It has been my lot in life to have to sit down every couple of years and take a standardized test. I took the last one two years ago on a computer, but before that, it was all filling in the circles with a number 2 pencil. Pictured above is my “lucky” pencil which took me from the PSAT’s in 1983 all the way to the Vascular Surgery Board Exams in 2002. Next to it is its backup which rarely got sharpened. 

Tools allow me to manifest ideas. Whether it is a seven iron that I punch-draw for 170 yards into a stiff wind, or a fiberoptic retractor I used to light the way in a deep incision, the tools allow us to tap into our minds. When your work shines into the level of art, tools are portals to the spirit much like the shaman’s drum or bagpipes.