Last Friday kicked off this year's National Week of Making, which celebrates the ingenuity and innovation of makers of all ages and locations around the world. As a company of makers in a community of makers, this mission obviously hits very close to home, and we thought it would be fun to survey everyone at SparkFun to see how they would answer the prompt:
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p>You know you are a maker when ________________________.
Hopefully, this small sampling brings a bit of humor to your Week of Making -- we definitely had fun putting it together! If you have something you would like to ask the SparkFun team, leave us a comment; we'll be doing these types of posts from time to time.
A maker, makerizing.
You Know You're a Maker When...
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p>...family members fear you'll "burn the house down," even though there was only that one time.
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p>...you get stopped by TSA every time you fly because you forgot your work-in-progress was in your backpack.
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p>...you catch yourself hoarding the parts of an old Sleep Number mattress "in case I need to use them for something."
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p>...you solder as a stress reliever on the weekends.
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p>...you can recall the pinouts for dozens of IC's, but can't remember to buy butter.
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p>...you drive out of your way to see what's in the dumpster behind the local tech company.
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p>...when your family members first response to "Look what I made" is to protect their vital organs.
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p>...the white noise that lulls you to sleep is the steady rhythm of your 3D printer
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p>...there's no room for meals on your dining-room table.
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p>...you spend three hours automating a process would have taken 40 minutes to do manually.
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p>...you're not sure whether it's 2 p.m. or 2 a.m.
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p>...when you find knitting needles in your toolbox or a rivet setter in your makeup bag.
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p>...something cool and new hits the market, and you have to buy two -- one to play with, and one to tear down.
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p>...you list Philip Brainard's kitchen in Flubber as a life goal.
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p>...you'd rather spend hundreds of dollars to custom build something you can buy for $20 at Target.
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p>...your project works but you don't know how or why.
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p>...you've accumulated enough junk parts to build your own super computer from scratch.
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p>...you know making a project is 2/3 taking apart, 1/4 putting together, and the remainder glaring at it.
Same.
Your turn!
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p>You know you're a maker when ________________________.
Friends and family bring you stuff that doesn't work... and when they get it back it does things it didn't when they bought it.
TOTALLY got hit by the TSA!
...you buy things exclusively for the parts inside.
...you spend forever tracking down a specific revision of a device because it's easier to hack.
...you learn how to sew just so you can know when you've finished fixing an industrial sewing machine.
You are the first person everyone comes to when looking for that one weird screwdriver tip.
The local news checks with you first when someone reports an UFO.
The local emergency services drive by regularly 'just to see what you are up to'.
… you have a wider variety of tapes and adhesives than Home Depot.
... you know you’re the one person who’s prepared for a zombie apocalypse. You like a challenge.
… you love the smell of 3-in-1 and aluminum oxide in the morning.
… your Mother always says “how did you get that through security?”
… you know to always leave a note in your luggage, for security, identifying “strange” looking items.
… a friend gives you that funny look, because you’ve been absentmindedly fixing things as you walked through they’re home: loose lamp shades, crooked picture frames, loose door knobs,...
… you just can’t decide which physics principles to challenge/employ in your next weekend project.
… during the development of one project, you realize 10 more great project ideas.
… you keep a few containers of your own extra parts collection at work in case “they” need anything.
… you leave the lab thinking, “it’s 11pm, I should eat breakfast” and “where did this foot of snow come from?”
… the ruby in the first ring you gave your wife is from a laser optics mount you found in the physics department dumpster, and she loves that fact.
… you know that a gift you make yourself is the only kind truly from the heart.
… you are serious about your silly putty.
... you come to think of Sparkfun, not as a supplier but, as a social network.
-- Yes, on the soldering as a stress reliever. 10K ohmmm…
-- You often receive gifts of broken electronics, because "they thought of you."
You know you're a maker when: - you See Ikea as a parts supplier. - Craft sores like Michaels, Total Crafts, and Jo-Anne's are also parts suppliers. - Only doctor's offices cannot provide you with supplies and ideas... ;) ;)
Disagree. I have...requisitioned...plenty of tongue depressors, q-tips and cotton balls that ended up being used for things other than their intended purpose.
My dentist gave me an entire container of that stuff they use to take molds of your teeth for crowns. I 3D printed him a mandible as a thank-you gift.
Lucky!
Re second photo, the one of your workbench...
How do you keep it so uncluttered? I know from your blogs that you're not one of those people who maintain tidiness by never DOING anything.
Jealous.
A one pound spool of solder is one of your monthly "Subscribe and Save" items.
...you can never ask for help at the hardware store because nothing you buy there is ever used for its originally intended purpose.
You actually get a fire extinguisher from your kid on Father's Day! I mean WTH...It probably is for the best though. There HAVE been issues.
Or from your roommate or wife, with a request of "Please do use this,.. next time".