Thursday, February 03, 2005

How We Picked The Name

Why would this be named "From The Pocket"?



When you visit bikes@vienna you find a display on the counter filled with "Shirt Pocket" and "Hip Pocket" notebooks from the "Rite in the Rain" all-weather writing paper people. The notebooks are bright yellow and as the names indicate the "Shirt Pocket" fits nicely in a shirt and the "Hip Pocket" fits in the rear pocket of a pair of slacks, jeans, or shorts. Are you seeing this coming? Several of us keep track of things at the store and in our lives in these notebooks. We envision the majority of information that appears in this space to come "From The Pocket".

After destroying my sixth Palm product last summer I decided that although I love Personal Digital Assistants, I was not capable of keeping one in working order. I located some Reporter's Notebooks at an office supply and started jotting my notes there as I had done years ago when Ces ( my wife) and I owned a couple of weekly newspapers in Iowa. Even though the Reporter's Notebooks brought back fond memories, they weren't working that well. I'd shove the notebook in my hip pocket and after two days it looked dog eared and tattered. If I got caught in the rain it was disaster.

Then it happened. Bruce Wright brought me a "Rite in the Rain" "Hip Pocket". I think he was tired of me grousing about the discomfort of sitting on the Reporter's Notebook. Maybe it was my grumbling about not being able to read my notes because I'd gotten the pages wet. Whatever his intention, Bruce did me a big favor. The "Hip Pocket" fits perfectly in my right rear pocket. The pages are waterproof so it's almost impossible to obscure the writing. I was so pleased that I became a disciple for the product. When Paul Murray, our globe trotting bike mechanic, prepared for his trip to India I went over to Fairfax Circle and bought him several "Shirt Pockets". My son-in-law, Drew Holloway, writes songs and he and his wife just bought a house (lots of lists for going to Home Depot) so guess what he got in his Christmas stocking. My Dad keeps a journal so I gave him a "Hip Pocket" to jot things down. It made sense for bikes@vienna to become a dealer for "Rite in the Rain".

SO.......this gathering of information gets its name from yellow covered (the cover is 100% post-consumer recycled material) notebooks of all-weather paper that Bruce, Paul, and I use around the store. It's that simple.

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