Memorabilia

While digging around for my stash of old concert tickets, I found a few other things I've been holding onto for some time for no particular reason. Or maybe the reason I kept things is just because they were interesting to me at one time.

When the new Southwest Corridor portion of the Orange Line opened in 1987, the MBTA issued commemorative tokens. I found this one on the ground, either inside a station or near it, and I've had it all this time. The T hasn't used tokens of for, I don't know, seven or eight years? Whenever the system started using CharlieCards.

Regular tokens were a brassy color; these were silver-colored to make them distinctive. I know my pictures came out crappy, so one side says "opening May 1987" and the other says "Southwest Corridor Orange Line."

(I just found this article that says, among other things, that tokens could still be redeemed for CharlieCard value for years after they were no longer usable to pay fares directly; I had no idea. It also mentions that 10,000 tokens like mine were made.)

Twill and Tweed

I don't need a new daily-carry bag, having bought an excellent one just over a year ago, but this just-released beauty from Filson certainly caught my eye. They've taken their standard waxed-cotton briefcase and added Harris Tweed accents.

(image borrowed from Filson website)

I love the colors in this, and it's just a great-looking pattern that goes so well with Filson's "otter green" twill fabric. The bag is also available in black with black-and-white herringbone tweed, but to my eye that one doesn't look nearly as good as this one does.

My Pen!*

I bought a nice pen a couple of months ago. And by "nice" I don't mean a Montblanc or that sort of thing. I'm not really into fancy pens, I just really dislike the cheapo stick ballpoints. I found this one in a stationery store when we were in Santa Cruz; it's a Pentel and it takes regular gel-roller refills, but it has a nice, distinctive brushed metal barrel. It looks good and feels good when I hold it and write with it.

I was using it pretty regularly, and then a couple of weeks ago I misplaced it. It was right before a career workshop I was attending, and I quietly lamented having to use a lesser pen. On the morning of the workshop I got to Harvard Square very early, and I had time to go into the Staples there, where I found they also sell the pen, so I bought a replacement.

Naturally, a day or two later I found the original pen on my desk, stuck between some papers. I didn't necessarily mind, because when I bought the original pen I'd also bought a blue refill, so I swapped that in and now I have one with blue ink and one with black ink.

I really only bother to mention it because it's currently on sale at Staples (in stores only), and $6 is a pretty good deal for a pen with a metal body. I even thought about buying a couple more, as backups.

*Those of you of a certain age may remember this Kids In The Hall sketch, one of my favorites: