To the Editor:
This mornign I decided to take on a task we all have done at one time or another. Clean out my desk! Most especially the two top drawers, which are catch alls for numbers, receipts and other scribbled notes about almost anything.
During that process I felt much like an archaeologist digging into the depths of time. There was a certain method to the madness, I found. Phone numbers long forgotten, addresses that have had to be looked up again and again.
My lovely bride suggested that I plug all that information into my desktop thingy, so I would have it whenever I wanted it. I thought about that for a moment and then remembered when my hard drive crashed and all my stuff went, poof, gone, not to be found.
So, then I thought, well, I could back it up with my zip drive, or thumb drive, or laptop.

But then I thought what if the power goes out? I won’t know how to contact anyone, because the computers will be down. Hmm, what to do, what to do?
I decided on actually using an address book. I could write all the numbers, addresses, etc. into the address book and have them whenever I needed them, just a grab away, no power requirements, no computer crashes, nothing could stand in my way.
You surely remember the address book – name, address, phone number, etc.
Have you tried to find one lately? Got any idea how many kinds there are? Oh, they’re out there, not really called address books, but day planners or business organizers, and clerks look at you like you’re from the stone age.
Sir, really, don’t you want something from Apple or Blackberry or some other kind of fruit?
All you really want is a simple address book, with a line for “Name,” a line for “Address,” a line for phone numbers… geez. Yes, I will find one; it won’t crash, download or upload, unless I use a pen … wait, what’s a pen?
–David Bivens