A Meditation on Paper Clips

I had to use couple of paper clips yesterday at work and I realized that somehow my stash of cheerful, brightly colored and/or interestingly shaped paper clips had morphed into a stash of depressingly functional metal paper clips. It made me sad. Part of this is because I receive clipped-together papers from folks who evidently don't care about the presentation of their work with alarming regularity. And part of it is that, as part of a larger effort to delegate some of my responsibilities, I don't order most of our office supplies anymore.

My favorite paperclips have been striped, vinyl-colored clips in the traditional shape--functional and funky in one package. But they're hard to find these days, although I did just find them online here today. I also appreciate the round gold and silver ones that Clipiola makes, although I find them a little awkward to use. And I will buy novelty ones for friends--dog bone shapes, daisy-shaped clips, and so on, although they're too pricey to buy for myself.

Anyway, I might have to make a trip to the store to stock up on more aesthetically pleasing products. While some of the stuff referenced above is ridiculously overpriced for day-to-day work, the vinyl clips are cheap enough to buy even on our meager operations budget.