expandablog

Getting all wound-up.

Whenever a season of Survivor ends I go into a deep, funky depression. Not even the alternative reality TV channels can satisfy my interest in viewing unshaven, rugged men. Nothing is able to calm the urge to starve myself and live in my back garden for a week, or soften the detox-type cravings for cunningly edited hour-long goodness. 

This time, when the fog of Survivor-absence malaise lifted, I decided to take action. One of the 5 phases during grief is apparently anger. And I was mad. Slouched in my office chair, I couldn't help but notice the Ex-Up wind-up Banner to my right; it was almost looking at me. Taunting me, even. As if it was telling me, 'I've won an International Design Award. What have you done to impress?' 

With it's smugness, the product was asking to be abused.

So when The Boss strolled in declaring that he wanted to test the Ex-Up's durability on hard impact, I nearly fell off my chair in violence-anticipatory excitement. To vent my woes onto an inanimate object would do me the world of good! 

I was to set up the Ex-Up A-Frame on the outside loading zone ramp, while someone else would heave a (already broken) large laser jet printer onto it, from the 4th floor ceiling. With the banner in place, the printer was hurled down to the ground. Once, it missed it's target and had to be put back together and sent back up for another attempt at distruction. And again, the printer failed to make contact with the Ex-Up. 

By now, my enthusiasm for damage and demolition was beginning to subside. Maybe it was because the impressive 1.4m x 2.4 product was beside me, awaiting it's brutal attack-by-printer. With it's durable frame and long-lasting fabric, I couldn't be sure how it would cope. But when the third printer grenade shaved the side of the banner and burst a plume of pink printer ink, we chose to abort mission.

I quickly wound the banner up and clung to it as I vacated the scene of the experiment. Yet The Boss was not satisfied and instructed two of us to take the product to the Moto X track over the weekend and cause a mess. Ramping over it, driving into it and mad wheelies onto it will test the tolerance of the mighty Ex-Up.

Come back next week to find out the verdict and how the Expand a Sign tribe has spoken!

Cheers,

EAS Team.