Category Archives: Ideas

random ideas that pop in my head…

Should Pennies Be Made From Recycled Plastic?

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In the United States, it cost more to make a penny than it’s worth!

“It costs almost 1.7 cents to make a penny,” said U.S. Mint director Ed Moy.  See original 2008 article here: Penny Problem.

Since it cost more to make a penny, why not start to make the pennies out of recycled plastic?

Plastic Penny

Plastic Penny

Think of the environmental benefits, those alone would be huge and since we could use recycled plastic, it would reduce the amount of plastic in landfills, not to mention the amount dumped into the ocean… like it was some type of huge liquid landfill (See Invisible war against our oceans).

Oh sure, such a program would cost more than making the penny out of plastic directly, but using recycled plastic would still be a huge decrease in the cost of the creation of pennies vs using metal, if we are smart about it…

I think it’s sad that inflation has been so rampant that it has decreased the value of a penny so much that it’s practically an inconvenience to carry them around.  Sadly, I’ve seen people throw pennies in the trash after receiving them as change.  I often wish there was a way to make a penny more valuable again, without incurring some type of drastic deflationary process that would hurt our economy instead of helping it.  Too bad there wasn’t a way that the government could do a strategic deflationary process…  Such a process would decrease the cost of items bought while giving everybody a boost by enabling the current currency that they own to be worth more.

Perhaps the strategic deflationary process would happen every 50 years?  It would have to be rare because it would be disruptive overall.

I wonder if I’ll live to see that time when eventually the 1 dollar bill falls to inflation to the point where it’s considered an inconvenience to carry?  Probably by that point all US coins (be it metal or plastic) would be too expensive to make.  I think the creation of plastic coins is something to be considered although hated I’m sure.  I wonder if there are other materials that might be a better option… hmmm

Interesting times we live in…

MR

Knowing When To Try Something New

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Life is too short to life in a stalled state.

These past few month, I’m really starting to examine everything that I do and all the plans that I currently have.  I’m finding that I’m unnaturally holding some things that shouldn’t be.  This doesn’t bode well for me or those involved and makes for an artificial environment that should not be.

So this got me thinking, how does one know when it’s time to try something new or different?  After all, trying something new is risky and you can gain the world or lose it all, or stay stagnant in the muck?  So here is what has been spinning in my head lately:

  1. Do you like where you live?  Is this where you want to retire to some day?  When you are older, you might not have the chance to move…
  2. Do you wake up excited to live life or are you just waiting for the day to end so you can start another day that you hate tomorrow?
  3. Have weekends become less enjoyable than the middle of the week?
  4. Is time at work now more enjoyable than other times?
  5. Do you look from the outside and think that you are lucky to be you, or can it be better?
  6. Are you doing activities that make you happy?
  7. Are you waiting for something magically to happy or people to become something that they are not and will never become?
  8. Are you putting all your eggs in the idea of retirement nirvana in the future, thinking somehow it will magically be better too?

If you paint your current picture based on those questions above, perhaps the picture looks a lot different from you thought it looked like?  Perhaps it’s time to get a new canvas?

Just thinking out lout today…

MR

 

 

Realizing the Difference Between Wanting and Doing

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Last year (2011), I spend a lot of soul-searching and came to a few solid conclusions that I thought were interesting and helpful.  So I thought I’d share my thinking on realizing the difference between wanting and doing.

1.) Doing is much Better than Wanting!

I’m kind of a paradox, in that I have abilities and gifts but in the past, I chose not to make use of them (or at least that’s the way I use to be).  Warning, some lame excuse are following:  Perhaps it’s because of the way I was raised?  Perhaps because it was because my grandfather use to keep score of what he considered good behavior and would give me some money ever now and then when I did something that he considered good?  Perhaps it’s the TV and movie writer’s that influenced that way I thought, leading me to believe that some magic moment would happen and someday, something wonderful would happen and I’d be both happy and wealthy?

Whatever the reason, it’s different now!  Now I understand that doing unproductive activities  and wasting time watching TV will never make you happy or wealthy.  When you are 60, 80 or 90 years old, (hopefully) you are not going to be talking about that one show where “Snookie” and “the Situation” did blah blah blah.  So why waste your life watching it now, when you could be encountering and creating your own experiences and improving your life, or at least learning something new and exciting in the process?

2.) Change takes Time, but not that much Time!

People always say it takes time and to be patient.  And this may be true, at least in some scenarios…  But without actively doing the thing you want to accomplish or working consistently at it, it will either  a:) take a loooooong time!  or b.) never happen.

Many things in life are similar to blowing up a large balloon.  If you stop blowing into it, it will start to lose air, causing you to either start all, over once all the air is out of it or to just discard it because it takes too long to blow up again.  Of course you could start all over again blowing up the balloon each time, but it will cost you precious time.

Prince Living as a Frog

Are you a Prince living a frog's life?

 

So just because I want to be happy and rich, doesn’t mean it’s going to happen if I travel the normal well-worn path that most of us think is the way to go about it.  These days, it seems that following the norms of society or doing the “same old – same old” is the road to mediocrity.  Watching TV we learn to live life by watching an artificially created template that is portrayed on TV.   It’s kind of funny actually, we watch TV and since we learn from all sources of stimuli, we take it in as lessons and truths that might not necessarily be true.  Most of the time that climax or magical moment happens and the story changes for the better and the protagonist wins at the end.  Unfortunately, life doesn’t happen this way and precious time is wasted waiting for magic instead of creating it ourselves.

Wanting is good, but Wanting with creative action taken is much, much better!

I’m starting to explore new paths and routes in my life that I will be communicating more about on this blog from here on out!  Hopefully, if I do as I preach, this should be an exciting year.

Thanks for stopping by, and here’s to the future!

MR

Grilled Cheese Sandwich in a Minute or Less

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Back when I was in college, sometimes I wouldn’t have enough time to eat.  The following is one of my best tricks for a quick meal on the run.

Instead of grilling cheese over the stove, I would do the following:

  • Put either 2 or 4 slices of bread in the toaster and let brown to normal desired level of toasting.
  • Put two slices of American Cheese slices between each pair of toast so that it looks like a typical grilled cheese sandwich
  • On a microwave save plate (or napkins/paper plate), put the toast and cheese in the Microwave and cook for 13 seconds or unit the cheese start to melt.
  • After 13 seconds if the cheese isn’t melted, put it back in for 3 seconds more.  Repeat until the cheese is soft or melted to your satisfaction.  Personally, I don’t like my cheese running wet, soft is just fine for me…

An additional step I use to do was to put butter on the top of the sandwich, but that took too much time, so I cut that step out.  I doesn’t add much time, but when you are in a hurry… You are in a hurry!

Grilled Cheese Sandwich

Now most of you already know this trick, but I’ve come across enough people that I thought that I would share my little trick.  Yes, technically it’s not a grilled cheese sandwich, but it taste about the same.

A nice compliment to the microwaved “grilled cheese” sandwich would be carrot sticks or some other veggie that you could just grab out of the refrigerator while running out the door to class or work.  My favorite was carrot sticks, because they are not wet or stick and easy to chew on while in the car or walking…

Note, if you don’t use butter, this version of a grilled cheese sandwich is almost identical to the original grilled cheese sandwich, but in a fraction of the time, and without any real cleanup afterwards (this assumed you use a paper plate or a napkin instead of dishes).

Do you have any quick, time saving cooking tips?

Cheers,

MR