This is an email forwarded me from my brother, who lives in the United States. Now, yes, you could argue that he brought it on himself by a) living in the US, b) clearly somehow giving his email address to 'Dan', c) becoming involved in a 'Residents Housing Association'.
But never, and I mean NEVER, in my life - and I used to live in Scotland and currently live in Argentina - have I seen one person waste more time over something so pointless as 'Dan', sender of the following email. Quick glossary: a luminares is a lantern. The problem is that a candle is a flame of some sort, and is therefore dangerous, and flames, as we know, can burn people to death.
Over to Dan:
Hey all.
I will be ordering the materials for the luminares today. The newest item for discussion is the bag weight. In years past, we have hand measured play sand (one cup per bag) and dumped it into a grocery bag for each home owner (If you had ten luminares, you got 10 cups of sand) The homeowners then dumped equal portions into the bottom of their bags and put the candle on top. The problem was that if the sand was wet the bottom of the bag would disentigrate. I was trying to figure out if there is a better way of weighting the bottom of the bags. I asked a guy I know that packages peanuts in heavy duty plastic bags to make me a re-usable "sand bag" sample. Attached is a picture of what he made. These would be reusable, storable weights that would keep us from having to measure out sand each year.
The down side is that they are rather expensive (.60 each) We will need close to 900. The old way, the annual cost of sand was probably under $100 and it took two volunteers about 3 to 4 hours to prepare all of the bags. I've laid out some pros and cons for the board to consider. If we decide to do the plastic sand bags, we have to order them before Friday in order to get them in time.
**Good
-Saves 2 people 3 to 4 hours of prep time
-Easier to use year to year
-Doesn't get the paper bags wet
-Less general mess
-Saves a TINY bit of natural resources by re-use
**Bad
-Up front expense of around $550
-Somebody has to collect and store them
-Some people may throw them away or destroy them accidentally
Please give me your thoughts
Dan
I will be ordering the materials for the luminares today. The newest item for discussion is the bag weight. In years past, we have hand measured play sand (one cup per bag) and dumped it into a grocery bag for each home owner (If you had ten luminares, you got 10 cups of sand) The homeowners then dumped equal portions into the bottom of their bags and put the candle on top. The problem was that if the sand was wet the bottom of the bag would disentigrate. I was trying to figure out if there is a better way of weighting the bottom of the bags. I asked a guy I know that packages peanuts in heavy duty plastic bags to make me a re-usable "sand bag" sample. Attached is a picture of what he made. These would be reusable, storable weights that would keep us from having to measure out sand each year.
The down side is that they are rather expensive (.60 each) We will need close to 900. The old way, the annual cost of sand was probably under $100 and it took two volunteers about 3 to 4 hours to prepare all of the bags. I've laid out some pros and cons for the board to consider. If we decide to do the plastic sand bags, we have to order them before Friday in order to get them in time.
**Good
-Saves 2 people 3 to 4 hours of prep time
-Easier to use year to year
-Doesn't get the paper bags wet
-Less general mess
-Saves a TINY bit of natural resources by re-use
**Bad
-Up front expense of around $550
-Somebody has to collect and store them
-Some people may throw them away or destroy them accidentally
Please give me your thoughts
Dan
Well, I'd be delighted to give you my thoughts, Dan.
Dear Dan,
Get a bag. Climb into it. I will then, and I stand by this promise, personally volunteer however many hours are necessary to 'dump sand' until I have filled the bag in its entirity. I asked a guy I know how long it takes to bury a grown man in a bag. He looked at me strangely, and could not provide a photo. The old way, we'd never be having this conversation, because people didn't really care about dying (due to flaming lumieres), they cared about living.
PS Under your point GOOD, saves 2 people 3 to 4 hours of prep time' I have two points.
Number 1: judging by the depth and research of your email, it looks a little bit like you have the time.
Number 2: Why don't you just DIE?
My thoughts,
Dougal
