I, Pack Rat...

My good friend Gilby wrote a post recently that inspired a confession, of sorts, to be born- I am a Pack Rat.

The past couple weeks have been big proof of that as we've been moving things around in our offices. We have created a new area in the building that has combined the Sales and Brand/ Marketing departments into one big buzzing hub of activity. During this move, I've been forced to look at the amazing amount of crap I have collected sitting in my tiny cubicle for the past 3 years. It's amazing how much stuff has been crammed into that tiny 4' square.

Part of this tendency is fueled by the sincere belief that as soon as I throw something away, I will immediately find that I need it. This has been validated countless times by either finding an urgent need for something and being rescued by my treasury of crap, or throwing something out only to immediately need the now gone item. Both examples have happened many times and have either elicited pride in my crappy stash, or agony over depleting my decrepit inventory. It was probably less than two years ago that I finally tossed out my huge collection of old square taper bottom bracket parts- cups, lock rings, loose bearings and many, many spindles in all possible widths. I had many of those parts for at least 13 years. And of course, soon after, I embarked on a couple of projects where that stockpile of antiquated metal bits was required... of course. Thus, my inborn, unlearned, involuntary desire to hoard things was reinforced. Just today, I had the need to replace a badly worn Shimano SPD-SL cleat. I looked around and eventually I found a stashed pair of less worn cleats! Now I have a cleat that, though old and worn, is in far better condition than the cleat it replaced. Once more, my need to cling to "useless" bits and pieces is now strengthened.

Take that, all you neat-nicks!

Tim
(Yes, this is one of the reasons I repel women like a floating terd in a swimming pool sends swimmers screaming from the water...)