I was talking with a friend a while back about blog posts. It seems that I have been stagnant as of late, after having a year long spate of posting once a week. I was feeling like people don't read what I write anyway, except the occasional spammer. Do you know who reads what I write? Me. And I think I am pretty darned good at it.
So I asked her: What should I write about? What do people care about? What is going to pique interest? “Sticky notes.” she replied. “Everyone loves them. Everyone uses them. They are a universal tool!” I have to admit, she is right.
Well, lets talk about sticky notes, then! Big and little, many different shapes, sizes, and colours. Do you use them? I know at my old place in Tiny Town, the dining room was my makeshift office, and the wall was absolutely covered in sticky notes! Different colours, different sizes... if I was doing research and wanted to bookmark some information, I would write it on a sticky note and stick it to the wall above my desk. My office looked like the scene in one of those movies where the Investigator is looking into a case, and they have all the clues leading up to finding the Murderer tacked to the wall...
My grocery list? Written on a sticky note. Delivering or picking up a sale and need to write down the address and phone number of the person? Sticky note. Splitting the cost of a bill and want to let a housemate know what their due is? Sticky note. Reminder to put out trash or recycling? You get the idea. I hoard my coveted sticky notes. Whenever someone moves or a student is leaving, and they give me sticky notes, I do my little happy dance before storing them away.
A little bit about the history of sticky notes: A sticky note (or “Post-It” note) is a small bit of paper, originally a 3 inch by 3 inch square of yellow paper with a re-adhereable strip of tacky glue on the back made for attaching notes to documents or surfaces, multiple times if necessary. In 1968, a gent named Doctor Spencer Silver, a chemist at 3M company, was trying to invent a super strong glue, but through trial and error inadvertently came up with a surprisingly weak one. For the next five years, he tried to promote his glue with 3M, with no luck.
In 1974, a colleague of Doctor Silver's at 3M, one Arthur Fry, grew to come frustrated with the fact that he was trying to bookmark pages in his church choir hymnals, but they kept falling out. He recalled Doctor Silver's adhesive and tested it out on his hymnals. Success! He could mark the pages, and not only that, he could remove then and reapply the without marring the pages!
In 1977, Art Fry convinced 3M to launch the notes, originally named “Press 'n Peel” notes, in four cities with little success. In 1980, after a successful product test in Boise, Idaho, 3M relaunched the product as “Post-It” notes. Shortly after, they became a global success! It is also researched that the original canary yellow colour was also a complete coincidence, as the original 3M team that tested the prototype used leftover canary yellow paper from a nearby laboratory!
So there you have it, Faithful Readers! Sticky notes celebrate their 40 year anniversary this year, and what in the world would we do without them??
Stay safe, stay sane, stay calm. Until next week, stay groovy!
~m.