All hail WD-40, the Miracle Wonder Substance! Not only does it stop those hinges from squeaking and help free up rusted-on nuts and bolts, but I just discovered that WD-40 handily removes crayon marks from furniture. Cool! I also love the smell of the stuff, although it's probably terribly carcinogenic. I wonder what else it can clean around here? I've heard of some guys who use it to glean their barbeque grills, and some swear it makes the food taste better, although I'm not going that far.

While it's probably not good for all the things the manufacturer claims it's good for (cures baldness... OK, I made that up), if you don't already have one, it's probably worth keeping a can in the garage, just in case. It's essential if you happen to have an old British or Italian car, since apparently most of the fasteners on those things rusted together on their way over here on the container ship. I don't happen to have either of those in the garage at the moment, but I'm always kind of looking...

Now I just have to find out what removes ball-point pen ink and my home-office desk will actually once again look like it's used by adults. I think I recall rubbing alcohol being useful for that, but if anyone has any suggestions feel free to chime in.