What unemployed engineers do in their spare time...

I was RIF'd from my job of almost 12 years in June, 2009 - that means I have been prematurely sent off to retirement mode via a company-wide layoff.  Since I've been working basically full time since I was 17yo,  it's been a bit of a shock to the soul.  Sure, I could go find another engineering job and according to the EDD, that's just what I'm doing - looking for work, but since I find myself in this pisspot of an economy, there's just not a lot going on out there.  I also find myself completely and utterly burned out, leaving me in a disinterested state of even considering the idea that creating something new in C++ might be interesting or even fun.

Instead I find myself looking for other new, creative ways to keep the brain working - and hence, the look to trash and creating stuff, especially interesting to create beauty from trash.

So I've started this blog to document my ideas for reuse and abuse of ordinary trash items.  Seems to me that as a community, we create a lot of trash and no seems to notice... sure, we have recycling programs on board - blue bins, green bins - but where does it all go and do we use them properly?


So far I've found some pretty good uses for those annoying plastic bags you get every time you buy something at the store - gads, you even get them when you buy things with handles, what's with that??  It's got a friggin handle, do I really need a BAG for it?  Looking around, there are some cool patterns on the web at http://www.myrecycledbags.com so I've been going to town making plarn items - so cool, in fact, that my girls have been arguing over who gets which one and I've been invited to sell them for profit.  Not bad for trash.



Next - a friend sent me a picture of a basket that was lovely - made entirely from rolled up old newspapers and some glue.  A little bit of research led me to a site that sells these baskets made by ladies in Nicargua (a community, btw, that does not let a single thing go to waste if at all possible).  http://www.lavidaverde.com/Baskets/newspaperbaskts.htm   SinceI know nothing about basket weaving, so my first attempt is, well, not the prettiest of things, LOL - I'm going to experiment today w/skinnier reeds and see if that makes a difference.  I don't want it to look like a girl scout project gone bad.


Anyways, if you ask "why trash", go visit a landfill sometime - especially on a windy day.