Week Two - Wasting energy?

10/19/2007 - Friday

Hi ... I guess it's gonna be gripe time.

My goals have not been achieved this week. And, I feel sleep deprived, too. If I were feeling wide awake and had accomplished lots of other things I would be very upbeat, but to be dealing with two negatives is not my idea of a good end to a week. Nonetheless, I am looking forward to a decent weekend. I don't have much work to bring home with me for a change, and I did solve an issue with my 3-month-old computer. Here's the story on that one. While packing up my papers and computer equipment to go home on Wednesday, I felt something strange on the back of the computer and noticed a crack on the bottom left-hand corner of the case of my new HP laptop. Needless to say, I was upset; I didn't want to add that computer to my "a-bag-a-day" plan! How the crack occurred is still a mystery. I do not think it was in that condition the previous day; it must have occurred on Wednesday. But how? When I took it out of my carrying case in the morning after a short drive to my office, I would probably have noticed the crack because I would have held it in a similar way to when I was putting it in its case at the end of the day. Analyzing the events around that computer for the day revealed nothing extraordinary. I put in a locked drawer when I went to my lab-classroom lab to teach, and I took it out of the drawer in the afternoon and used it for about three hours. It was obviously cracked at that time, unless when I went out to the restroom, maybe one time, or out to see others in my department, maybe one time, something happened that I wasn't aware of.

Luckily the computer was still working fine, no problems with any of its operations. So, I checked out if it was still currently being sold; it was, which meant I could buy a replacement computer and keep parts from the other for later catastrophes. Upon reflecting on this, I realized how stupid that solution was, just eventually adding more clutter of plastic and metals to the earth unnecessarily, in addition to wasting money. But, I wasn't looking forward to going around with a cracked computer for three years, the length of time I usually keep a computer and find it to be useful. Also, the crack looked like it would jeopardize the overall strength of the case for protecting the electronics inside. I needed to find another solution. And, that solution would not be disposing of the computer. Yesterday afternoon, I looked for HP replacement parts and did find the part was available and HP would replace the back of the case for me. That will happen next week, but I will need to pay for it. The cost is less than the accidental damage plan would have cost me. That should make me feel better, but somehow it didn't.

Today, I went into my classroom lab and it was boiling. I mean the temperature was maybe 10 degrees warmer than the hallways or my office. Is there a way to recycle the excessive heat that was being generated in that room? I might tell you that the room is already environmentally unfriendly; it's an energy-consuming area filled with student computer stations, a teacher computer and other peripherals, along with a central unit controlling the equipment that enables teachers to display students' work on a smart board or on any of the computers in the room. A considerable amount of heat is generated by all that equipment, which is always on except during breaks. If today's heat were due to the AC not working in that area of the building, it may be that energy was saved, but it was sure an unpleasant experience teaching in the overheated room. I was more fortunate than many of my students who'd worn rather warm clothing for the gray day with rain showers we were having. I had heard the weather report that morning and knew it would be warmer than normal for October even though the day was gloomy. I wore only a light shirt and slacks. My teaching style includes movement and I ask students to be active as well, so we were all sweating after a while. My students and I saw not only electrical energy generating heat that was unwelcome and wasted but also human energy that was being consumed needlessly.

Stopping here without achieving the goals I'd set for this project, I am satisfied that today we disposed of more than enough energy calories to fill several bags, and saved at least one computer from the refuse heap. Enjoy the weekend.

Week Two - Much More to Do

10/17/2007 - Wednesday and 10/18/2007 - Thursday

I have been consumed by work; with four classes to teach, I find myself working over 12 hours a day. I don't think I will want to volunteer to take so many classes in the future. Two of the courses meet everyday, that is 5 days a week, and the other two meet 4 days a week. But I have not forgotten my downsizing project.

When I get home this afternoon, I will be looking for things that are relatively easy to add to my recycling bin. In our area, house to house collection is only available for paper, cans, bottles, and cardboard. There is a sizable collect of papers I have saved and store in a book shelf in my study. I will go through that to decide what can now be recycled. And, I will feel all right when I've got one shopping bag full for Wednesday and one for Thursday this week.

On the topic of recycling, I ran across some great information on what can be recycled and where it might be done by one of the contributors to Blog Action Day. You might want to check it out, too, at Dumb Little Man - http://www.dumblittleman.com/2007/10/items-you-never-thought-to-recycle.html.

Week Two - Living With Fewer Things: A Bag At a Time

10/16/2007 - Tuesday

I am living with less stuff in my home, but this is not yet obvious to the casual observer. Two of my closets and drawers definitely look better now. Today’s picture is one of my closets with clutter shoved to the back before I started downsizing. Today, I brought in three bags to the Goodwill; the receiver looked happy that they would have a salad set, some decorative plates, and some party supplies to put on their shelves. After looking more carefully at the jacket I had brought home yesterday, I concluded it needed to be relegated to my rag pile. And, if that rag pile gets too large, I guess I will need to either put some in the trash or find a place that recycles cloth. I will need to do more research on just what can be recycled.

Week Two - Monday, Blog Action Day

10/15/2007 - Monday

I'm in the second week of my downsizing project and feel okay that I've done what I set out to do during week one. I'm learning that the very visible clutter is much easier to dispose of than the "hidden" stuff, some of which at least at one time in my life was considered important to save. But, today I'm going to consider our environment -- the environment that is larger than my own private home.

I usually try to walk with my dog, a blue standard poodle, for at least 3 miles every day. When I first started doing this with him almost four years ago, I noticed papers, cans, bottles, and other trash strewn at the side of the road. After observing this for several weeks, I began collecting as much as I could comfortably carry along with me on our walks and disposing of it properly. This keeps the road ways looking nicer, and I was contributing most of the "trash" to recycling. An added benefit was that many items were deposit bottles and cans that I could redeem. At first, I would stuff my pockets with the items but could not carry many and if they were somewhat larger than my pockets, they'd fall out. And, I looked a bit weird with cans, bottles and other trash protruding from the various openings in my clothing. One day while at a Dick's sporting goods shop, I saw fishing vests featured. After inspecting them and noticing that they have a full-back pouch, I bought one and have been wearing it on my walks ever since. I'm tall, but not too large, and the S-M size I bought fits over a tank top in the warmer weather as well as over a parka in the coldest weather. The fishing vest has many pockets that work well for holding various items such as an mp3 player to listen to while walking and dog treats. Of course, it’s also great to carry bags for collecting dog droppings and even the collected droppings themselves. Back to the point, the full-back pouch is large enough to carry 10 to 12 regular-sized soda or beer cans and bottles, or 3 to 4 larger-sized ones. One more aside, I’m not the first to find fishing vests useful for walking with dogs; when I stopped just west of Toronto at a dog park one afternoon, I saw pictures of the members of the dog park wearing similar fishing vests!

Now, mind you, I won’t get rich on collecting other people’s trash or even collect enough for a simple meal most days. But, once in a while I can collect 10 to 12 items that yield enough to buy a bag of legumes with which I can cook a hearty soup and feed a small family for two days. My typical daily find, after the first few days of picking up what had been on the roadsides on my usual path, is now 3 to 4 items a day. So, after collecting for a week or so, I can buy a bag of dried legumes or even a treat like my favorite candy bar. There are still always more items on the roadsides after I've been gone for a while. On several occasions I've found discarded music CDs, I suppose thrown out by students riding the school buses or by people driving by. Most of the CDs are damaged or ones I’m not really interest in, but some are okay. I have added CDs of Blondie, The Phenomenauts, and Nine Inch Nails to my collection to enjoy.

This morning, I picked up a jacket that had been lying on the roadside for a few days. If an item seems not to have been deliberately thrown away, I will usually try to make it visible to the person who may have lost it by hanging it over a tree branch or draping it over a mail box. This particular jacket did not appear to be in great shape and after three days I claimed it. I need to see if it's still good enough to wear and could be donated to a charity or if it should be relocated to a rag pile to be used for cleaning.

Thinking and planning how to live a simpler, easier life.

A Bag A Day – The Sensible Way To Downsizing of Personal Goods

10/08/07

After helping my young adult daughter move from a shared row house to a studio apartment, I realized how much better life could be without the burden of so many belongings. She was able to move easily with two mini-vans. When we arrived, she’d already packed her stuff in the boxes she’d saved from the year before when she moved from her college living quarters into the row house. When I got home, I thought that to move all of my stuff, not counting my partner’s stuff and what was left of my children’s stuff that was still in the house, it’d take many weeks of packing and disposing of stuff plus a large moving van.

Then, I remembered helping my mom move out of her home after my dad died some 15 years ago. At that time, I decided I would not want to leave such a task to my children; I would need to figure out a way to sort through my things and decide what I needed to keep for my own use, what I might give to my children (after checking to make sure they really want it), what I might donate to various charities, and what was just plain useless stuff and, thus, could be recycled or put in the garbage. Perhaps, I have some things that don’t fall into any of these categories, but might be worth something to someone could be offered on eBay.

I definitely needed to get this task, which would take weeks, done before it was too late. There was no more delaying; I knew the time had come. I am still employed full-time and will be for the next few years so I can’t devote hours every day to this task, but I sure can devote 30 minutes or so. I woke up last night knowing I had a plan I could finally put into action. Why not do the task “a bag a day.” And, why not share my experiences with others so they, too, might join in this task to downsize their belongings.