Ooo, I'll check Open Office. We have a program in the office, but there aren't any more keys for it.

So my boss and I might start a side business together. What could go wrong? It's an idea I had that he thinks is brilliant, and I'd never do it by myself, so we're going to discuss it over drinks.

Are you ready? I may have mentioned this in Bitches, it arose during one of my bouts of panicked unemployment insomnia brainstorming sessions... manufacture glass Mardi Gras beads locally from recycled beer and wine bottles.

I didn't realize there were glass Mardi Gras beads; I assumed they were all just the cheap plastic ones. (My experience of Mardi Gras, of course, being parties and whatnot thrown in Ohio, trying to simulate the fun of Mardi Gras without the actual NOLA and krewes and so forth.)

Glass beads would be cool, and recycled would be even cooler!

Back in the day they were glass, and glass ones are making a bit of a comeback. They're a coveted "throw," and think how much more coveted if they were local!

That would be totally awesomesauce!

Brilliant! Or should I say "Beerilliant!."

Recycled beads would be great. There would certainly be enough local beer and wine bottles.

You could find a local sheltered workshop to string the beads.

And there is NO glass recycling here. None. You can take it to the Target in Metairie and I think they haul it to Texas.

Recycling for beads is about the simplest recycling there is. The glass is just smashed and melted in molds. It's done in pretty primitive areas in a labor-intensive way [link] but surely you could scale up this basic process fairly economically.

That's a great idea. There's no glass recycling here either. We take ours to Sedona. I dunno what they do with it. I should check, because I know where all the other stuff goes.

smonster, it's brilliant.