Years ago, when I worked for a real newspaper, our political editor - a crotchety old guy who fought in Italy as an Army colonel in World War II - had a typically cluttered desk topped with a sign that said, "A clean desk is a sign of a frightened mind."
I always liked that sentiment and, for the most part, my observations of other people's desks bore it out.
But every once in a great while - like every couple of years or so - my desk gets so loaded with stuff that I have to make a serious effort to clear it. It always yields up some amazing, long-forgotten stuff.
Just gazing at the surface stratum of my desk, here's what I can identify without actually picking anything up to examine it:
Versalite flashlight by Pelican
Can of Diet Coke (cold and ¾ full)
CD-ROM installation disk of Adobe Photoshop Album 2.0
sunshade for a Nikon 12-24mm wide angle lens
Charging cradle for my SONY MiniDisk recorder
Dazzle FlashCard reader
Pad of yellow Highland brand Post-It style notes
Small scratchpad from Amazon.com
Unidentified CD-ROMs
USB hub
SpeedStream DSL modem
D-Link wireless router
Nikon Coolscan IV negative/slide scanner
Box of 12 Uniball gel pens
Mamiya 5X loupe
Keypad for headset telephone
Spray bottle of Endust for Electronics
3M dusting cloth
2 boxes of Johnson & Johnson Accuvue contact lenses
2 Family Radio Service communicators
Five music CDs
Miniature Motorex oil drum holding about a dozen pens and pencils
Yellow highlighter
Box of 500 business cards
Set of color negatives of one of my younger son's jazz gigs
Spiral-bound pocket notebook
Newspaper section cover with a photo I shot on primary election night
Computer print-out of primary election results for my county
Various receipts
A couple of Sharpie pens
Replacement battery for Nixvue image tank
Black & white photo of Black Jack, the riderless horse that was in John F. Kennedy's funeral procession (I was there and shot the picture)
Black & white photo of me and 5 friends in front of the U.S. Capitol Building after JFK's funeral
Paperweight made from a hull section of the U-505 German submarine that's a permanent display at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago
TV remote control
Nazi Party member's lapel pin in a small display case
Small spray bottle of eyeglass lens cleaner
SONY Walkman headphones
Printout of my family tree rolled up in a mailing tube
Framed 55¢ postage stamp from Turks & Caicos depicting the BMW K100RS motorcycle (I put 160,000 miles on one)
Panoramic photo of me on my BMW K100RS just south of the Big Creek Bridge on the Pacific Coast Highway in Big Sur
1895 Indian-head penny
Triangular Motorcycle Safety Foundation reflectorized sticker
User's manual for Canto Cumulus software
Auto Insurance ID card
And that's just the surface layer. God knows what's lurking beneath.
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