My arms are looking for that 'hands free' device

The other morning almost started with peril.

The threat of first- and second-degree burns were imminent when my mug of piping hot coffee nearly erupted all over the cab of my car, and me too.

Trying to shuffle a planner, music player, wallet, phone, keys and every other piece of accessory stuff I somehow need to manage through each day, has begun to circle into a potentially disastrous circus of events.

It wasn't the first time, and it will happen again, unless I find a solution to my carry-all problem.

The days of trying to organize the morning jungle gym weren't always such a potential disaster. When I was a kid there was no way I would have needed this utility belt. It used to be keys, wallet, and ready for the day.

But high-tech gadgets and other stuff, stuff I never really needed before, have gradually been added. I survived more than 20 years without a cell phone, I survived nearly 25 without a music player, yet somehow they are now as much a staple of my day as a cup of coffee and a discus throw of the alarm clock.

I just want to know, when did we start carrying around all this stuff?

I don't think any of us ever thought we'd have a problem carrying the simple things we need each day. But it's become part of my morning calisthenics trying to arrange the random stuff I somehow need to go to work each day.

It's not just the high tech gadgets either. Pens and paper have been around for ages. Loose change and business cards just as long. But these have become obstacles in my carry-all needs in recent years. The daily banana I bring to work often suffers bruises that will one day afflict their owner if I'm not careful.

And I'm not the only one with the carry-all problem I have seen plenty of others suffer through their very own balancing act in the morning. It would make a great Olympic event.

This surge in needing to carry everything has led the powers that be to try and accommodate this surge in techno-carrrying. That's one reason why "they" make clothing now with special pockets for cell phones and everything else imaginable. A cell phone slot in your vest or shorts would have been unimaginable just 10 years ago, but the need apparently wasn't there to talk to your friends in Iowa while walking down the street solo in Washington either.

The genius of all this technology is while these gadgets are getting tinnier and tinnier, the demands of society are requiring more of us to think we need them. Maybe there's a reason behind the recent upswing in "hands free" devices, but there's no way it would be a cure all.

It got so bad for Jerry Seinfeld he started using his European carry-all. I'm not sure I want to go that route, but I have to find some sort of all-encompassing device to help me out. I don't think I need a utility belt, but the solution couldn't be that far off.

I just want to make sure I can get everything in its place, and soon. The aroma of French roast could otherwise be my permanent cologne.

Brad W. Gary is the city and politics reporter for the Columbia Basin Herald.