Is it just me?

I don't have #2, but I have #1 and #3.

To me, a pen is a pen. But I do have an itch for the latest in computer software than can help me have the info I need, whenever I need it.

As for #3, I basically just have a ton of half-full complimentary bottles of water in my back seat. The rest of the car is clean.

 

I cannot go into a bookstore because I will walk out with three books that I wasn't even looking for, but I thought they appeared interesting.

I stick with ball-point Paper Mates because they're cheap and I always keep five or six spares in the side pocket of my car, along with notepads.

My car is cluttered because I stop at the mailbox on my way to work, throw the mail in the front seat and occasionally go through the pile of bills and take them in. My county sends out these HUGE loose-leave advertisers with coupons and shit and they invariably always end up EVERYWHERE in my car.

I also have a baseball hat, a few hoodies, umbrella, ice scraper, a few bottles of water, spare Gatorade, some granola bars and plastic Dixie cup with loose change in it (it was parking meter money in college, now it's "making change at the drive-thru" money).

Oh, and a box of Kleenex. I can't go anywhere without it.

NOOOO my car doesn't have a lot of shit in it, what are you talking about?

 

Guilty on all three counts, still, and it's been a long time since I hit the -30- key in anger.

 

somebody was mentioning about buying boxes of writing pens. have done that on occasions, the latest being when I found a new type of pen produced exclusively for OfficeMax...can't remember the name of it right now, but bought a freakin box of 'em and probably haven't used over one and it's been over a year now.
and i have to use retractable pens 99 percent of the time, especially when covering things..otherwise, will invariably leave the damn cap off, put it in the pocket and....Ink Stain Time.
I got on a jag once using actual fountain pens...maybe I was pretending to me some Hemingway, Faulkner intellectual type and that shit worked for about one week after I lost the pen covering a high school game. serves me right trying to be fancy, right?

 

1. I love bookstores. I'm glad that I live within an hour of a Borders now. God, I love that place. Music, movies and books under one roof.
2. Not so much.
3. My car is immaculate. Only my apartment is slightly cluttered.

 

Spud...gosh, I've done interviews to where the pen i was using suddenly started losing ink and I would find myself mumbling, "fuck, crap" or whatever and the person I am interviewing would get tickled and ask, "what's wrong?"
just freaks me out and, as you said, "throws us off kilter"...more and more I stuff two extra pens in my pocket as backups.
i mean, I'm anal as hell about writing equipment when I'm covering stuff...yellow highlighter, red pen, black pen, blue pen...and i've started using those Post-It flags to designate certain areas of my notepad or steno pad for key quotes, things to check on, etc..i've had colleagues see those flags and say, "what in the f.....?"...then we both start laughing. but hey, it works for me.

 

Micke77 says: Spud...gosh, I've done interviews to where the pen i was using suddenly started losing ink and I would find myself mumbling, "fuck, crap" or whatever and the person I am interviewing would get tickled and ask, "what's wrong?"
just freaks me out and, as you said, "throws us off kilter"...more and more I stuff two extra pens in my pocket as backups.

I Should Coco replies: Best backups are those freebee golf scorecard pencils. They rarely break and, unlike pens, work decent when it's raining.

Of course, for those of us who have moved onto the copy desk, our cars get cleaner, our desks get messier and our best red pens get stolen. Don't be a pen thief!

 

BamaDog...damn, I wish we had a Borders. I love that place. We have a Books-a-Million. The Barnes and Nobles which I really like is an hour away, but when I go that way, I swear I will linger three-to-four hours perusing the sports section, reference books, etc.
and then leaving with five or six books that I will put on the back seat of a cluttered vehicle to read "later"....yea, right....I still have three books that I bought at that Barnes and Noble that I have not taking out of the bag. and that was freakin' back in December. but I had to have them at the time.

 

Are you left-handed? Because unless you're left-handed, you really don't understand -- at least not to our extent -- how important a good flow of ink is. It can't be too little; few things frustrate me more than having to write something twice. And it can't be too much because I don't want to drag the ink with me as I scribble along the paper.

 

Haven't all of us who have covered prep football hated the times when you might be trying to cover from the sidelines or, at least, be down there near game's end and it's raining like hell and your freakin' pad is getting soaked and your freakin' pen is fucking up and you're cussing like hell?
isn' there a company that makes waterproofed notepads with appropriate pens to use with it? swear I've seen that somewhere...i mean even the reporter's notepad size i wanna say.

 

I'm pretty sure they made them, they are just expensive. If you are so prepped with pens, highlighters and post-its for everything else, why aren't you prepared for rain?

If there is any chance of rain, and I might need to be outside for football or track, I make sure I have multiple types of plastic bags in my car or backpack. I have plastic grocery bags so I can write on my reporter's notebooks inside the bag. If I'm using a legal pad I'll take a big ziplock bag (normally gallon size) and tear it down the seams. I put the legal pad in the middle, then I can have the bottom dry and lift the top plastic "cover" when I need to write.
I figure doing that is the same as making sure that I have notebook, pen, and recorder when I leave the office.

 

I use a clipboard, and when I'm not writing on the paper, the board-side is up -- shielding the paper from the drops.

Rain knows not to mess with me.