User:Misterinnovation
MisterInnovation is the pen name of Nathan Wrzesinski. Born in 1989 he grew up building things out of other people's trash. Currently he is spearheading several projects including Project Upcycle [1] and the Warpunk movement.
Growing Up[edit]
He grew up in the projects, and his single mother didn't have enough money to buy toys like the other kids. His family received aid from WIC and Food stamps as well as food donations by churches while his mother was going back to school to get her degree. Needless to say things were hard, but because of this he learned some pretty valuable lessons.
1: Money doesn't grow...anywhere. 2: Do what makes you happy. 3: Make the most out of what you have. 4: An education will take you anywhere you set your mind to going.
Numbers three and four are what most influenced his life. As a child he could be found running up and down the streets of the projects going through peoples trash and taking what he could use. He wasn't the type of person to go through trash looking for food, instead he picked up old tv's that people threw away, broken computers, monitors, radios, skateboards and packing foam. Half the tv's that people threw away still worked, the other half had interchangeable parts that were easy to swap and make work. Computers and radios were the same way. Even in a place like the projects, people throw away what they replace or don't bother to fix. That didn't make sense to him. There was an instance where his school cafeteria was going to throw away around 1000 unused Styrofoam trays because they bought new reusable plastic ones. He snatched those trays up and walked home with them, put them in his room and tried to think of what I could do with them, a commercial came on the tv [which had been previously found in the trash] for those little airplanes that you snap out of the page and put together. He saw it and made it happen. 1 glider, at a total cost if $.01 [the penny I used for the nose weight] a total savings of $4.99 and mine were custom made. Before he knew it he was designing and building gliders for everyone at school and selling them for one dollar and one cent to two dollars and one cent depending on how many sheets of Styrofoam he used. By the time he ran out of trays I had made over six hundred dollars [the other trays were used for research and development for the newest and coolest designs.] Six hundred bucks!
Education[edit]
If you are reading this you are on the internet, one of the GREATEST EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES AVAILABLE. While no it isn't formal education and it won't get you a diploma, the internet is an abundance of how-to's and how-not-to's that can walk you through almost anything, from restoring a 1972 corvette to fixing a broken dishwasher. The internet is the source of more than half of his knowledge of how to build things. [the other half is his logic or someone showing him how]
Philosophy[edit]
He has been building and fixing things since before he can remember. He is an adamant user of the online "pre dump" Craigslist It is a free community forum where people can give away what they don't want anymore before they throw it in the trash. This is the source of most of his building materials because it is free and it saves valuable objects from being thrown in the trash and taking up room in a landfill somewhere.
Reduce, Reuse, Repurpose, Recycle, Repeat
Hobbies[edit]
Warpunk[edit]
MisterInnovation is a pioneer in the Warpunk culture and is a supporter of the United_States_Armed_Forces Customizing his 2001 Honda_CMX250C to look like a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress
Warpunk is a culture based on the aesthetics of the military and war, from as far back as the American Civil War to modern day conflict. Warpunk can be viewed as a derivative of Dieselpunk with Steampunk influences, focusing on war or war themes. In Warpunk culture, the machines and attire of war are depicted and glorified in art and fashion. This can be as simple as a Flight jacket or [[Combat boots] to Military surplus vehicles as well as vehicles customized to resemble or be a Replica of such vehicles.
Green Living/Sustainability[edit]
Because of his childhood, sustainability has been a driving force in his life. He has particular interest in the Tiny house movement due to its possibilities as both a sustainable mobile way of life as well as the ability to be built using recycled materials and used as a base for Project Upcycle [2]
Project Upcycle[edit]
Project Upcycle is a project started by MisterInnovation with the mission to build sustainable mobile shelters for persons displaced after coming back from deployment and not being able to incorporate into society.