Accidental Pen Stand

12/8/17

These photos were taken on December 6, 2017 at 2:28 PM.

The location was in my house in Bethesda Maryland, using my top of the stove photo studio (to take advantage of the great overhead led lights in the exhaust system above it).

The "Take It!" came from an experiment I tried some days before which involved my getting a low grade frustration from having to pick up a ballpoint pen on a repetitive basis which I had been laying flat onto my desk while engaged in using it, to check off a list during logging in entries into my lap top.  There seemed to be a voice in my head saying "there has got to be a better way."

What occurred was the viewing of of my desk top coaster (under liner) used for cold beverages to capture the condensation from a can, plastic cup, or regular drinking glass. The favorite item used is the mid sized container from the deli section at the nearby grocery store. This container having been washed, is bottom lined with a folded paper towel and without the lid - put right into service.  The one shown has been serving this function quite well, as by having the sides on the container - it sort of is a guide to make certain I make it into the coaster, with the glass, without completely looking at the action being taken - a sort of holster effect.  

For some unknown reason I had not yet removed a larger sized Starbucks Frappuccino bottle that I had emptied from this jury rigged coaster.  After having done about a half a dozen of the pick up/put down actions with the ball point pen onto a nearby location on the surface of my desk - I decided to try placing the pen - writing point downward into the space between the glass outside wall of the bottle and the inside plastic wall of the container, with the tip of the pen actually touching the folded paper towel in the bottom of the container. The pen was an easy insert, and when left to settle, found the shaft of the pen at an angle compatible with my natural thumb opposed to first finger positioning.  Not only at the convenient angle but enough of the pen available above the upper rim of the container to allow my grasp of the pen to require a minimal adjustment to bring it to writing position, after removing it from this new found space.

The After Take: Some say it is the small stuff in life that can at times make a big difference. Well I do not think of this as a big difference - but it sure is a very nice, small one.   

Here is hoping this pass-along will be able to be used by someone that happens to read this.

For those who will never have a use for this, thanks for spending the time with me, going through the fun of crossing off an irk, from my list.

Best wishes,
 
Bruce


Write a comment

Comments: 4
  • #1

    Jim (Monday, 11 December 2017 23:38)

    My wife would never let me get away with leaving that on my desk. She'd call it clutter or something and toss it.

  • #2

    Sally (Monday, 11 December 2017 23:39)

    I read my husbands comment first and he's right lol.

  • #3

    MHampy (Monday, 11 December 2017 23:41)

    One of my children made me a pen, paper clip and sticky note holder 15 or so years ago and I still use it. Same concept but they did it in an arts and crafts class so instead of a bottle its clay.

  • #4

    SF1967 (Monday, 11 December 2017 23:45)

    Ahh don't ya just love it when you stumble on some sort of new invention like this?