As I understand it, most blokes have a man-drawer. Singular. One. Unfortunately, I have several, all located in my office, from where I write blogs, record podcasts, and do occasional radio and TV work.
And, unremarkably, from what I understand, everything in those draws is pretty much useless. Which means I have several times the amount of rubbish lying around than the average fellow.
So, to my main drawer in that office. What do I find? Mostly leads, which, frankly, I will never use again. Why do I keep them? In case, just in case there is a 1,000-1 chance that I may need them again. Let’s look closer.
I have a RJ11, most commonly used for connecting a land line telephone to a wall socket. Also, in more modern days, for connecting a router to a telephone line. I have not had an analogue telephone line for almost two decades.
Ah, what’s this? A mini-disk. Launched by Sony in 1992, it is a digital recording media that was a replacement for the cassette. Smaller than a CD, re-recordable, indestructible, and far better quality than tape. This contains the jingles that I wrote for radio, and then recorded for a major sporting event back in 1997.
Sadly, the mini-disc arrived at exactly the wrong time. MP3s and computers removed the need for physical media altogether. Anyone know where I can find a mini-disk player in 2026?
My conclusion is my man-drawer is not just full of junk, but rather a museum of abandoned futures, Yes, practically everything there has outlived its usefulness. Except, maybe, for one tiny disc that has outlasted its technology. But importantly, it contains sounds created by a much younger version of me – a version who believed every new machine would last forever. The machine didn’t, but the music did. If only I could hear it again…
What’s in my man-drawer?
I have one, but don’t really use it often. So, this time, I opened it to check out what was inside and too see if I would make some discoveries. So, here’s what I’ve found:
Canon G9X photo camera. A very stylish, vintage-designed cute little thing. I bought it just before my 2017 Fulbright trip to Alaska because I was going not just to record interviews, but to take pictures of Alaska and its people.
Now I don’t use it simply because my phone can do the very same, and probably better (though I am not sure). Still, this Canon camera is a very stylish accessory to look at and probably, take to a trip.
Universal travel adapter. I bought it in 2016, prior to my second Nepal trip. A year later, I took it with me to Africa, when our team climbed Kili (the 4,700 – 5,900 meters high final push is still one of the most exciting and painful experiences in my life!)
Several AA and AAA battery packs. Nothing to comment here. One of them is expired now so I threw it away.
Various, now useless papers. I mean, old checks, bank advertising leaflets, etc.
Bottle opener. Well, you will always need this thing at the right moment.
Plenty of cables that I don’t use. Again, I must put this stuff in the trash.
Expired plastic card. I kept it from my 2017 Alaska journey. It was issued by Bank of America Anchorage and I chose the print: a bald eagle. Still looks cool and brings a lot of memories to me.
6 oz hop flask. It was a birthday gift to me back from 2010 from my Reader’s Digest colleagues. It has the Soviet coat of arms on it (circle and hammer), and the ‘CCCP’ lettering. It was just for fun as I am a Soviet-past fan, obviously. I use it rarely to fill it with some whisky.
A signed photograph of Alexander Panzhinsky. I met this guy a year ago, he is a pro skier, he won silver medal at Vancouver Olympics. A nice guy. Now he is a trainer and sports influencer.
Some petty, unidentifiable stuff, like small metal clips, etc. Thanks to this blog, I grabbed it and, once again, put in the trash.
That’s it!
What’s in my man-drawer?
Maybe I should start out by saying I have two places where I keep my stuff but only one is an actual drawer. I keep my laptop at the dining room table and there is a small night stand here. I keep a note book and some random papers in there. It’s mostly for some important passwords because I’m kinda forgetful about that stuff.
That’s better than my other stash. In the bedroom I have two shelves with gems including a dead MacBook Pro, a deceased Apple Time Machine, and several phones which have sadly crossed the silicon bridge.
Most of the good (working) stuff I gave to Jan the Cat Lady for the Saturday Market. You don’t know about Jan the Cat Lady? Now that her hair is growing back she’s become quite popular with the boys. Oh wait, I’m supposed to be talking about a man-drawer.
I have all kinds of old computer cables that I’ll never use.
The end.