebrating with cigars, PBR and champagne? I’m keeping my fingers crossed but it’s a bit difficult to type that way.
I spent the last hour taking the final few steps to rid my life of paper…I’m transferring birthdays and anniversaries from my pleather-bound calendar to a free iPhone application I just downloaded. This is a major step in my life and included passing on one of my annual traditions: going to the Office Depot to carefully pick out a weekly-tabbed Day Runner with a yearly overview, address book, birthday reminder sheet and a list of international holidays. I tried this "getting rid of paper" thing once before in my life and swore I would never put all of my chickens in the same coop ever again. At least as long as I knew darned well that there was a raccoon around that could take them all down in one bite. Back in the 90’s I converted my life to a Palm Pilot – what a mistake since God was clearly not my Palm Co-Pilot. I promptly lost everything when it crashed, rolled and burned – nothing, not even my grandmother’s address and phone number, was pulled out alive.
Of course I won’t be able to completely give up on paper for a few reasons:
1. My writing utensil fetish. I love a good pen or pencil. Anything from a Sharpie to a fountain pen. My favorite is a black flair felt tip since that’s what my Dad always used at work and to draw his famous dog. I guess a Sharpie is my second favorite since Dad always has one in his pocket (right next to the box-cutters and rubber band wallet).
2. My attachment to mail. I love receiving cards. I’ll sift through all of the junk mail with no problems if I think that mailbox has a card in it. Hanukkah, Kwanza, Valentine’s, Confederate Memorial Holiday, I don’t care. Just send me a card with some handwriting in it. And heaven help our crazy mail lady if it’s my birthday and she decides to skip our mailbox just because a car is parked in front of it. I’ll chase her down like a dog.
3. Clippings from mom. Life would not be the same if I didn’t receive articles from the Ad-Visor, Marshall Evening Chronicle or Battle Creek News that were lovingly cut with left-handed pinking shears. Sure, I can read the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Atlanta Urinal and Constipation on my iPhone, but it’s not the same as receiving an article from mom that she thought I would like.
4. My love of lines. I can’t live without graph paper, journals, diaries, legal pads, composition books, and post-it notes. I love to write, with a cool pen, on paper.
So, we’re in overtime now in the Olympic hockey game. Guess I’ll watch it so that I don’t have to read about it tomorrow in the paper…
