One Womans Trash...

[coliver80]

A few years ago I was out at my father-in-laws house helping tear down an old decrepit shed. In side this shed in the rafters were two Atari 2600s. One had a birds nest on top of it and the other was under a leaky section of roof and was there for full of stick, twigs and water. My wife chuckled and said she forgot all about those... they been there for over 20 years. So you could just imagine the expression on my father-in-laws and my wifes face as I was loading them into the back of our car. I believe her exact words were "What do you plan on doing with those... they're not going to work." I told her "I'm not stupid I know they're not going to work.. I'm keeping them for parts". I did try them when we got home while she was in the shower(morbid curiosity). So anyways a few years later and I've used these rust buckets for parts and saved a 4 switch with a bad Tia and a 6 switch with a bad Raid. You never know when you'll need a part. Any of you others out there got someone else's trash??

[Rom Hunter]

I feel very old suddenly...

[+nanochess]

This is plain recent but when I got my first Macbook Pro, shiny new of 3 months, I spilled coffee over the poor thing and the keyboard in these things just fails and cannot be recovered.

 

I took it to repair and they returned me the damaged pieces, over time I bought another Macbook Pro, and just today I was wondering what to do with my wearing off keys (in a related comment for a so expensive machine, these keys wear off easily!! 2 years is too fast!!)

 

And *snap* I reminded of my returned keyboard, and I'm going to take keys from it for my laptop now I'm proud of not throwing it to trash.

[coliver80]

I just took the raid chip from the trash unit for a customers 4 switch...lol.

[jhd]

Be careful that saving things "for parts" does not lead to unrestrained hoarding. My Grandfather, having survived both the Depression and the Second World War, was reluctant to throw away anything that might have value or be useful someday in the future. After he died, it took literally several years to empty his house so it could be sold. We started the process with garage sales and donations to charity -- by the end, there was a rapidly filling dumpster parked in the front yard!

 

Personally, I have a decent-size apartment, but not enough space to store non-working hardware, old computer parts, etc. If I cannot use something and/or it is non-functional, it goes either to Goodwill or the dumpster behind the building.

[4ever2600]

Be careful that saving things "for parts" does not lead to unrestrained hoarding. My Grandfather, having survived both the Depression and the Second World War, was reluctant to throw away anything that might have value or be useful someday in the future. After he died, it took literally several years to empty his house so it could be sold. We started the process with garage sales and donations to charity -- by the end, there was a rapidly filling dumpster parked in the front yard!

 

Personally, I have a decent-size apartment, but not enough space to store non-working hardware, old computer parts, etc. If I cannot use something and/or it is non-functional, it goes either to Goodwill or the dumpster behind the building.

 

Sooooooooo one man's trash... the cycle begins again.

[coliver80]

Sooooooooo one man's trash... the cycle begins again.

Lol.. nicely done

[4ever2600]

Couldn't resist...

[jhd]

On a slightly related note, does anyone actually pick through garbage bins for salvageable/resalable items?

 

I once found a 2600 joystick and a crushed Donkey Kong(?) cartridge on the ground beside a garbage bin in my (former) apartment complex. There may have been other stuff had I gone dumpster diving after them.

 

More recently, someone pitched an Xbox 360 console in the original box -- I admittedly checked it out (it was lying directly on top; I did not dig for it ), but it was missing the hard drive.

[coliver80]

On a slightly related note, does anyone actually pick through garbage bins for salvageable/resalable items?

 

I once found a 2600 joystick and a crushed Donkey Kong(?) cartridge on the ground beside a garbage bin in my (former) apartment complex. There may have been other stuff had I gone dumpster diving after them.

 

More recently, someone pitched an Xbox 360 console in the original box -- I admittedly checked it out (it was lying directly on top; I did not dig for it ), but it was missing the hard drive.

I never have dumpster dove however my son is constantly wanting to dive into Gamestops dumpsters... kids these days!

[onemoretime]

My washer,dryer,freezer,refrigerator,ice machine,ceiling fan,kitchenaid mixer,microwave,lp heater, all 4 window units,grandfather clock,table saw,wood lathe,the cedar on my walls, most of the paint in my house, my welder, dresser and end table, most of the lighting in my house,my lawnmower, and countless other things came from the city dump and where repaired by me.

[toiletunes]

I got my first Genesis in the trash back in 1998 or so.