Guys, I need help here… Or I may be forced to quit this line of work altogether….
I’ve been in construction for over twenty years and recently I’ve undergone some sort of physiological change that’s negatively affecting my work.
My pencil no longer stays put tucked behind my ear!
I don’t understand what changed, but in the last year it’s got increasingly worse. Now it’s to the point where every time I look up, or look down, or move too suddenly ( good excuse to keep it in “granny gear” I suppose) it slips out and hits the floor. (Or drops down into my shirt collar… That’s fun!)
I’m at a loss for ideas here… Have any of you experienced this?
And does anybody have any suggestions?
Thanks!
Mark
Replies
Its those damn imported pencils. They're getting skinner.
You've been putting a pencil there for so long that you've reamed out the area, the pencil no longer fits tightly. Just look at what many years of wearing a wedding ring does... your ring finger looks shriveled under that ring, it'll barely come off.
What if you wrap a couple of wraps of electrical tape around the pencil? Or, sleep with your ear taped tightly to the side of your head, to try to restore the tension?
All else fails, start wearing a shop apron, it's pretty easy to put a pencil in the top pocket. Or, get a pencil holder that attaches to the front of the suspenders on your tool belt, up near your shoulder.
Mark
My old boss had curly hair and that's where he kept his pencil.
Never worked for me.
Rich
What? Your old boss wouldnt let you keep your pencil in his hair???? :=)
"My old boss had curly hair and that's where he kept his pencil.
Never worked for me"
Live by the sword, die by the sword....choose your sword wisely.
m2akita
That was the rule. "Keep your pencils to yourself."
Rich
Pencil? What the heck you need a pencil for?
I have the same problem and usually can't keep a pencil tucked behind my ear - at least for long. Add in that I pretty much am always wearing glasses of one sort or another and it makes it harder. Instead, I tuck a pencil or two in under the side of my ball cap. Sure works a lot better than other places I could stick it.
I was told that your ears keep growing as you get older. Maybe they grew out.
Put some pine tar on pencil to make it stick a little?!?!?
I keep mine in my pouch
Ear ring on top."Shawdow boxing the appoclipse and wandering the land"
Wier/Barlow
Ear ring with a magnet. jt8
lotsa worse things happen to better people than me every day. --Snort
I can't work without a hat on, where would I put my pencil?
My ear never held a pencil, but the brim of the hat works great.
"Political correctness is a doctrine, fostered by a delusional,
illogical minority, and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulousmainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is
entirely possible to pick up a turd by the clean end"
R. J. Wiedemann LtCol. USMC Ret.
Same here, I've had 2 or 3 pencls at the same time.
Once I was leaning over and the freshly pointed pencil fell out, rubber end down, and before it hit the table I was working on , my hand instinctively went out and SLAMMED it right back from where it came..my wife was watching, and she said "Geezus, another inch over and you would drilled that into your EYE!!!!!"
I never even thought about it, just a reflex..damm. I gotta not do that again.Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
Repairs, Remodeling, Restorations
They kill Prophets, for Profits.
I tried that bum clevage thing splinty was talking about but what do ya do when the erasures smell funny, and I sure got tired of having to undo my bibs everytime I needed to pencil something!
Put on the super nerd add on eraser, maybe ya can dig it out easier. LOLSpheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
Repairs, Remodeling, Restorations
They kill Prophets, for Profits.
Hmmmmm ya always comin up wif some good idears, why didn't I think of that.--g.l.a.p.(grinnin like a possum)
My ears have never (nor will they) held a pencil.
Baseball caps always have done the job.
A La Carte Government funding... the real democracy.
Rogaine?
wear safety glasses all the time and y9ou can put the pencil between the ear piece and your head.
grow more hair!
I was wondering if the frequency of pencil loss may be related to the rate of hair loss. - lol
Mark,
I have the same problem, I don't really like the rectangular carpenters pencils and a #2 Ticondaroga just keeps falling out. Then I found "My First Ticondagora" It's a 3/8" Dia. #2 with an eraser. Comes in a three pack at Staples or OfficeMax. Now if I can just not leave them on my bedside table I'd be in good shape.
I heard Barry Bonds head grew bigger from steroids...... I mean flaxseed oil try that.
Thanks for bringing this up. All through my school years I mostly had a pencil behind my ear, as we didn't have the backpacks kids have now, and I needed a way to carry a sharpened pencil without the point breaking. When I was in Vietnam, it was the next cigarette behind my ear. Now that I wear glasses, I haven't thought of a pencil behind my ear, but I just tried it, and it still works (until I take off the glasses to wipe them). Thanks again, because I think I'll take it up again.
wrap a nice thick rubber band around 'er about 1/3 in from the back. always worked for me.
Carpenter pencils go in the bibs, hex pencils in the bun, and both stay put in your cleavage. The problem with cleavage is that as you get older you'll lose matching pen and pencil sets in there. If you forget to put the caps on, entire novels get written on the undersides of your cleaves which are only readable in the mirror.
uhhhhhhhhhh, I don't have cleavage, can I use yours?
Take a number; the line forms on the left. <G>
Well that will work as I am left handed!
commie...
I don't think so!
"I been Ayn Randed, nearly branded
A Communist cuz i'm left-handed,
That's the hand to use...well, nevermind."Simon and Garfunkel, c. 14000 B.C.
I enjoy the thinking that goes on at the center that was set ut by or for Ann Rann just have a problem with , their thoughts on religion.
The Objectivist "thoughts on religion" are central to the philosophy.
"This God, this one word, I". You take that away and you just have run-of-the-mill, laissez-faire capitalism without the integrity...that stuff Greenspan's now acting befuddled about discovering in the system he was managing.
Easy.
Duct tape it to your head.
1969, Lake Stevens pee wee league champion Eagles co starting right fielder. 1970 Casse Camp field days, bicycle race leader for one lap. Third place three legged sack race. 1976 dodge ball 4th runner up for Mvp (shirts) and 1979 most improved runner in the egg race Shepherdsville junior high. 1980 Bullitt Central High School co 4th place winner short story contest in Mr.Whites english class!
REPRESENTING!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7gxsNogQDo&feature=related
Ears keep growing?great-I am already just a magic feather away from flying in a circusNo Tag
Re. ears keep on growing.
Yep no kiddin I was called dumbo in 5th grade cause my ears stuck out.
I was able to find a hair style that hid that fact till I found and married a hottie and am set!!!
She is ok with my ears but geez, I plan on living another 30 or 40 years + so it could be an ulgy family picture when I am bent over from the weight of the lobes.
when I am bent over from the weight of the lobes
ahhh! the cure to that would be those hollow rings people put in their lobes these days and keep streching them until you no longer have lobes! :)
I've always had pencil-ear envy -- never could do it.
I'm already feeling noticeably less inferior to you than I was a minute ago.
And don't forget, as Little Richard says,
"Knock,knock!"
"Who's there?
"Pencil."
"Pencil who?"
"Pencil fall down if you don't wear a belt!"
So you're not alone in the "Pencil Fall Down" department!
AitchKay
to much lubrication...
ie: still wet behind the ears.
.
.
"After the laws of Physics, everything else is opinion"
-Neil deGrasse Tyson
.
.
.
If Pasta and Antipasta meet is it the end of the Universe???
.
.
.
according to statistical analysis, "for some time now, bears apparently have been going to the bathroom in the woods."
This is proof that they are making pencils thinner due to the rising cost of wood. Sure, they call it a 2x4, but it ain't, right?
I hold 'em between my teeth.
If you were a plumber, you'd have a place in back to keep it...
Bill
double stick tape...
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming
WOW!!! What a Ride!
Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
Wow!!! look at all these replys!
You folks must really be bored... Hee hee..
Thanks for all the suggestions 'n stuff...
I think I'll start tomorrow trying the rubber band trick. If that doesn't work, I'll move up one step to pine tar... from there I suppose sticky tape... etc. etc. Although the ear ring idea has my curiosity piqued... I bet that would raise an eyebrow or two....
I can't wear a hat... never been able to, they just bother me way too much, Besides... wouldn't wanna mess up the dooooo...
I'd try Splintergroupie's cleavage suggestion, but currently I'm storing all of my cleavage on Mrs. Mark... It seems to look much better on her....
:-)
" If I were a carpenter"
VELCRO
ANDYSZ2WHY DO I HAVE TO EXPLAIN TO FRIENDS AND FAMILY THAT BEING A SOLE PROPRIETOR IS A REAL JOB?
REMODELER/PUNCHOUT SPECIALIST
I've found the holes that they drilled into my head to extract my brains when I first started asking pointed questions about all the Kings horses & men to be quite useful.
Other than that, I have no advice.
Get an ear tuck. Or keep some rubber cement on em.
Superglue.
you must own a trim gun or a framer...
make sure to use stainless fasteners...
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming
WOW!!! What a Ride!
Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
I think a framer would split the pencils. I'd use a pinner.
pins may delect and ricochet after they get thru the pencil....
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming<!----><!----><!---->
WOW!!! What a Ride!
Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
"Some days it's just not worth chewing through the restraints"
hey...
there's always the all time stand by...
chewing gum...
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming
WOW!!! What a Ride!
Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
Time to upgrade-
PL Premium
10 or 30 oz tube???
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming<!----><!----><!---->
WOW!!! What a Ride!
Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
"Some days it's just not worth chewing through the restraints"
10 oz.
A little dab will do ya
duct tape...
View Image
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming<!----><!----><!---->
WOW!!! What a Ride!
Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
"Some days it's just not worth chewing through the restraints"
Lotsa plastic surgeons are having a tough time with this economy... I had my wife's install a clip above my ear for under $500...
You could always retrofit one of those blue tooth headsets with a clip...
L
GardenStructure.com~Build for the Art of it! Decks Blog
Try these:
Tri-Conderoga Executive Pencil
Or these, * The teacher's choice for that important "first" #2 pencil.
* Most widely recognized pencil with the distinctive green-and-yellow ferrule.
* Extra-Large diameter (13/32") allows a comfortable grip for small fingers; great for preschool and kindergarten, carpenter's.
* Top-Quality eraser provides clean, easy corrections.
* SOLD BY THE DZ
Extra large diameter very helpful for those of us who suffer from age related large ear syndrome.
Try a pin nailer.
mine never would stay put.
Had a very good finish guy doing some finish work for me. He is quite proud of his work, and insists on a 1/2 mm lead mechanical pencil. The kind you buy for 1.50 per dozen. He keeps a long shoe lace around lhis neck and just hooks those pencil over that. They come off easily and go on easily. He keeps a half dozen of them there all the time, so if he happens to misplace one he has plenty of others.
I now use the system and think it is great.
Stef
Fifty replies and none of you got it right.
Cerebral atrophy.............your brain and your head are getting smaller and shrinking away from your ears. See it all the time on CAT scans. Yep, you're about the right age for it to start happening. By the way the lead in your other pencil is about to start giving you trouble too. It will be more difficult to get it to stay in tight places.
ROTFALMAO
Yours makes the most sence yet No one should regard themselve as "God's gift to man." But rather a mere man whos gifts are from God.
get bigger hearing aids....
give it a shelf to sit on...
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming
WOW!!! What a Ride!
Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
and don't worry about tightness...
at that age tight or snug is pretty much a dream...
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming
WOW!!! What a Ride!
Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
i was going to stay at that age i didn't know of anything left that could be tight :)
It's an occupational hazzard. It's like how boxers get cauliflower ear. Construction guys notice that their ears thin where they are attached to the head. They get pointy, as well. Also, the lack of hair above the ears (migrates to within the ear) doesn't help the situation.
Alas, many resort to pencil aids. In the aging progression, they come before hearing aids and after reading aids.
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Velcro?
Look, all men who workoutside get the big Dumbo class ears... long and floppy.
Here you can take a cue from the younger generation - Pierce it! No, I'm not talking about those girly studs and hoops, I'm talking PIERCING
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Now really, there are men who can hold a carpenters pencil over their ear... then there are those who can hold one IN their ear...
Which one do you think will get less guff from a sub? :)
(I think this guy can hold a full barrel sharpie in his!)
Tu stultus es
Rebuilding my home in Cypress, CA
Also a CRX fanatic!
Look, just send me to my drawer. This whole talking-to-you thing is like double punishment.