Terminalcoffee discussion

What's the deal? So many of you have recently professed a deep abundant love for pencils, post its and fresh stacks of manila envelopes. I could give a good gosh darn about them.
I'll use any old pencil you find me, as long as it has the scratchy kind of lead and not soft. And I prefer a gooshy, roller ball type of pen, but I'll use a ballpoint too.
I do enjoy a nice fresh pack of highlighter pens, but again, there seem to be enough floating around in the universe that I'll not be purchasing them any time in the near future.

What's your deal with office supplies? What do you purchase to feel fresh and ready in the office, and what will you make do with? Why do you care so much about staples and paper clips?

When I had my own company I used to enjoy stocking up on this sort of stuff. Now I hate having to buy printer ink cartridges from HP, they're priced so outrageously. About all I buy these days is a pack of cheap copy paper once in a while.

I have several boxes of pens with my old company name on them -- enough to probably last a lifetime.

For me, Sally, it's fun finding the perfect pen (very important!) that fits right in your hand, the texture of the ink, has the right balance and weight, and doesn't slip and slide across the page but nor does it stick, gotta slide smoothly but but my control. Ha, I just realized this is probably the way knights used to feel about their daggers and swords!

Then there's the paper - a notebook with the pages that smell and feel lovely.

I guess I'm not talking about the ho hum paper clips so much. But there are some very cool paper clips! For different sizes, do you have a teeny pile of paper that needs attachment or is it a big fat pile? And they come in different colors too!

Ahhh, then there's the file folders. Some need to be special. Because you use them all the time, so you don't want that chinzy faux paper that's not gonna hold up to the constant grabbing. And some of them get very very fat, those big projects, and require one of those smaller accordion folders.

The planning involved in this really satisfies my OCD! I start visualizing how the project will go, how I will organize it, already things are clicking into place.

Come to think of it, I'm showing my age here. Do people have hard copies of things anymore, or is everything on the computer? I don't do that, I like to have my notes, correspondence, and well, for most of my jobs, whatever creatives have turned - writing, photos, art, mechanicals (ha! that's long past!), proofs, etc.

Oh Lori, I agree with all you said! I have everything on my computer, but I also have hard copies. It is my pleasure to write... to choose the right pen and the right notebook, to put all my papers in the right folders.

I love office supplies for their order and possibility. I walk into an office supply store and see a clean pad of paper and think of all I could do with that...write a poem, a letter, etc. Office supplies are open enough, if you will, that they engender creativity.

I also feel organized and prepared around office supplies. For example, buying/acquiring (I usually just get them from the supply cabinet at work) means I'm engages in calming projects that will get me ready for, say, the start of the semester. So I have a new notebook for keeping track of attendance, etc. And on the day before classes start I put out all my materials on my desk knowing I can walk in tomorrow ready to teach. My blood pressure is lowered. All is good with the world.

I don't do hard copies very much anymore, Lori, but I back up files in different places...

What's not to love about office supplies? But pens are my favorite. I love trying out new pens and having a stash of my favorite pens and using purple or green ink from time to time (which is not the boss' favorite thing).

My son made me a pen in woodworking class, and I thought that I was going to have to make a concerted effort to use it, only to find out that the weight and grip were near perfect for my hand. It is my new favorite.

That's awesome, Jim!

I love pens, just the right pen with a fine nib, and smooth-flowing ink is a joy.
I love notebooks that promise organization, and post-it notes in pretty colors.

I was in a meeting with some executives from Office Depot once (I was doing some consulting for them) and realized my legal pad had Office Max on the top. Fortunately, nobody noticed.

Misha wrote: "A clean notepad or notebook and the right pen just brim with possibility. I find myself constantly buying writer's notebooks at Barnes & Noble just because I love the hope they engender that they'll soon be filled with something wonderful."

Yes! That's it!

I love notepads. From a very young age, I loved them. The ones with logos I love most.

I like black pens with a fine or medium point for writing and drawing.

I like fresh notebooks and good quality paper . I like pencils in tins.
I also enjoy a box of bulldog clips . I use them to seal the frozen peas and the cereal packets after I open them. It is useful to have an assortment of sizes.

I never seem to have enough chip clips.

My latest favourite item is something I picked up in a hurry from Smiggle. It is a pen one end and a highlighter the other. Very very handy.

Now, where did I put it?

You baked it into a cake.

Sallers, I'm like a depression era hoarder when it comes to pens. I don't know what my deal is. I have hundreds of them, felty ones, juicy roller-balls, ball points, Sharpies in every color and loads of highlighters in a rainbow of choices. I get all giddy in Office Depot.

I have this nephew who was never held as a baby until my little sister's folks adopted him at 1 1/2. (Seriously, his head is flat on the back from being in his car seat all the time.) Anyway, as a result he has some...uh...issues. Well, when he was little he used to LOVE to go to Office Depot (like 4/5/6 years old) and buy organizers for his drawers and boxes of paperclips and stuff. I'm not sure what this means for me, but I used to take him all the time and we would have a ball buying the dumbest stuff.

At work I simply have to have a decent supply (oh a dozen or so) Pilot V-Ball pens, in blue. Luckily I order all of the office supplies and they don't question me.

Amelia wrote: "I have this nephew who was never held as a baby until my little sister's folks adopted him at 1 1/2."


This makes me want to curl up and stay in bed . Too sad.

I was in Office Depot yesterday looking for coffee filters (yes, I was desperate, the first two stores I went to didn't have any. Neither did Office Depot, at least the flat kind I need). The "greeter" was so creepy. He looked like the total stereotypical guy who lives in his parents' basement and was way too enthusiastic about office supplies. He pretend-cried when we discovered they didn't have the flat filters, because he hadn't been able to help me.

I'm not sure I could have kept from actually cringing!

Lobstergirl wrote: "I was in Office Depot yesterday looking for coffee filters (yes, I was desperate, the first two stores I went to didn't have any. Neither did Office Depot, at least the flat kind I need). The "gr..."

Our local stores have had shortages of coffee filters lately (we need cone shaped, #2). What's up with that?

I don't know....are they used in meth production or anything?

Are people using them to make Etsy arts and crafts?

Well, around here they certainly aren't using them for coffee.

Hmm, maybe stores around you just don't stock very many to begin with, then. And run out of them sooner. Unless Mormons are allowed to, and drink a lot of decaf coffee?

I love office supplies. From sticky notes to pens to printer cartridges. Oh! Oh! And paper in lots of colors and colored Sharpies. Labels and envelopes... I guess need to get out more.

LG, want me to send you some coffee filters? I'll send them to 123 Main Street, Anytown, USA. You can pick them up there.

I finally found some at CVS (4th store I went to). But that actually is my address. How did you know?

Figured it out from reading so many detective stories.

Went to office depot with my boss today to buy a new printer. Couldn't help myself, spent $10 on a pack of multi-colored pens at the check-out...

I feel dirty.

Because you tested all the pens on your arm? I've done that before.

No, but I did test them as soon as I got back to the office. Then I stashed them in my backpack for when the inevitable need arises for multi-colored pens...

I want to go to the office supply store with Melia and LG. Melia will understand my pen/pencil obsession and LG will let me test out pens on her arms whilst we peruse the paper tablets.

I use binder clips for closures to food bags. I buy them with designs on them whenever I come across them.

Giant paper clips are pretty dynamite.