Retirement
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| Sun Microsystems UltraSPARC T1 chip |
25 years ago, almost to the day, I put on a "product launch event" for an upcoming line of servers that were being released under the architecture codename "Serengeti". See, across the country, other offices were running coffee n' doughnut sessions for their customers, but this was a pretty big leap in tech for us. So my boss asked me to come up with something better, and so I came up with a safari-themed afternoon party at a downtown pub; yep, the only region in the country to serve booze at a product launch.
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Yes, that is a real crocodile!
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Anyhow, it was a major success. I had a friend who coordinated the live crocodile and snakes, along with a troupe of scantily clad dancers. Yes, dancers. All of the Sun Micro team wore safari shirts that someone bought at a local outdoor supplier, and I designed a pattern that was embroidered onto the back of the shirts. I bought some styrofoam pith helmets from the party store, and with some khaki shorts, it completed the look.
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| How to re-use these features? |
Fast forward 25 years, and I noticed the shirt hanging in the back of the closet. With fond memories of the safari party, I couldn't bring myself to throw it out, but what to do with it? I had recently converted my PGA Tour ProAm caddy smock into a tote bag, so I had proven that I had some rudimentary sewing skills, but what could I make that would be different? After some Googling, I landed upon a duffel bag. I seemed to have enough material for a "personal item" sized one (would I ever use it travel?), so I set about unstitching the pockets and other features from the shirt.
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| The donor bag stripped of the goods |
The major thing that I didn't have, was a zipper. So one day when she was going to Value Village, I tagged along with her, and found a dusty gym bag with a suitable zipper that I could harvest from it. As a bonus, it had a shoulder strap and associated D-loops, as well as a hard plastic, removable bottom. I also salvaged the velcro wrap handle grip from it, and inner mesh pocket. All of that for only $6! Ok, so I had to go to the craft store to get some black bias tape to cover up the inside seams, as well as some matching thread for the safari shirt fabric. I happened to have a long piece of black nylon webbing to use for the handles too.
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| A peek inside |
I won't go into the build here, but I did follow (somewhat) the process
outlined on this website. I also consulted with ChatGPT extensively on what I could build into the bag, what to use as lining, and what extra features might make it unique. I have gone through at least 3 man purses (purses) in the course of our travels, and made note of the features that I liked and disliked. While a duffel bag might be too big for day touring, it might get used as my personal item along with my carry on piece.
Despite some challenges with my sewing skills, and learning new things on the machine (e.g. buttons/button holes), I was able to put together what I had in mind. You can't see my mistakes, as the most important stitching is on the inside of the bag, which is now covered up by black bias tape. The double-layer construction gives the duffel bag just enough structure, but not so much that it looks stiff. At 15" x 11" x 5", it is definitely under the personal item size constraint for most airlines. Will it come with me on the next European trip? We'll see.
