Office1000 Blog November Archive

Arranging the Mountain of Fibers

By Blog Stories at 11/30/2007 11:02

It's difficult to organize papers. I know that myself. I have this knack, you see, for accumulating as much paper in my bag and in my room as I can. What are these papers? Well, they include examination papers that were returned to me, scratch papers that I used to practice my mathematical skills on, laboratory report sheets, lectures, essays, doodles, sketches, flyers (that were handed out to me by some salesmen; I always forget to throw them)--the list goes on. And don't tell me that it's just me because I know that YOU are guilty of this, as well, to a certain degree.

Just like what I have said in a previous post, we tend to keep things because we feel that we will still need them. In my case, I can't throw many of my papers because I feel like they'll still be handy for future laboratory experiments, exams, etc. They make good reviewers.

So given that you cannot throw this beauties away, what can you do so that they will still look neat despite their volume? Compile them, of course.

By 'compile', I mean you have to gather these pieces of paper, arrange and group them according to their functions and the time you had them, staple them together (or punch holes and insert a fastener for thicker bunches), and store them in a neat container. Unless you have to bring them everyday, a box (not a worn-out one) will do the trick.

If you are going to do this, however, remember to buy LOTS of staples and fasteners. Allot a part of your day, too, in doing this work because these papers will not organize themselves. If you can give time to accumulate these stuff, then why not give time to arrange them as well?

Tapes, Floppy Disks, etc

Do I have to say that technology evolves fast? Very fast? Do I have to say that, since technology evolves, some items just need to be replaced because there is something better, more efficient?

However, sometimes, we cannot just discard these thing that have served us for quite some time. That's what hoarders feel. They feel that if they throw away something, they will be missing some part of their life away--or they are just worried that they may still need these things for a future day.

One good device that, in most cases, is obsolete and yet is still in the market is the computer diskette. Oh, I do not know. I do not have a diskette drive in my personal computer but I have bought some diskettes for reasons I do not know. I just felt like buying. I felt like buying it while they are still manufacturing these devices and are not yet phased out. Or... I just love holding diskettes. Well, they are not the best storage devices in the world, but they're definitely one of the most trendiest-looking, with those sliding covers that protect the tape inside.

Perhaps we human beings just love tape?

How could I say that? Well, it isn't diskettes that are still out in the market. In fact, cassettes and cassette players are still sold. There are some in our local appliance store and I have seen one here in Office1000. Hmm. Back in the olden days, we would rewind the played cassettes with our fingers precisely because we did not have rewinders or we were just too lazy to plug the rewinders in the wall socket. But who cares when you now have DVDs?

Naturally, these types of storage devices like cassettes and diskettes had to go out of the running. That's just life. Things come and go. Give it a few years time and DVDs would be vintage items. Items that are now for collection purposes.

Why Hide?

For some reason, I rarely use the telephone to talk to someone. Perhaps I am just not used to transmitting my voice electronically. That is why I probably don't answer a call when I know that the caller has not that anything important to say.

Past telephone technology required us to answer the telephone whoever the caller may be. Fortunately (or unfortunately?), that is not the case now as owners may now choose to answer or not to answer a call without a feeling that that call is important. Some phones can even ban some owner-chosen callers.

By using caller IDs , the owner of a phone unit does not have to answer the call just to know who is on the other line. Perfect for people who are hiding from someone--your ex, the bank, or someone like that. I especially like this device so that I can answer calls that are really important and not calls from some annoying neighbor. It's funny that they call you when, in fact, they're just next door--not that I like to see them in front of my door, anyway.

Of course, there are still calls that are important and yet we are not available to answer them. Here's where answering machines come in (And don't forget that we have answering machines here at Office1000, too.) Callers can leave a message, so they could tell you what they had to tell you. The downside to this is that even annoying callers leave their annoying messages, too... and you have to leave your voice as some kind of warning message. Oh I hate to imagine callers listening to my recorded voice again and again. It seems so unnatural.

...Which just means that regular offline conversations are still the best. At least, in offline conversations, you get to know if the person you're talking to really means what he/she says--something that cannot be done in online conversation anymore.

Sales

OK, for this post, I had some help from my aunt. She's some sort of an expert when it comes to these products, since she was once a cashier in a department store. What I am going to tell you about is this cash register--the 200 Heavy Duty Cash Management System.

With the use of the 200 Heavy Duty Cash Management System, many paperworks become easier--like assorting sales of every department, and inventory of items purchased. There is no need to compute taxable items for it is readily given (automatically computed). For more specific details, just visit our products page.

I remember that my aunt used to tell us stories about her cashiering days. That was in 1980. They also had a cash register but the cash register during those days were a lot LOT different. The evolution of the cash register (from 1980 to the present) is simply amazing--at least in my aunt's opinion. According to her, the register she was able to use before was really big (read: big) and a cashier always had a chance of having a 'short' (when the cash inside the chest does not equal the amount in the computation) because you have to manually compute how much will be the change. They're a little bit 'soundy' when in use, too. Unlike this modernized cash register, almost everything you need is being supplied to.

She also told us that, before, they used sales invoices which serve as the customers' official receipt. That is why the sales clerks were responsible for the computation of purchased items--and again, had a big chance of having a 'short'. Nowadays, only sales order forms are being accomplished and forwarded to the cashier, together with the item purchased. Thus, discrepancies are minimal.

Once, I Was An Engineer

I once dreamed of becoming an engineer. Yep--an engineer. I know for a fact that the richest countries in the world does not necessarily have the best lawyers (Third World countries have lots of good lawyers circumventing their laws). They do not have enough doctors, for they still require the assistance of Third World countries. So, no, it's not them, either. What makes a First World country a First World country is its pool of scientists and ENGINEERS.

Think of the Industrial Revolution. This event in history decided who will be the world's superpowers in the 20th and early 21st century. Great Britain started it. Its eventual use of machines to create products made it possible for them to mass-produce goods of top quality--making them one of the world's major producers of these goods and eventually prolonging their power in today's world. So, where were we? Ah, yes. As I have said, I once dreamed of becoming an engineer, I love mathematics and the physical sciences, you see. And I thought that engineering is the right field for me. I once imagined myself holding some pencil, making blueprints of bridges, towers, highways, and the like. I once imagined myself putting some lead refills inside these drafting pencils after I have finished those blueprints. I once imagined myself wearing some construction helmet, admiring my completed work of art--that is, the building(s) that I engineered.

However, in life, we tend to change decisions when we feel that these decisions are obstructing other ambitions--other dreams. We choose to choose decisions that will not be beneficial only to us, but beneficial to those who are important to us as well. We do not decide solely for ourselves--unless we are irresponsible beings.

In the end, I chose computer science.

My Quest for the Perfect Pen

I was in the middle of writing one day, taking notes while my professor was giving out lectures in physics. I had to rush my writing as she, my physics professor, was talking very very fast, sometimes stopping to write some formulas on the whiteboard. I went on writing nonstop for quite some time when, suddenly and to my utmost horror, the ink of my ballpens dried up! It was really irritating. I have this what I call a 'pen jinx', you see, and my pens usually dry up after a few days.

I find it hard to look for the right pen that won't dry up. Sometimes, when I get lucky, I can use a ballpen until it gets empty. But when I buy a pen of the same brand, again, thinking that it's the brand name I've been looking for (for years), I just get disappointed because it dries up before emptying.

I do not know why they dry up, for I make sure my pens are capped and I make sure that I do not drop them, especially in the case of sign pens, whose pins might break when dropped. I deserve more--we deserve more--than having these pens of poor quality. I pay for all the ink contained in these pens' containers, so I do not know why I cannot use it to the last drop. I have not mishandled them, so there is no reason for them to malfunction.

I just hope that these pens--ballpens and sign pens--from Office1000 will do the trick. They look OK, as far as I can see, and looking at their price tags, they look like they are worth the money it costs to buy them.