Month: April 2011

20MPDC Check in 4/19/11

4/13 and 4/14 were eaten up with gardening.

4/15. Spent more time reading about knife sharpeners. I didn’t put anything on Craigslist because I’m out of town for a day. I did have a nibble on an item, which if followed through (only an “if” for Craigslist as people are flaky) I will have an extra $5.00.

4/16 Craigslist guy did come thorough and I’m $5.00 richer. I now have grossed $8.00 which is nearly one first-run matinee movie. Or two second-run movies plus a box of Jr. Mints. But more importantly, it’s a tiny step toward the knife sharpening gear I need to implement the knife sharpening business.

4/17, 4/18 & 4/19. Apparently busy with other things.

Can people read this well labeled recycling bin?

I spotted this fancy new recycling bin on the way to my bus stop.
As you can see, it’s very clearly labeled. But can people follow directions?

I spy a potato chip bag (neither newspaper, nor magazine) plus two cups in the top section.

In the “plastic bottles and metal cans” side I see two plastic bottles, but three cups.

In the “glass bottles” side I see one glass bottle and one metal can (but no cups.)
As you can see, just writing on the object what you want it to be used for does not always work.

20MPDC 4/12/11

Wednesday 4/6/11
Evening meeting left me with little time, certainly not 20 minutes. I took a picture of an item to put on Craigslist and that was it.

Thursday 4/7/11
I posted an item to Craigslist and took a picture of another item. I spent the rest of the time reading tutorials on SharpeningSupplies.com and I watched a video. The tiny amount of research I’ve done over the past few weeks has me confident that I can learn how to sharpen knives.

Friday/Saturday 4/8-9
Nothin!

Sunday 4/10/11
I took another picture and posted another ad on Criagslist. I edited my Harvest Helper flyer and watched a few sharpening videos. I want to purchase a stone set, but I am resisting until I do more research.

Monday 4/11/11
Picture? Taken. Item? Posted. Harvest Helper? New blog created. WordPress explored a bit.

20MPDC Check in 4/5/11

3/29. Finished blog post about 20MPDC. With the minute remaining, googled “how to be a professional knife sharpener” and discovered that more people search “how to be a professional knife thrower” than “knife sharpener.”

3/30. Made flyer for harvesting business. Not sure of a good name for the business. Am letting it marinate. Read up on knife sharpening on a web site and found another good source of information and supplies (which are not cheap!). Briefly contemplated taking a picture of items for sale and rejected that idea.

3/31. Took pictures of five things to sell on Craig’s List. Will upload the photos with the usual weekly photo upload. Spent 11 minutes reading about knife sharpening. The Paper Wheel system seems in my price range. Will keep reading.

4/1. Spent the entire time reading about knife sharpening. I learned to fold a paper corner to show me the primary edge face and the secondary edge face. April and May will be used to read about sharpening so that I will have a good idea of what would be the best investment of my money.

4/2, 4/3 Busy with other things

4/4. Forgot to write down what I did, but if memory serves, posted an item to Craigslist and spent the rest of the time doing something that I cannot recall. Ah, it’s coming back to me now. I was looking for a detail map of the Kenton neighborhood and got distracted on the library web site.

4/5. Sold item on Craigslist and am now $3.00 richer! What an excellent boost of confidence for this project! I have decided to take a picture of something to sell every day and post something to sell every day. I posted a new item and spent some time reading Leonard Lee’s Complete Guide to Sharpening. I read the chapter on kitchen knife sharpening. Leonard Lee is pretty funny and reassured me that sharpening kitchen knives is easy! Example: “Most kitchen-knife users seem to be satisfied with the condition of the knife as long as the cutting edge is keener than the back of the knife. The tolerance for dull knives is amazingly high in most kitchens.”

In the few minutes remaining. I checked out WordPress as I am thinking about having a web site for my harvesting business.

Well done, me!

Is this rude?

I attended a professional development workshop today about brain-based math learning. This woman was on her computer the entire day. Well, the entire part of the day she was there, as she left early. At first I thought she was taking notes, but I soon realized she was spending her time online shopping. So my questions are 1) Why did she even come as she was not at all paying attention and 2)Is this rude, or just an acceptable modern use of time under the guise of “multi-tasking”?