Josh's Conservation Tip of the Day

i've come to realize that i'm not very interested in "recycling" per se (cans, glass, etc), but what DOES interest me is reUSING things. i've been reading This Old House in the bathroom at work for the last couple days and they have a section in there every month on 10 uses for commonly discarded items. the last two were plastic milk jugs and sawdust. i really enjoy learning those kinds of things. i guess i feel like i'm doing better by NOT throwing things away and reusing them.

so anyway, i've never been "big" on wrapping presents. to me, if you can't see what the present is, then job well done... it's wrapped. i've always caught a lot of flak for this from the "normies," but i stand by my work and probably always will. i've also always enjoyed being more of a "DIY" kind of guy, so last year i made my own wrapping paper using the printer and microstation. jesse loved it and it was fun. i was about to carry out this same thing when it occurred to me, why don't i just use all the plans that are already printed out about to be thrown away? sure it's not "personalized" like before, but i've got tons of it, the stuff is really tough (i can really man-handle it, unlike typical wrapping paper and even newspaper), and we're going to throw it away anyway. and thus began, today's bit o conservation...

PROBLEM: i've got presents that need covering! (normally, i'd just leave it in the shipping package and call it "good," but i was feeling festive.)






SOLUTION: use the MASSive amounts of soon-to-be trash paper we have here and wrap 'em up!



now, having wrote this and reading back over it, it seems, well, a stupid and fairly obvious thing to mention and i don't even have that many presents to wrap, but still, it makes me feel better. i like nicely wrapped presents as much as the next dude, but i've always thought purchasing extra paper to wrap something up in, just to have it thrown away immediately after opening, is... well, i can't get behind that.

(of course, this is just my opinion and i mean no offense to my lovely wife who enjoys nicely wrapped presents with pretty paper and who is actually a very good wrapper. :D)


on a side note: i'm currently listening to Steven Colbert's I Am America (and So Can You!) and it's so hilarious i can't work and listen to it at the same time. and tonight we're going to see Nickel Creek. at the Ryman. i love it.