(no subject)

[psipsy]

While I was out and about on Friday to drop off a load of stuff at the recycling dumpsters, I spotted a dealership selling a used Integra, almost identical to aichan95, except the one for sale is an automatic, a year older, and I would imagine with fewer miles. Price? $4000. I figure a 16-year old car would need about as much work anyway since many of the problems I'm running into are age related, so I feel vindicated in my decision to keep what I have. Yes, 360k miles is more than average, but then I'm paying a premium for knowing where most of those miles have been. But that's mostly beside the point. As I'm unloading a bag of empty aluminum cans into the dumpster, sometimes I'll glance at what other people have deemed to be "recyclable". I've seen entire small appliances, car parts, computers, riding toys for kids, aluminum siding and so on tossed in. Once I found a DVD recorder outside the dumpster, complete with remote and instructions. During this particular trip, the treasure was a freshly-deposited PlayStation2. Judging by how full the dumpsters were and that this item had nothing on top of it, it may have been there for an hour or two at most. As I lack anything OCD (or dignity for that matter), the temptation was too great. Regardless of whether it worked or not, I felt obliged to reclaim it from certain destruction, at least for the time being. Some may say that I have no pride, but really, I do. It's a pride in knowing that I can find usefulness in things that would otherwise be cast aside. Repair and reuse is the purest form of recycling.

Friday would have been a good beach day, but I woke up too late. Saturday I didn't wake up as late, but it was rainy all day. Here's hoping for Sunday! In the meantime, anime.

Comments

[psipsy.livejournal.com]

The PS2 hasn't been checked out yet, but the DVD recorder might need something as simple as a drive belt for the loading mechanism. And if I ever spot any flat-panel monitors up for grabs, I'll know what to do with those.

[animedude.livejournal.com]

Like I always say, you'd be amazed at the kinds of cool stuff you can find if your willing to dig through the trash.

[psipsy.livejournal.com]

I should haunt places that deal in recyclable electronics and see if I can score some "dead" flat-panel monitors.

[dividemymind.livejournal.com]

"One person's trash is another person's treasure" or so they say.
win!

[psipsy.livejournal.com]

It's why I love taking stuff for recycling; there's no fun in simply tossing it out. At my mom's, the town used to have a yearly "bulk trash day". It was fun to see just who would come around looking through the stuff we tossed out. I saw an older man pick out something he liked, and put it in the trunk of his shiny new Lincoln.

Art

[marcyu.livejournal.com]

My mom once went dumpster diving for a nice painting she saw sticking out of it. She thought she could get some money for it. I grudgingly put it on eBay for her. She got $1,300 for it. Shows you what I know.

Re: Art

[psipsy.livejournal.com]

Same could be said for yard sales, where often the only difference between the two is paying a couple dollars for the luxury of getting it before it's in the trash.

One of my brothers and his wife went to a yard sale and found a set of china. They bought it for a few dollars, because one of the teacups had a broken handle. When they contacted the company (that was still in business) to see if they could get a replacement, the company ended up asking one of the old-timers if he'd seen that particular pattern, who explained the original pattern was lost in a fire in the early 1900s. They wanted to buy the set back for historical purposes. I've yet to find out if he took them up on their five-figure offer.

Re: Art

[rubian77.livejournal.com]

No shit?!? Which brother was that?

The PS2 probably has the dreaded "ring" error from being played too long without a fan.

Re: Art

[psipsy.livejournal.com]

That would be John. He told this back in '96.