It all started with Yixin wanting to hang her photos on her wall.

So we went to look for hanging solutions which does not permanently damage or scar her wall, and found 3M Picture Hanging Strips, with Command™ Adhesive, offering firm holding power and clean stretch removal for damage-free organizing and decorating.

The instructions of the hanging strips said to use “isopropyl rubbing alcohol” to clean the wall surface before use.

Isopropyl alcohol sounds like some cheem chemical but if you go to any hardware store, I almost gurantee you that you won’t be able to find it there.

“We only have solvents like thinner” they told me and suggested Yixin to use it.

What?! Use thinner on your newly painted walls?! Think sometimes you should learn to discern the sales person from the expert.

Anyway, I could kinda guess what isopropyl alcohol is. And where exactly to get it.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Isopropyl alcohol (also isopropanol or rubbing alcohol) is a common name for propan-2-ol, a colorless, flammable chemical compound with a strong odor. It has the chemical formula CH₃CHOHCH₃, and is the simplest example of a secondary alcohol, where the alcohol carbon is attached to two other carbons. It is an isomer of propanol.

So guessed what it is? Here’s where you can find lots of it… in Challenger.

Products with isopropyl alcohol.

Hahaha… most of us would probably have one of these lying around at home, or used it before. It used to be quite popular as your simple floppy disk drive cleaner.

Here’s one with 100% isopropyl alcohol:

Label says: Contains pure 100% ISOPROPYL Alcohol

So silly. Such a simple and basic solution. I remember using it to clean my keyboards and mouse in the past and almost anything with it.

So versatile our disk cleaning solution is.

Note: Photos were taken with my new Sony Ericsson k610im. Notice that it doesn’t come with macro mode or close focus. Will post about it soon.