OFFICE

We don't know why, but Bergamo, a town in the Lombardy region of northern Italy, has given its name to high-quality spiral-bound notebooks. They’re popular as journals or travel notebooks, and this one has (100) ivory pages lined on both sides. Also has a plain “soft-touch” cover (think suede-like). In a dark maroon/chocolate color. Measures 5-1/2" x 8-1/2". Jot down your thoughts and musings (you know you’ve got some good ones) or they might be gone forever.

Pocket protectors are for nerds (like us) but sheet protectors are for smart and sensible people (like you). Not bed sheet protectors! The (100) sheet protectors in this package are for your important documents. At 11" x 9-1/4" with reinforced edges and (11) holes punched in them (so they’ll fit any binder), these things are priceless at less than five bucks for the lot. Acid-free and archival-safe, too. javascript:;

Because they gots more rubber content than your regular, non-superior rubber bands. It says so on the box. They're also slightly darker than "pale crepe gold" in color, which is your traditionally favored rubber band color. Our each is box of approx.(200) Alliance rubber bands, each a 7" long loop without stretching it, and 1/8" thick, in a tissue-style perf-top box. Really, really stretchy. Made in the USA!

From X-Acto®, the folks who make the precision arts & craft knives, the "Bulldog" is an old-school crank pencil sharpener with a translucent blue, bright magenta, green or red case so you can keep tabs on your shavings and watch the menacing teeth grind away. Unit is roughly 5" tall x 4" wide (including crank handle) x 3” deep. The square rubber pad on the bottom provides suction when the side lever is pulled. Works best on a flat surface, but you knew that.

This keychain doesn’t like to sit still. It’s got a 2” x 1-1/2” oval body made of black plastic and chrome metal, with a standard 1” split ring that’s attached to a 22” retractable thread. On the other end, there’s a carabiner-style hook. The body also has a hook for a belt or pocket. Why would you need to extend a key 22” inches away from the body of your keychain? Do you really need us to explain that to you?

These miniature versions of the traditional floor fan say "Retro Mini Fan" on them, and the retro part is that the blades and cages are all metal. The handy part is that they're just 5-3/8" dia and the plug is a USB, ready to cool you off right from your (actual) desktop. Tilts 180° up and down and comes with a 4-foot cord. Super quiet, too. We'll pick one in red, blue or black.

It’s a cornucopia of stencils. All shapes, no alphabets. You’ll get a profusion of (8) clear acrylic stencil sheets, including: a raft of ovals; a preponderance of squares; a farrago of circles, hexagons, pentagons and triangles; a collection of a bunch of shapes, including trapezoids; a roomful of interior design shapes; a melange of electronic symbols; and an assortment we can’t altogether identify, but might be for printed circuit design. All have mm rules along at least one edge.

Moving soon? Putting the finishing touches on the birthday invitations? "Laminating" your fake I.D.? You can do it all (and more) with our 3" wide x (110)-yard roll of clear acrylic carton seal tape. This is the good stuff. Tape is 1.7ml thick, and wrapped around a 3" core. From Renupack, and recyclable. Sorry, no tape guns or serrated edges as of yet--you'll just get the great tape--but you're a whiz with scissors anyway. Just don't be like Pat and use your teeth...Yuck!

Our each is a package of (2) steel tech rulers. One is 6” x 1/32” for the first 2-1/2” then 1/64” for the next 1/2” then 1/16” for the last 3”. The other is 150mm x 0.5mm. Both have sliding markers/pocket clips, and both have mm:inch tables on the reverse side. You’ll need excellent eyesight.

This fashion-forward plastic storage clipboard, like contractors and claims adjustors carry, is in a lovely teal, which looks good with everything, including your eyes. Measures 9-1/2” x 13-1/2" with a standard clip on the top, a pen groove on the bottom and a 3/4”-deep storage compartment underneath that closes with a snap-tab.

These are very nice (48)-page cardboard-bound notebooks with themes and some unobtrusive notes/formats that will be easy to ignore if you’re not into the subject, but twice as nice if you are. You pick: the 5” x 7” Star Trek United Federation Captain’s Log with a date/location entry on each lined page and fold-out info on the back cover, like a warp-speed conversion table; the 5” x 7” Stargazer’s Notebook with 1/4” rules plus a lightly printed 3-1/4” dia circle with 30-degree markings to chart the sky, and a fold-out back cover with an astrolabe and constellation chart; the 3-1/2” x 5” Star Trek Engineering notebook with a red cover, diagrams of a communicator, phaser and tricorder, grid pages, famous engineering quotes and room for your name, rank and serial number; the 3-1/2” x 5” Entomology notebook with a beetle cover, fold-out back cover showing a metamorphosis of an adult insect, ruled pages and room for observational notes and sketches; or the 3-1/2” x 5” Botany notebook with a fold-out back cover with illustrations of leaves for identification, ruled pages and room for observational notes and sketches.

These light-up pens are one of the coolest things we’ve come across in a long time, but then again, look who’s saying that—a copywriter. But really, they’re hard not to love. Pull off the metal cap, put it on the other end and bam, the ballpoint is suddenly illuminated by tiny LEDs for all the midnight scribbling you can do! Pen measures 5” tip to tip, is all metallic, and feels nice in the hand. Body is silver and cap, with a silver pocket clip, is either silver, black, white or red. Back end of the pen has a stylus, too. “It was a dark and stormy night…but really it wasn’t that dark because of this pen….”

What would you use to fill in those little circles? You’d use this extra-wide Scantek™ test-taking mechanical pencil? You passed! The lead in this beauty is the famous #2, and is .9 mm wide, like an italic pen nib. Comes with refill leads, a pocket clip and a large eraser. If our Tech Whiz Billy had had this pencil when he was younger, he'd have made double 800s on the SAT and wouldn't be working here today. Also great for doing calligraphy in pencil, which makes teachers swoon.

Gel pens and mascara—the two causes of smear fear. Cure the first one with this pack of (20) gel highlighter markers. They’re not felt-tip highlighters, but a waxy, crayon-ish filler that lays down a day-glo translucent stripe. You advance it by twisting the top. Manufacturer says it won't dry out, smear or bleed through. You’ll get (10) neon yellow-chartreuse plus (2) each in pink, purple, blue, green and orange.

Our coolest ruler, hands down. It’s dark blue plastic, T-shaped, and packed with information. It’s an American Wire Gauge and a screw-size gauge. It measures UTS and ISO screw pitch, has SMD capacitor info, conversion scales, transistor and diode diagrams. It has a list of SI prefixes, digital logic gates, logic identities, electrical units and abbreviations, colors and wavelengths, transmission line equations, a protractor, a breadboard and tons more. If you’re not into that stuff, use it a 13”/33cm ruler. Measures 15" x 6-1/4” x 1/16" overall, and you might need a magnifier to read some of it. Made in the USA.

The low-profile, approx. 5" wide steel clip stands just 5/16" above the 1/8" thick natural-tan pressboard of this trim clipboard. Measures approx. 12" x 9". Made to slip conveniently into a briefcase, but also has a hole on the backside of the clip for easy hanging.

InkJoy is the Paper Mate® name for a particularly smooth ink, but it’s the medium 1mm points that make these so pleasant to write with. Measure 6” long with black ink and pocket-clip caps. Our each is a pack of (8) pens.

This 8-digit flip-top calculator has all the standard features and can be powered by its solar cell or the included button-cell battery. Measures 5” x 3-1/2” x 3/8” thick and has a 2-1/8” LCD display. Good to have on hand since the calculator in your head isn’t always accurate.