The Hunt for the Perfect Post-Its

As I finally sat down to read my first research book, I found myself bereft of my scholarly tools. I had a pencil, a pen, a highlighter, and a mind hungry for knowledge. But no Post-Its! How was I supposed to learn with no Post-Its?

Clarification: I had some apple-shaped sticky notes that my mom scored from a drug company, but they were large, unwieldy, and were only useful on my bathroom mirror to remind me to do my laundry. I wanted the tiny kind, the kind to bookmark pages and write cute notes to myself.

Being simultaneously cheap and picky, I needed to find the best deal across town.


Ulrich's was a ripoff. These were $8.


Now what kind of a Honors Summer Fellow would I be without doing some research online first?


These will do. But they are $11.95. No thank you.

These are horrible.



I almost bought these from the Last Call section of an online teacher's supply store, because Google Shopping told me they were $1.35.

But after I put the package in my shopping cart, the price magically morphed into: $1.35 + $9.95 shipping. Holy cow! Was I made of gold?

The virtual world clearly provided me no respite, so I had to do it the old fashioned way. I took to the streets.

Off I went, cruising down Washtenaw Ave., in search for the perfect Post-Its. I had one gallon of gas left, so first came the business of finding the cheapest gas station. (I ended up going to BP, because - who knew? - apparently my car can use E85 gas. That's some tacit knowledge right there.)

First stop: Dollar Store. No luck. Out of the 20,000 square foot store, the only Post-Its they were hawking were the terrible, party store kind that have cats on them.

I stopped at Office Max, but alas, they were closed.


Was the world conspiring against me? Desolate, I shuffled into Barnes and Noble, ready to admit defeat. Maybe Ulrich's was the way to go.

But wait! Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted a 24-hour Walgreen's sign. Now, I had never stepped foot in a Walgreen's before, but this place looked promising. Smiling faces greeted me as I strided through the automatic doors.

(wrong smiley face, but you get the idea)

THESE WERE $1.99!!!!
I debated whether I ought to buy 2 of them, but I didn't think my brain could handle the happiness!!!


I did, however, buy a slightly overpriced 12-pack of toilet paper, to reward the CEO of Walgreen's for his foresight in reasonably priced sticky notes.

Armed now with 150 new Post-Its (in four different colors, no less), I sat on my couch and happily finished Francis Barker's The Tremulous Private Human Body. For those who are interested (read: none), this book is terrible. I threw it back into the Ugli's drop box with disgust. It deserved none of my precious Post-Its.

(P.S., I know this is not a particularly scholarly blog post, but I was reminded today that I was supposed to post here, so, you know, here's a post)