A way to recycle papers

At the office, it is normal that time to time we get a pile of scrap paper, usually with only one side used. I started to use them years ago, stapling them together, but for me it was not practical. 

Fortunately, also at the office, I found some cardboard and stickers also for scrap. And inspired for a device to hold papers, I made mine. Here is a picture of it:

I want to share the idea. To build it you can use:

• A piece of cardboard, not too hard. The cardboard size depends on your paper size. For example, if you use A4, which is 210 × 297 cm, then your cardboard piece will be 211 x 298 cm. That means 0.5 cm extra for each side.
• 4 little cardboard pieces. These are triangles with tabs. This is a suggestion of it: 

Put all together with glue and decorate. I hope this idea can inspire others.

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Una forma de reciclar papeles

En la oficina, es normal que cada cierto tiempo tengamos un montón de papeles de desecho, por lo general utilizados sólo por un lado. Yo empecé a utilizarlos hace años, engrapándolos juntos, pero para mí esto no era práctico. 

Afortunadamente, también en la oficina, encontré algunas cartulinas y adhesivos también para botar. E inspirada en un dispositivo para mantener papeles juntos, he hecho el mío. Aquí hay una foto de él: 

Quiero compartir la idea. Para construirlo puedes utilizar: 

• Un pedazo de cartulina, no muy dura. El tamaño de la cartulina depende del tamaño del papel. Por ejemplo, si usas A4, que es de 210 × 297 cm, entonces la pieza  de cartulina será 211 x 298 cm. Eso significa 0,5 cm más por cada lado. 
  
• 4 trozos de cartulina pequeños. Estos son los triángulos con pestañas. Esta es una sugerencia de la misma: 
  

Ponga todos juntos con pegamento y decorar. Espero que esta idea pueda inspirar a otros.

Doing home chores as a fitness routine

IQ test are part of my life since I was a child. For that reason and some health problems, I never have been a sporty person. Nowadays I don’t have a sport routine to keep me in shape but I’m lucky and don’t gain weight easily.

Although, for being in shape intellectually you should do some exercise time to time. Have a healthy body helps to your brain to receive everything it need to work properly. But my lifestyle do not left time for routines. Accidentally I found a way to do some physical effort: chores.

Doing chores is maybe my only physical activity, after go walking. In the past decades, people did not attend to gyms to be in shape, as everybody had a lot of physical activities and some lack of the technological advantages we have, like elevators, transport, VoIP, e-mails and more, those do our life easier and help us to safe time but make us sedentary.

Here is a table with some pros and cons:

Pros	Cons
No spend money on gym or sport equipment. Keep your home as a sweet home, two birds with one stone. Don’t have to follow a fixed schedule; you do it on your free time.	It is not a real routine, so it is hard to focus in a part of your body you want to train. It’s a lonely routine, if you like to be surrounded by people, it’s not recommended.

Happy Chinese New Year! Year of the Ox

Happy New Chinese Year!!! This year is Earth Ox year. Also it is my sister’s year; because following Chinese calendar every 12 years from your birthday is your year and a lot of good things will be happen to you.

This time I received the year in a casino, touching the dragon as a symbol of prosperity and good luck. My problem was there were a lot of people also wanting to touch it, I fought a little bit but I did it!

My sign is the Sheep, but some people say that I share more characteristics with the Monkey. I wish this year be really prosper and I achieve all my goals.

P.S.-  If you like the Ox, Silkysteps is a nice web with a lot of images for colouring, including the whole Chinese calendar.

Why I should get fun on holidays?

Every holiday is the same. Everybody asks me the same question: What are you going to do in your holidays? And New Year’s Eve is worse! If I say “Nothing”, the people start to say “poor you, you don’t have plans” Grrr. 

Why do I have to get fun? Why!!!! It’s like I have the duty of getting fun. That’s not spontaneous and sometimes it’s not according to my mood. Why is it mandatory to do the same as all the people do?. For years I argued with a lot of people about it. One of the most recurrent topics is alcohol. I’m not totally teetotal, but I don’t put alcohol and fun in the same sentence.

My idea of getting fun in holidays is spend my time with the people I love, no matter if they drink or not. Those people respect my choices and I respect theirs. I’m blessed to have good friends. For me, a nice holiday is a peaceful day doing things I can’t do regularly, like have a nice conversation with friends or reading a book.

I don’t have plans for this New Year’s Eve yet, let’s see how it goes.

Wellness Diary and ... Step Counter?

Funny thing…

I was using “Activity Monitor” to count my steps, but something wasn’t right. For example, it counts steps in sessions instead of whole day, and also doesn’t have goals. Exploring “Wellness Diary”, I was figuring out why my steps from “Activity Monitor” weren’t exported.  

The reason was simple: “Activity Monitor” change into “Step Counter”, with new features and the most important, compatibility with “Wellness Diary”. I had to uninstall it and install the new application. My verdict: excellent. Despite it consumes a lot of my battery, I have it running permanently when I’m outside home.

My new challenge is start to use “Sports tracker” more efficiently, that means do some exercise ;-)

Steam iron

Ironing is one of the chores I like less. The main reason I think is because is boring and I spend too much time to get good results. I also tried with one of those modern irons with steam, but I didn’t get better results.

My sister bought a steam brush. It’s funnier but not good enough. The reason is because water tank is not big enough, so I have to recharge constantly. Also the brush is broken, so it’s not so efficient now.

In our last try, we were watching “As seen on TV” where offered a product called “Tobi steamer”, and we decided to buy one. We didn’t want to buy without watching it first, and fortunately we found a similar one in a local store. After a short demonstration, we bought it.

Our first sessions were really good, good results and not too much effort. I didn’t ironed too much but I know that when I need it, I can do it easy and fast. Another advantage is you iron directly in the hanger, no problems with folding lines.

P.S.-The world’s largest collection of irons is in Gochsheim Castle, near Karlsruhe, Germany.

How to recycle CDs and DVDs?

I'm always looking for a good alternative to recycle CDs, DVDs and their respective jewel cases. In the list of reasons to recycle them are: 

• They are not useful anymore, like Windows 98 Installation CD.
  
• They don’t work (scratched, damaged, holed, bad burned, whatever).
  

About the last one, I have a fun story: today I was burning a big file already cut with split, supposed to use 5 DVD, but after several tries, I screwed up 7 DVDs. The theory about the reason is that file was a zipped one, and when I burned it in pieces each byte was burned correctly but when they are accessed causes an error in CRC, something that doesn’t happen with the full file. Does somebody know a method to send an 80 GB file without using network or USB drives?

With my frustration on top, I researched again for new ways but most of them referred to contact a company and give it to them, in some cases you should pay for that, so I focus on give CDs and DVDs a second chance in the world, like a resurrection of stuff.

I found these interesting options:

• RecyclingCds.com (http://www.recyclingcds.com), they use CDs to make nice clocks.
  
• Kaboose (http://crafts.kaboose.com/compact-disc-crafts.html), good ideas to make crafts.
  
• All Free Crafts (http://www.allfreecrafts.com/recycling-crafts/index.shtml#cd)
  
• Make-Stuff - Jewel Cases (http://www.make-stuff.com/recycling/jewelcases.html)
  
• Make-Stuff - CDs (http://www.make-stuff.com/recycling/cd.html)
  

Also, some people with the same concerns:

• The Eco-Urbanite (http://ecourbanite.blogspot.com/2007/11/recycling-jewel-cases.html)
  
• Grist – Ask Umbra (http://www.grist.org/advice/ask/2004/03/25/umbra-cdrecycle/index.html).
  

If somebody has a creative idea, please share.

The story of stuff with Annie Leonard

My best friend sent me this link. Recycling is more than only classify garbage or turn of lights, it’s a big change in our lifestyle.

http://www.storyofstuff.com/

Here is the first part of it:

Tuna and eggs

Today was one of those days I got home and didn’t have food. Also it was too late to call delivery and sum with my boredom about fast food; my only choice was trying to cook something.

As my mom used to do, I checked what I had in the kitchen and what I could do with this. I had eggs and cans of tuna, so I mixed them and made a tuna omelet. There is no mystical recipe behind this, just mix 2 eggs and tuna (without its oil). Be careful don’t use too much tuna or your omelet is going to break down in pieces. Add salt.

It wasn’t as good as I expected, but at least my stomach is not empty. I didn't drain the tuna's oil for my first omelete. No good results.

About my plan, I really have a good idea of what I want to do this weekend; list is ready.

Cooking’s habits

I am really bored about pizza and fast food on weekends. This Saturday I tried again somen (recipe here) for lunch and dinner. Officially, I have a problem.

It’s particularly hard for me find some motivation to cook, especially because I’m workaholic (yes, I admit it) and I don’t have too much time and energy after work to buy and prepare something. Fortunately for me and my laziness, there is a little store close to home and I could buy some ingredients, but if I want to prepare something more complex I need a supermarket and a plan.

I got an idea! Next weekend it’s going to be different. I need a plan...

Tanabata

Every year August brings an special date: Tanabata. I’m not sure that the correct name for this special season is that, because after my recently researching I think it is more correctly called Obon Festival. For me, it is the date when ancestor's spirits come back for visits us.

My grandparents were Okinawan, and our family always tried to preserve all the traditions as possible. My aunt has a butsudan at her house and my cousins as well.

Obon is celebrated for three days according with the lunar calendar. The first day is called "Unke" (Welcome Day), the second "Nakanuhi", and the penultimate day "Ukui" (Escorting Day).

As child I used to be visiting my aunt in Unke and Ukui, but the last years I only could attend on Ukui, to say goodbye. In this day, family offers food to the spirits and light senko (incense). Always represented for me a chance to spend some time with my family.

How to fold a T-Shirt

Continuing with chores, I found this practical and funny way to fold a T-Shirt. No more escuses about do it guys!

Bit cooking

Ok, ok… too much cooking for 3 days. Today I was quite tired, so the only thing I did is cook sōmen, added shoyu (soya sauce), lemon and pepper. It’s a nice cool dish to lazy people like me.

More Cooking

Continuing with my inspiration (and bored about eating pizza every weekend), I encouraged my family to prepare something for lunch. Again nobody had time or energy, so we chose something very simple: lettuce and tuna. Very easy to prepare:

Just chop lettuce in stripes, add 1 can of tuna (for one or maybe two servings), 1 lemon (a very acid one) and mix well. Add whatever you want. In general, I suggest use whatever is in your refrigerator. Accompany with rice.

Cooking doesn't look so bad after all...

Cooking

About chores, I prefer cleaning than cooking. But I know that in the name of become independent; I have to learn to cook.

The problem is I don’t have too much time to cook complicated dishes, but also I want to explore new ones. One day I remembered a dish my mom used to cook, using Somen (Japanese noodles). I don’t know the name of it, but this is one of my favourites. And also it’s very practical. With my memories (and my sister’s), I could cook it!

Now, the recipe for 2 servings is:

• 125gr. Somen
  
• 2 eggs
• 1 or 2 heads of Spring onion
• Ground black pepper
• Salt
• Water

Boil water in a pot. When the water is boiling, put the somen and cook it, takes around 3 or 5 minutes, just keep your eye. When it’s ready, empty the entire pot of pasta into a colander and (yes) rinse somen with cool water, to stop the cooking process. Then shake out the excess of water and pour it in a bowl.

Fry the 2 eggs separately in 2 omelettes with salt and cut them into squares of 2 x 2 cm, then chop the spring onion into little pieces (aprox. 0.5 cm).

This is the fast part, only takes 3 minutes and consist in fry the noodles lightly. If your pan is big enough, put 1 tbsp of oil and fry the noodles, stirring time to time or you are going to get a mess. Add the eggs and spring onions. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Don’t abuse of pepper… could be too spicy.

A new toy, but...

When you have your data in several places, you start to feel worried about lost something. My solution to this is a 320GB Western Digital disk. An adorable My Passport Essential who comes with a synchronizing software: WD Sync, powered by DMailer.

The point is, I read in several blogs and confirmed my suspects, WD Sync only offers “sync” you data, considering your PC as the master copy. If you erase a file in your PC and want to recover it using you external disk, the synchronization process erase it because syncs with the PC. Be careful because synchronize and backup are not the same.

I’m still looking for efficient backup software, with full and incremental backups. If you know one, please leave me a comment.

Right decisions vs best decisions

During all my life, I have tried to make good decisions. Now when I feel more mature, I realize that it’s better make right decisions rather than best decisions. Those two paths are not always the same. The best decision is the logical one, where you earn more, no matter what happen, because “The end justifies the means” (Machiavelli).

What is the price of this? Live a life without thinking about consequences and damage you can make, or choose a path where you can sleep everyday with your conscience clear. This is not about being heroes, it’s about being honest with yourself.

At the end, I made my right choices and I’m happy and proud for that.

Ecological behavior – A challenge

What I do to save the planet? We see a lot of examples everyday, and most of them are about change drastically our habits, that’s the reason why lots of people prefer send money to ecological organizations rather than acquire good habits.

My last few acquired habits are:

- Using scrap paper at office: I made a little device (tray) to organize and use scrap paper, very practical for taking notes and drawing.
- Charging batteries with solar power: in a previous post I wrote about my solar panel to charge my batteries. Well, it's charging beside my window.
- Classify garbage: plastic, paper, others. Easy uh?
- Recycle. Well, I recycle everything I can.

My current ecological challenge is keep charged one of my mobiles (a Nokia 6103) without using electric power, just the solar panel. The trick is left the solar panel charging beside my window and charge mobile when is totally run out of energy. I want to know how many days I can do this without plug it. Make your bets!

Simply wonderful

I just bought a new Bluetooth keyboard (iGo Stowaway Ultra-Slim Keyboard) for my N95. In facts, I wrote this post using both, without a computer. It's simply wonderful. Previously I had an IR keyboard for my Palm that I sold to save money for this one.

Years ago, I promised don't buy this kind of devices, in the name of respect the mobility and aesthetic, but nowadays if I need a good mobile and small solution, my N95 and this keyboard can replace my laptop in simple tasks like… write blogs, LOL.

I chose this one because Nokia SU-8W is more expensive and also this one works with my laptop. Also it has customizable shortcuts. I love it!

Getting... solar

If there's a problem with Nokia N95, it's battery. I have a BL-6F and I should charge it every 2 days. That means if I use all functionalities, I’ll run out of battery soon. Bored about that, I bought another battery with a charging base, so now I can charge the empty battery while using mobile normally. Now I’m not worried about need to take pictures and don’t have battery for that.

My happiness didn’t last long. Talking with a friend, she told me that buy an extra battery isn’t a good choice because it’s a problem try to throw it away later. I already bought it. I still don’t find a good way to shed my old batteries.

Sometimes we aren’t conscious about our decisions and our commitment with ecology, trying to stop global warming and pollution. We learn every day another way to save the planet, so follow the advice: don't buy another battery, just use your only one wisely.

In the middle of this story, I bought another thing: a solar panel. That let me charge the battery using solar power. It’s not perfect, but now I can charge the battery and also has a battery inside. And in addition, can work with other mobiles, mp3 players, etc. I’m looking other uses.

Find a way to get rid of my batteries is in my personal checklist.