You know how some people have a “junk drawer” full of broken rubber bands and straightened-out paper clips? I have the digital equivalent on my computer: It’s a folder called “desktop miscellaneous.”

For the first time in ages, I opened that folder today and rummaged through its contents. There was a lot of stuff related to my last two Paris trips, including the insurance policy for the apartment I rented last March.

This clause, in particular, made me smile:

For the length of the stay, the insurer will cover the costs of search and rescue, in the mountains or at sea, incurred by specialist teams who come to the aid of the insured up to a maximum of 3,050 € per event whatever the number of people included in the contract and who are staying in the rented accommodation.

Gosh … if only I’d known that I was entitled to a specialized alpine rescue team. I sure could have used someone on belay when I was rappelling out of the kitchen cabinets. And don’t even get me started about that night I got lost in the bathtub. I must have been adrift for three hours!

I also found a map of the entire Internet, circa 1973 …

… a brochure I translated into Spanish …

Tesoros del Vaticano

… a placement test for my French class …

… and some modeling headshots I took for my friend Tomás.

But among my favorite finds were the random screen shots I’ve taken over the past year or two.

I remember adopting a word—

—and laughing out loud at Terry Border’s Bent Objects. (You’re one sick dude, Terry. And I love you for it.)

But I have no idea where this orange came from. Love the poem, though. MyOrangeDamnIt!

My intent had been to clean out the folder a bit, when I started this little exercise. But after an hour of sifting through my random treasures, I did what most people do with their junk drawers: I closed it and walked away.

Who knows? In another year, I may look exactly like this little guy, as I open my digital junk drawer and find it overflowing.

Let’s hear it for unintentional digital scrapbooking.