The "I Learned There Was More Than One Reason To Learn How To Type" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Reading a story in the "Baltimore Sun" newspaper dated December 27, 1992 that told of collectible typewriter-ribbon tins that held ribbons used in manual typewriters.  These tins.....be they square, round, oblong, rectangular or triangular-shaped were once mass produced.  These tins were once made from the late 1800s through the 1960s and were later replaced with the more blah-looking cardboard and plastic packs we know today.  The earliest typewriter tins were flat rather than three-dimensional since typewriters didn't use spools but flat ribbons.  

At first the tins were made to hold ribbons that measured about 1 1/2 inches wide.  These early tins had a high collectors' value from $15 to $30.  The value of the tins is usually based on how interesting and attractive the tin might be.  The very attractive "Panama" series of tins, showing airplanes and maps of Panama, are often over-priced since they are the most common tins to be found.  There is actually an Early Typewriter Collectors Association located in Los Angles, California where you can write to find out about your metal typewriter ribbon tins.  

I came upon a few beautiful ribbon tins and though I may be interested in collecting some of them.  But then I thought...I'm getting ready to move to a retirement community and need to discard as much as I can....so I decided against collecting them.  I can still remember back when I was in 9th grade and taking a typing class.  Had no idea why my parents thought I needed typing as a 15 year-old when most in the class were girls.  

This looked similar to what I learned on in 9th grade.

But, it was they who knew what they were doing since I not only learned how to type about 80WPM (words per minute) which has been a godsend while typing this blog for years and years, and because I got to know all the girls whom I had not known in the past due to being so shy.  At the time we used manual typewriters that required a ribbon and I got pretty good at replacing ribbons on my...as well as quite a few of the girls in my class...typewriter.  I could type about 70wpm (words per minute) which qualified me for a "C" in my class.  And, my teacher requested...through my high school principal, that I no longer should be in the typing class the following year.  And, the two main reasons that bothered me was the fact that there were mostly girls in the class and the school was getting electric typewriters the following year.  I still do remember, from that one year in typing class, the containers that the ribbons came in.  

All of them were heavy cardboard and made a mess when you had to replace the ribbons.  And...what good re-blooded guy wouldn't help their female classmates put a new ribbon on their typewriter if it ran out of ink?  I'm almost positive that they don't make typewriters with ribbons on them anymore.  And...do they really make typewriters anymore?  Well, when I saw typewriter ribbon tins at a antique shop abut a year ago, I was hooked on the neat tins that hold the ribbons.  I often thought it would make something neat to collect, but I'm too old to collect anything anymore other than Tylenol, aspirin, etc. bottles.  If you are in need of collecting something to help pass the time, typewriter ribbon tins are an inexpensive item you could collect.  And, it seems that they are easy to find if you do a  bit of searching.  Well, how did I do with my typing?  Did you find any mistakes in my typing today?  Did I misspell anything?  It was only a few year ago that I realized that my computer corrected just about everything that I type, spelling wise.  It usually doesn't correct my punctuation and my sentence composition and when and where I should be using a capital letter.  If I only had had this stuff when I was in 9th grade, I may have had an "A" in the class.  But then again...the girls in my class wouldn't have had a reason to ask me to help them.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.