Contrary to the title, the blog 365 Days of Trash could actually be called 365 Days of Zero Trash, or 365 Days Without Throwing Crap Out, But Also Without Hoarding In Scary Amounts. Come to think of it, 365 Days of Trash is a lot catchier than either of those titles, so rock on, Dave.
About 6 months ago, I decided to stop doing really extreme things that absorb my attention entirely for a span of 6 weeks then become so repugnant that I give them up entirely and subconsciously rebel against these activities from that day forth. To name a few:
Horticulture. I used to have gorgeous container plants that bloomed even when they weren’t supposed to (purple flowers!), the product of intense research of optimal plant conditions, matching photos to identify of label-less plants, and mixing huge quantities of soil on my living room carpet (Jon is a very understanding house-mate.) Fast forward to now: there are several dead or dying plants in my basement (next to windows, I’m not a sadist!), our own yellowing, chlorophyll versions of Mrs. Rochester, but thankfully, without the benefit of matches and opposable thumbs with which to light them.
Real Estate Closings. As part of my first post-college job, I learned all about title processing for mostly residential properties, tax certifications, and peculiar state laws for refinances. This stopped when I was enrolled in a Notary Public course so I could conduct closings, and I realized that the part I was most looking forward to was getting one of those cool seals that made the paper stick up in a circular pattern.
Sewing. To this day, I enjoy running off very simple sewing projects (hemming, no-nonsense curtains, basic pillow patterns) but at one point, I was making dresses and shirts, and stockpiling old patterns like a couture-obsessed squirrel.
Anyway, you get the picture. I have more or less done this since childhood, when my very tolerant parents used to allow me to fill my bedroom with paper chains (literally fill, you had to crawl through it to the bed) and spray paint in my room (a habit that persisted until college, when the size of my dorm room exacerbated the fumes, knocking me out).
So, instead of being all intense about this new thing, my Zero Trash But Anti-Hoarding Project, I’m just picking a few things to try, and seeing if they have any impact on our lives and those of polar bears. It’s conveniently complementary to my nature, as I frequently go OCD on my house and dump piles of things on the curb – or, in the case of the last time our friends Chris & Lauren visited, surreptitiously fill their bags with items from my pantry in hopes that they’d carry them off when they left. (They did. Muahahaha hope you guys like carbohydrates.)
Also, if I don’t ever collect this stuff in the first place, it’ll free up my time for other OCD tasks, like arranging my books alphabetically by author (then title) and moving all the living room furniture around when Jon’s out of the house. (Which is kind of how I clean – cleaning is boring, but if you combine cleaning with moving furniture that is taller than you and three times as wide, it’s a lot more entertaining.)
So, stay tuned for updates as I give this a shot – I’ve already tried writing a holiday eletter with Mailchip instead of sending a postal letter (like I would have bothered to do that anyway) and my next task is to sign up for a service like the DMA’s opt out of junk mail or greendimes.com. Or, I might just call a bunch of the companies that send me mail and pretend to be a leftwing nut who believes aliens live in the post office and getting off the mailing list is the only way to stop their communication with the mother ship, which of course, wants to eat our brains. Wish me (and whomever I call) luck!
I’ve been working on a couple big projects this week. Unfortunately, every time I started working on one, a bunch of small tasks would crop up and need to be addressed. You know how it is. Nothing unmanageable, just enough to keep my hands out of their regular mischief.
Anyway, I like to keep logs of everything in a text file, something I’ve picked up from a clever coworker in Tech Systems, Dave. But this week, I’ve been too busy to keep up with my usual organizational methods.
As a result, I was looking for a place to stick a post-it note with a reminder written on it when I noticed that the baby makes a pretty decent shelf. The aforementioned Dave caught me walking by and snapped a picture, which I’ve posted for your amusement.
Tomorrow should be easier – I’ve caught up, to a degree, and while I do have two interruptions to my day tomorrow, they are good ones. We’re doing another photo shoot with the Spawn (our third ultrasound) and then in the afternoon, we’re having a company event which largely consists on us eating burritos.
To explain – I don’t ever get any real phone calls at work (I’ve trained the world well), but last week someone freaked out our office administrator by calling our company and asking for me.
Turns out, it was a woman named Mary who wanted to give me 10 burritos from Chipotle. Apparently, if you drop your business card in their fishbowl, they really do call you and try to feed you.
The baby is already pretty darn excited about this. He likes burritos, or, you know, food in any form. Should I get back from my appointment in time to take a picture of that beautiful mound of burrito goodness, I will certainly post it tomorrow.
When I was a kid, my parents let me build tents in my room all the time. They were pretty tolerant – I’d usually leave the tent up for months.
Also – you know those paper chains people make out of construction paper? I made hundreds of construction paper rings and stapled them together like a honeycomb.
Then, I built off the honeycomb shape until I had this huge structure and it was impossible to navigate through my bedroom without diving in and out of massive paper tunnels.
Yep, they were pretty tolerant.
Growing up didn’t help this habit at all. I went to school for fine art, which means you still get to play with paper and staples, you just have to call it installation art or sculpture.
Senior year, I raided a recycling center and crocheted miles of computer wires together to make a huge web in the basement of one of the buildings on campus.
They also let me string dozens of threads from the floor to the ceiling. Sometimes art is just OCD at its finest.
Next project? Do something to improve my cubicle at work.
I’ve thought about building a roof for it. Or setting up a second story with a green plastic slide. They’re doing construction in my building, so there are plenty of materials lying around.
But this person’s idea is way better. I’m not sure how management will feel about it, but I figure if I get in early enough, it will just be too late.
Jon’s been saying that more websites are using flash these days. Not for archaic site intros, but for interactive interfaces like YouTube or Seeqpod.
It’s been awhile since I’ve used Flash, so I thought I’d brush up my skills (or lack thereof). So, I started working on a movie, with the help of an online tutorial.
You’ll be glad to know that after several hours, I finally got my skill level to be about equal to 1989 graphics.
For all of you old school gamers out there who remember the 1989 NES game A Boy and His Blob, this one’s for you:
And if you want to get real nostalgic and listen to the theme song, check out Press the Button’s article – I decided to spare you from embedding it in the flash file after hearing it for the 5th time while editing. Some things are better off not remembered.
In Valve’s game Portal, you are promised cake upon completion of the game. Rumor has it, the cake is a lie, perpetuated by a deranged computer program.
Good news for everyone out there – if you strive to complete new challenges and are unafraid to blast holes in walls with experimental weapons, people WILL eventually give you cake.
True story – I got cake today. It didn’t look exactly like Princess Sabrina’s castle cake pictured above, but it was chocolate with chocolate frosting, and a little chocolate on top. So, clearly, it was better.
Why Do I Get to Be Special?
Although my co-workers do sometimes hand out cake just for fun (not kidding, they should add free cake to the HR benefits), today’s cake had a PURPOSE.
Due to the kindness of management and also from a pile of hard work, I’ve been granted a promotion, which happily includes a new title, new responsibilities, and cake.
What is it I Do, Again?
I’ve been working in projects and operations for this company for a year, and in operations before that. For the most part, I’ve found that projects can be accomplished through organization, networking, and common sense. It also helps if you are kind of OCD – you can kind of get an idea of my loving relationship with Excel from this post.
I’m reading Project Management for Dummies by Stanley E. Portny so I can get a bit more up to speed. Also, so I have an excuse to create more charts. It’s basic, but full of good information, and it’s helping to fill in the gaps in my project management knowledge.
Next step, Microsoft Project. I’ve tried Basecamp, but I am inexplicably drawn to Gantt charts, a feature that Basecamp currently lacks.
If you think about it, taking over the world is really just one big project to manage. Just for fun, when I complete Dummies, I’ll apply Stanley’s project plan format to world domination and post it.
Also – you know those paper chains people make out of construction paper? I made hundreds of construction paper rings and stapled them together like a honeycomb.
In Valve’s game 
I’m reading 
