Selling Aluminum Cans

We were poor when I was growing up, and I remember a couple times we were so bad off that my mom drove us way down to the south side of town where all the wrecking yards were located and as she drove along slowly - I don't remember if it was just me, or my other siblings as well - but we picked up cans we found alongside the road. We stopped at each establishment and asked the men inside if we could collect their aluminum cans.

It was a nasty, messy job. I remember at the end of the road when we were done, no matter how careful I'd been, my hands and legs would be filthy. Many of the cans were beer cans, with cigarette butts inside. So the dripping stench was really bad. My legs were streaked with dried drips of tobacco-stained beer. The bathrooms were typically as filthy as I was, but I washed my hands and arms and legs as best as I could, and we went on our way.

I've tried to collect our aluminum cans since we've lived out here, but I don't get much cooperation. According to the Container Recycling Institute, in 2004, it took 33.5 cans to make one pound. Aluminum cans have gotten lighter, back in 1980 it only took 25 cans to make a pound.

My job collects soda cans. We sell cans of soda to our clients and staff, and collect those cans. I don't know how often they turn them in, but last week my boss noticed the price per pound was up to $0.85 with the coupon she'd cut out of her Sunday paper. She asked if my dh could stop by and take them to the can place, since he has a truck. We took them after I got off work one day, but the place was closed for remodeling. That was on a Thursday afternoon and by the time we got them back to my job the next week, the coupon had expired. The new one my boss brought in was only worth $0.80. The collection company has a website and puts up coupons, so I decided to see what that one was worth, and was happy to find the Internet coupon was still at $0.85.

I ended up taking the cans myself yesterday. When I got to the place, the price had actually gone up a nickel, to $0.90/lb! I had to empty all the cans into a giant rolling basket, take the basket to the scale and they would give me a ticket, then go back to the lady at the window and get the cash.

Thank goodness the cans had only held soda previously, so the smell was a bit sour but nothing like old stinky beer and cigarette butts. There were five large garbage bags full of cans (see Kev Gets Pulled Over By Five Police Cars for pictures).

Five full bags of smashed cans completely filled this large rolling basket. The cans weighed 69 pounds. We got back $62.10.

Thankfully I had a bottle of water with me so I could rinse off my hands as they were sticky after dumping all the bags of cans into the basket.

So at the rate of $0.90 per pound, and 33.5 cans make a pound, the going rate for aluminum cans is $0.027 cents each. Not quite 3 cents each.

Until next time.

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Cottage Cheese

Today I'm making cottage cheese.

It's a very simple recipe. My recipe says to heat the milk to 86°F. It's a bit warmer than that straight from the goat, so I brought the milk into the house, strained it and let it cool down a bit.

I've added four drops of rennet, and now I'm letting it set for one hour at room temperature.

When an hour has passed, the milk should be formed into a curd. I will then cut the curd with a knife, into 1/2 inch cubes. I will stir very gently and cut big pieces into smaller ones.

Next I'll warm the curds to 110°F, very slowly and gently. According to my recipe, the longer it takes to get to this temperature, the firmer the curds will be.

Once the temperature rises to 110°F, I'll pour the curds and whey into a colander lined with cheesecloth and drain for a few minutes.

I'll then run cold water over the curds to rinse off the whey.

The whey is very nutritious, but I am not quite sure how to use it, so I usually give it to the chickens. They love it.

And that's how you make cottage cheese.

Here is a page with some cheesemaking recipes from Mary Jane Toth.



Until next time.

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Revolution Money Exchange - Get $25 today!

If you're part of a couple, you can easily make $60.

I signed myself up and got $25, then referred DH. I got $10 when he signed up, and he made $25. I moved his $25 into my account, and moved $50 of it into our bank account. It was there within two days.

If you've been on the Internet for any length of time, you will remember that this is how PayPal got started, and look where it's at today.

Click on my button and you'll make $25 and I'll earn $10 for the referral. Thanks!

Until next time.

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How To Tell You're Old Enough To Be A Grandmother

Visit your local guitar shop.

Today Kev asked me to stop by a guitar shop and buy him a dozen picks. Was I in for culture shock.

As I walked in the door, a young man appeared to be greeting me, but I wasn't sure because of the prominently loud screeching guitar noises. I spoke to the young man, telling him I may as well ask him right off for what I'm looking for, as I'd knew I'd never find it. He asked me to repeat myself. I asked him where I could find picks. He pointed to the other side of a glass window and said I would find what I needed over there. I headed in that direction, but before I could get too far, another employee walked quickly toward the narrow opening leading to that direction. Being the customer in the establishment, naturally I politely stood aside to let him get by. Never mind that I'm a woman, he was a man, and I'm the customer, while he worked there. Obviously guitar stores don't get customer service either.

I finally got over to where the picks were. There were three young men behind a counter that spanned about 30 feet. One was talking on the phone, one was doing something busily at a cash register (with no customer) and the third was talking to a customer. Behind that customer was another young man. I asked him if this was the line? He said he wasn't sure, but was assuming that it was.

Two young men were looking at magazines behind me. Another young man walked over to the busy cash register guy and asked him a question. I walked that direction, thinking maybe he could help me. But cash register guy left the counter with the young man. By now phone guy is off the phone, helping the young man I'd asked about the line.

Loud screeching music is blaring all around me, and there is a television way up above my head, with a rock star guitaring frenetically. No one makes eye contact with me. I feel invisible. Finally I call Kev and make him promise to never make me come into this place EVER AGAIN. I tell him now he has to stay on the phone with me and help me get through this. I feel like running out. It's akin to sitting in the dentist chair when you know he's about to use the drill.

I see a man sitting with an electric guitar, strumming happily. Another man is sitting in another section, equally happily strumming. I note that I'm the only woman present in this store.

Now phone guy looks toward me. I tell Kev I can go now and close my phone, latching it to my belt loop.

Phone guy's name is Victor, but when he answers the phone twice while helping me, he introduces himself as Vic.

I explain to Vic that I feel like my grandmother, because this place is too loud and I just want to get out of here. He smiles kindly, as if I look to be an eighty year old gray-haired grandmother. I attempt to lean over the counter as he is looking for the picks I've asked him for, but the front of the counter has pegboard attached to it, with lots of pegs sticking out. My belt gets stuck to the pegs and I have to untangle myself. I've already told him twice what Kev asked me to get, and he's looking in a pile of boxes on the floor. I can see on the shelf behind him that the 12 pack of picks is on the pegboard, but Kev told me "box" and so he's looking for a box. I already told him 12 picks, but he's looking for a box. He is squatted down on the floor, looking through a bunch of boxes. I try again to lean over the counter, and get hung up on the pegs again. Finally he stands up and announces they are all out of that size in the box. I speak loudly and point to the 12 pack of picks and ask if those aren't packs of 12. He says they are 12 in a pack and gives me a pack.

I move over to the other side of his cash register, thinking it will be easier to pay for my items, if I'm not getting hung up in the pegs on the pegboard. But as I move toward the other side of the counter, I notice that the first twelve inches on the floor in front of the counter on this side, has a bunch of electronic something or others, maybe some type of keyboards or something with buttons. I take care to not step on anything, standing a safe distance from the counter. An especially loud screech comes from the speakers in the ceiling. I cringe, and ask Vic if he has an assortment pack of picks.

Oh darn. He just sold the last pack of assorted picks. But he can sell me these 20 year anniversary special picks, which end up costing $9.99.

I wait to pay for my purchase, but the credit card machine doesn't work. Vic explains it has been "acting up" all day long, and unplugs it, then plugs it back in. We wait for it to initialize. Vic tells me to try inserting my card. It won't work for me, so he has to do it for me. Amazingly, I'm actually able to enter my own PIN, which processes my purchase.

Finally, mercifully, I've got Kev's picks and I can leave.

As I wind my way back to the exit, two men are standing right in the doorway, talking. They see me walking in their direction, but continue standing there for a moment, until I stop and finally they each take one step backwards, so I can get by. I am pushing my way out the door, when the first young man I saw asks me if he can see my receipt, and explains they "have a Costco thang going on". Costco has to check your receipt before you leave, you know for your own good, just to make sure you weren't overcharged for anything. Right. Like they know the price of every single thing in the store.

Finally, I'm allowed to exit. And my husband calls the Internet Satan's airwave playhouse. He should try going to that guitar store.

Until next time.

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Trying Out Blogger Draft

So apparently we're supposed to be able to create posts and have them automatically post at a later time. I'm trying that out now. That would definitely be a nice feature to be implemented. I'm scheduling this post to show up on my blog at 3pm.

We'll see what happens.

Until next time.

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Warping Words with Kev

You know how some parents are less computer-literate than their children? I grew up without computers but was always fascinated by them.

I took a course for data entry in 1984 or 1985. My first data entry job was my first exposure to one of those room-sized computers. I worked for the department of revenue. You can imagine the records they had to keep.

I owned by first computer, bought it on time for $1800 from the company I was working for in 1988. Home data entry. My first computer actually had a hard drive, at a time when most computers had two floppy disk drives. And the floppy disks were really floppy.

My computer ran on DOS, and I had WordPerfect 5.0.

I remember upgrading to Windows 3.0.

All through the years, I've been more computer savvy than my children.

I earned the right to call myself "Techmama". I even had a license plate once upon a time that proudly proclaimed my talent.

But last night, I had to concede to my youngest son, Kev.

I had been struggling to figure out how to warp some words in a graphic. Granted, my programs are all elderly, so they don't do some things easily. I have Dreamweaver 4.0 and Fireworks 4.0, and Photoshop 5.0. All very elderly programs. But they still work flawlessly.

So... I was really struggling to figure out how to warp words. Like this:

It's unknown whether any of my readership uses Fireworks. But for my own second brain purposes, here's how I did that.

Open Fireworks and go to File > New and let's make the image 300 pixels wide by 300 pixels wide with a resolution of 200 pixels/inch. Canvas color: white.


Go over to your Tools, which should be at the right side of your screen. Well, that's where I keep *my* tools. If you don't see yours on the screen, go to Window at the top and make sure Tools is checkmarked.

You're looking for your ellipse tool. It's on the left column, fifth row down. Standard settings will show a square at that position, so you may have to hold your cursor onto the button and then you will see the ellipse tool. Move the mouse over to select it.

Go over to your screen and hold down the mouse and pull a circle.

Mine filled with blue color when I let go of the mouse because my Tool bar is set to fill with color. Look at the Tools image above, under the header "Colors" see where it shows a little bucket pouring and the color is blue? That's why mine turned blue. I didn't want it to, so I had to start over and make just a white circle, like the first one above.

Next, click on the Text tool. Click in a blank space at the top of your circle. Type anything you want. Here's what I typed:
Click Apply, click OK. It might seem as if your circle has now gone away.

It hasn't. Simply wave your mouse over the screen and you'll see it pop up in red outline. Move the mouse away, it will disappear again. But it's still there. It's called a path. See how the words have a blue box around them? Click your mouse one time, directly onto the circle's path.

Now the focus is off the words, and on the circle.

To highlight both at the same time, hold your SHIFT key (either one) while clicking the words. You will see now that both have a blue line around them. This indicates that both are selected.

While they are both selected, go to Text, then Attach to Path. Click on that.



You did it! Now you can move the positioning of the words by going to Modify > Transform > Free Transform. You can spin those words around to the top, or the side, or wherever you want them to be. Once you get them in place, hit your Enter (we used to call that the Return key) key.

Just for fun, I dragged the words over onto my blue circle, and then went to Modify > Transform > Skew.


How we figured it out. Kev and I both started searching Google for ways to warp words. He found Inkscape, the program I used to make the wedding guestbook (which by the way I have still not bound into a book!) He mentioned Dia to me when he had it halfway downloaded, so I opened my version and he told me the steps to take to warp words. It involved path, so once I did it in Inkscape, I was able to figure out how to do it in Fireworks. Whooo!!

This has opened a world of new opportunities for me and graphic design.

I was just thinking. Maybe that's what I want to be when I grow up. A graphic designer.

Thanks, Kev.

Until next time.

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Photoshop Actions!

Pioneer Woman's post in her photography blog today is about Photoshop Actions.

WOW, wow, wow.

I have used Adobe Photoshop for many years, let's see, I took a college course in the Fall of 2000 and I'd used the program prior to then. But I'll just stick with 2000. That means I've been using this program for eight years.

It has quite a learning curve.

I have Photoshop CS at work, but at home I only have Photoshop 5.0.

Guess what? So far, all the neat little tricks Pioneer Woman is showing us (that I've tried) I've been able to use with my ancient version of Photoshop.

Today, I read on her blog about Actions.

Actions are like macros.

Macros are used with Microsoft Access and Microsoft Excel. For example, I recorded a macro in MS Excel at work, on this one spreadsheet that we recreate every single month. It was a lengthy process to recreate this spreadsheet for the new month. I would say at least twenty steps to go through. But by recording the process, I was able to automate it, with the touch of two buttons.

I never, ever knew there was a way to automate a change to images using Photoshop.

When would it come in handy?

Oh, how about when I had over 200 photos of our wedding to lighten, crop, change the color balance on?

What about my friend's wedding, where I took over 200 photos?

WOW, wow, wow.

I am impressed and wow, it is going to make editing photos so much easier in the future.

Amazing. Simply amazing. I may have to write an action myself. I hear tell many Photoshop users do that. One I'm definitely going to record is the one where I fix the lighting when a photo is taken under fluorescent lighting. I know how to do that, and it comes up a LOT at my job.

Here's a sample of what I can do to fix a photo. Bear in mind this is a fuzzy shot, but it will work for my example. Notice what a strong orange tint it has to it. Plus, it's dark.


First I lightened the photo, using curves. Input = 87, Output = 140. Looks quite garish, doesn't it?


Next I toned down that orange coloring.


Now I just wonder if you can batch up a set of photos and have Photoshop automatically run the action to all of them?

Until next time.

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Planting List - April

April 1st (T=Transplant)

• Artichokes, Jerusalem T
• Beans, Lima
• Beans, Snap
• Blackeyed Peas
• Carrots
• Cucumbers
• Jicama
• Melons, Cantaloupe
• Melons, Muskmelon
• Okra
• Onions, Green
• Peanuts
• Radishes
• Squash, Summer
• Sunflower
  

April 15th

• Artichokes, Jerusalem T
• Beans, Snap
• Blackeyed Peas
• Carrots
• Cucumbers
• Jicama
• Melons, Cantaloupe
• Melons, Muskmelon
• Okra
• Onions, Green
• Peanuts
• Radishes
• Sunflower

No, I haven't planted a thing. But at least I'll have what I can plant recorded in my second brain.

I hope Blogger never loses my blog. I would cry.

Until next time.

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