I rescued an interesting pencil sharpener from my parent’s basement a few years ago. It has sat in my attic. I never had a desk to put it on until now. Since I am at litl now, I found a great home for it. Unfortunately, the pencil sharpener isn’t great – the pencil gripping mechanism is slipping. Howver, it does work and it beautifies my desk in an unusual way.
It has a corporate logo that reads IiLL, and is made in Japan. I would estimate the year of manufacture either in the 1960s or 1970s. The text on the side, which is wearing down, reads:
Join us tomorrow and let’s play together my friend,
I want to get so high and do everything,
Maybe someday we’ll turn on to the universe.
Where it says turn I am guessing. Only the u and the n are clearly visible.
If there is a Santa out there, I’d like the El Casco pencil sharpener for Christmas. (Pardon the double article – I’m not sure what the MLA standard is.) In the meantime, I am content with my J.I.M S-808.
After spending 5 years (and a month) at Novell, I decided that it is time to try something new. I am leaving Novell and will join litl on Monday.
Along with the change in employer, I am also changing roles. At Novell I was responsible for internal strategy and working with clients to develop business cases. My role at Novell required some discretion, and so I did not blog or tweet as much about work. Also, it is difficult to get passionate about the business complexities of migrating from Unix to Linux. I am going to be in the marketing department at litl, so I expect that I will have many opportunities to write about my experiences.
I will focus on the consumer market in my new job, rather than the enterprise market. Many of Novell’s products are aimed solidly at corporate buyers who have vastly different purchasing motivations. The opportunity for me to practice product marketing with a consumer target market, which I think is far more interesting than the enterprise, was too good to pass up. There is an ongoing convergence in these markets, so I do not expect that to be that much of a challenge. Also, I developed a solid analytical toolkit as a consultant at Novell, that should serve me well at litl.
I am thankful for the wonderful experience that I had at Novell. It was a great learning opportunity and I met some fantastic people. The truth is that I am very nervous about leaving my friends at Novell, since I have grown so accustomed to them putting up with my idiosyncrasies. I hope that the Lilliputians will be just as accommodating. Stay tuned for the next act in Sal’s litl adventure!
Via Wired. I cannot wait until the live action movie for Star Blazers is released in the US. One of these days I will pony up the cash to get the DVD set off of Amazon.
Posted: July 8th, 2010 | Author:saldarji | Filed under:stuff | Tags:biodegradable, green, pet waste, poop | No Comments »
After adopting our Puppy, Jupiter, I started researching poop bags. As I see it, there are many poop-disposal options:
Non-biodegradable plastic bags – $$ – These will sit in a landfill forever. Well, not forever, but a very, very long time (500-1,000 years)
Transport to toilet – $ – The greenest and best way to dispose of doggie waste. It ends up being processed the same as human waste.
Transport to compost pile – $$ – Very green, but more expensive than toilet-disposal since you have to have a composting system
Transport to garbage/other – $ – Inexpensive, but not as green as you think, since pet waste is one of the top pollutants in our waterways
Biodegradable bags (non-ASTM D-6400) – $$$ – These bags bio-degrade over time, given the right conditions (light, heat, moisture, etc.) There is some suspicion that non-conforming bags are actually the same as the non-biodegradable plastic bags, but misleadingly labeled biodegradable. However, most landfills are designed to prevent decomposition, so it is likely that these will just sit in the landfill for a very long time. On the bright side, these will not release methane or CO2 until they decompose.
Biodegradable bags (ASTM D-6400 conforming) – $$$$ – In order to conform to the standard, the bags should decompose at the rate of an apple. They release methane and other gases that can be harvested, but very few landfills are equipped for methane recapture.
I thought about flaming poop in a bag as a disposal methodology, but it did not make the cut.
Since we live in a 3rd floor apartment, we’ve decided on the non-ASTM D-6400 conforming bags to the garbage for now. It makes us feel good about ourselves, and we hope that our landfill allows for degradation and is equipped for methane recapture. We plan on a composting system when we purchase a home.
