Remember back in the day how folks said TV rots brain cells. Then it was video games. Well today's screen addiction is even more prevelant with everybody playing games on their phone. And on personal computer video games have gone crazy with virtual reality, photo realistic effects, and so on. While I don't play video games anymore I do have some fond memories of wasted youth spent going for high scores and besting my friends. These days I'm enjoying second childhood doing very different activities. Yet there are times when things work around full circle.
Case in point. Recently I helped a friend clean up a property. The yard was cluttered with lots of construction debris. Mainly left over from home improvement projects over the years. Decades actually. Most had set outside so long exposed to the elements that Reduce, Reuse and Repurpose were no longer viable. Recycling was the remaining option. Wood is organic so in a landfill it just breaks down. To get it there we rented a 20 yard dumpster. The rules were simple. We had 5 days to fill it as much as we could but only up to the level of the sides. Game on!
Day 1. We started with remants of plywood. Many were different size rectangles. Some were full 8' length or 4' width but not both and not many. Most were rectangular but some were triangular, trapezoidal, L shaped (one corner nipped) or C shaped (the middle of one side missing). Stacking those in layers and arranging smaller pieces to fit inside or next to others as tightly as possible - that reminded me of playing Tetris. Except that our pieces were more complex shapes and their sizes varied a lot more than the classic video game. Our plywood thicknesses also varied somewhat. Still, it was a 2 dimensional problem to solve, one layer at a time.
Day 2. We finished using most of the plywood scraps and started filling with 1 and 2 by lumber. We started filling the tapered sides as well. Our packing game was now a full up 3 dimensional problem to solve that totally eclipsed Tetris. Incidentally, I'm out west where we only got about 50% totality on the Solar Eclipse earlier this month. We enjoyed it all the same. If you were fortunate enough to be in the path of totality, hopefully you got to experience something special that won't happen again for many years. But I digress...
Day 3. Once we got close to the top in front we got some old railroad ties up and over the sides. Nobody got hurt because we worked smarter not harder. I love Physics. Leverage. Friction. Inclined planes. It's been so gosh darn practially useful my whole adult life!
Day 4. More scraps of plywood turned up. Along with some pieces of particle board from some previously knocked apart furniture. We actually had access to a big long loading ramp from a moving truck. That was real helpful for wheelbarrowing loads of material up over the side.
Day 5. The final stretch. We still had some space so we cut down some old carperting we found squirreled away in the garage and attic. This guy's place was a veritable treasure trove of stuff saved for hard times apparently. But one man's treasure is another's trash. So off to the landfill. Then we still had room for some dried out, splintery old fence pickets. So that's what finally topped off the load.
When he returned to haul off the dumpster the driver was impressed. We joked that he should add pictures to his website to show others how it's done. He seemed to take the suggestion more seriously than it was intended. Whether he does or not, two things are sure. Some video games may just be useful after all. And! We're very good at Tetris.
