Okay, I’m a pack rat

My brain is a bit tired today – I actually had to think at work. So, in lieu of thinking, here’s a list of all the stuff on my computer desk, as of 7:05 PM today.

• The salad I’m finishing up as I write this
• A piece of cardboard that used to hold a Pizza Pizza slice (which, now that I think of it, tastes much like cardboard)
• A napkin to go with same
• Two external hard drives
• The bowl I ate my cereal from this morning
• My water glass
• My monitor
• Three books to put my monitor at the optimal ergonomic level (the top of the screen should be at eye level)
• My keyboard and mouse
• Three “All American Ads” books, which put my keyboard and mouse at the optimal ergonomic level
• A Wacom graphics tablet
• A pen for same
• Several sheets of paper that reminded me to do stuff at some time or other
• My cellphone
• Warranty information for my cellphone
• CDs containing my business card and brochure (for taking to a copy shop)
• The lid from a plastic tub that held mushrooms three days ago (I threw this out as soon as I realized what it was)
• An Albert Einstein action figure! Yay! E=mc squared!
• A pen
• A copy of Douglas Coupland’s Microserfs
• A copy of Karen Hines’ Hello, Hello
• My Society for Technical Communication 2007 annual dues notice
• A notice from my landlord reminding me of my City of Toronto rent decrease (the property taxes went down on my unit, so the city wrote to tell me that my rent was down about five bucks a month – yay again!)
• A stack of various CDs containing data I burned off my computer at one point or another
• A copy of my friend Cary West’s film, Method Porn (I play a very small role as somebody doing something embarrassing with underwear)
• Some Partridge Family trading cards (from the blue and yellow series!)
• A stack of blank CDs
• Another stack of blank CDs, because I forgot about the first set of blank CDs and went out and bought more
• A plush black cat toy, made by my friend Brenda Green; I was going to give this to my niece, but I liked it so much that I kept it
• A scrap of paper containing some writing ideas – the ideas suck, but I hate throwing anything out
• A credit card, which I had to cancel this week (long story)
• A glasses case
• Family snapshots
• My computer speakers
• Some old computer speakers
• Cal Ripken and Eric Hinske bobblehead dolls
• Scotch tape
• Duct tape
• An empty medicine container, which used to hold the medication that treated a nasty arm infection I had two years ago (I keep it as a souvenir, I don’t know why)
• Six vegetable crackers, wrapped in plastic, which have long since gone stale
• A collection of all my old business cards
• The user’s guide for Turbo Texas Hold’Em for Windows
• The installation CD for something or other that I don’t remember
• A yellow highlighter that doesn’t work any more
• More family pictures
• Assorted salt, pepper and “Refreshing Towel” packages
• A cable that connects something with something else – I’ve forgotten what
• Another highlighter – I haven’t used this one, so I think it still works
• Some notes on how much leading goes best with particular point sizes
• Still more family snapshots
• Some old-style floppy disks
• A mouse pad with Marvin the Martian on it
• Another mouse pad
• Chapstick
• Flotsam
• Jetsam
• Junk
• That’s it

Perhaps I should clean this up sometime soon.

Too many things in my wallet

I have altogether too many things in my wallet. I guess it’s time for a culling.

Here’s what’s in there as I write this, going from front to back, in order:

• My laundry card (which also gives me two free 12-hour tickets for my building’s visitors parking lot every month)
• A January 2007 Metropass
• The address of a party I was invited to, written on the back of a business card
• A December 2006 Metropass
• Another address, on another business card
• The envelope that a Chapters gift certificate came in (“A Special Gift For You”)
• A business card from a friend of mine who lives in Windsor
• Yet another address
• A receipt for an iPod power adapter I bought from Compusmart ($45.59, including tax)
• One more address
• The date and time for the last job interview I had (I got the job)
• A November 2006 Metropass
• Another address
• My University of Waterloo Alumni Membership Card (which, I believe, allows me lifetime admission to their Grad Club pub)
• My Royal Bank client card
• A credit note from Chapters, after I returned a potential Christmas gift because I realized it was stupid
• Two actual business cards
• A piece of paper with the dollar value of the savings bonds in my safety deposit box (now out of date, as I cashed some)
• One more address
• My Toronto Public Library card
• My access card for work (which has a picture of me that makes me look like a serial killer)
• My TD Canada Trust client card
• A Chapters iRewards card, good until next July
• A Chapters gift card (the one that the envelope used to hold), with “Joy to the Word” written on it in script
• My Royal Bank credit card
• The name of the hotel I was staying in on Christmas Eve
• Still another address
• A card that activates the Metro Reference Library’s copying machines
• The date and time of my last appointment related to this
• My driver’s licence
• My health card
• An official receipt for my December 2006 Metropass, entitling me to a tax deduction
• A note advising me to keep my January 2007 Metropass as a receipt, as the TTC is no longer issuing separate receipts for Metropasses
• My Society for Technical Communication membership card
• My Bad Dog Theatre Company membership card
• A card with my GST number on it, as there’s no way I’m gonna remember that
• My blood donor’s card (I haven’t given in a long long time, alas)
• Email addresses of the people I was sitting with at the career planning workshop I went to
• About a dozen of my own business cards (I have two kinds – one normal, and one with lots of wonderful qualifications written on it)
• An almost totally destroyed Mountain Equipment Co-op membership card
• Pictures of three of my nephews (which are quite out of date now)

Oh, I almost forgot: I’ve also got $65 in there.