Pickin' (and no grinnin')

I think I mentioned somewhere a while back about my fascination with the intrepid "trash pickers" who seem to have the most incredible luck at pulling workable tech out of the dumpsters and transfer stations of America.

I am not one of those people.  Sometimes I wouldn't mind to be, but...

To be honest, I think I'm cursed by geography.  I live in a fairly rural area, which also happens to be fairly economically depressed.  If, by chance, someone would toss a computer or such out, it's probably going to be moldy toast.  We don't even really have a recycling center close by.  (The so called "recycling drop off point" we do have is basically a "dump off your plastic bottles and cardboard boxes" kinda place.  The city is always howling about finding deer carcases tossed in amongst the soda bottles during hunting season...)

We do have a local college, which is known for its out-of-state clientèle.  (I did graduate from there, by the way, even though I was a local.  Makes me a bit of an oddity.)  However, I really have no desire to stick my head nor hands into a dumpster sitting at the back of a dorm-full of celebrating seniors...

Even the "you'd have to pay" spots aren't that great.  The local Goodwill is basically a clothing shop, with some very sad junk floating about.

And, today, for the sheer devilment of it, I went to local pawn shop and had a look.  Sad.  A small, mangy collection of really overpriced HPs, a couple Dells, and I believe a Samsung.  One all-in-one desktop with that "me-want-man-cave" look to it.  (I think I paid less for my 3 current Thinkpads together than they wanted for one of the HPs or Dells.)  Nothing worthwhile, or worth the price.

I guess the 'picking could be done nearby.  When I was at the state university (just shy of 70 miles up the road), a friend of mine used to cruise the student-heavy neighborhoods at the end of the semester and pick up new furniture for the next year.  I suspect there might be some technological cascading going on there. But, again, I'd be wanting to wear a hazard suit in some areas...  (It was a wild place when I was there, but now...Yee-HAW!)

Still, I'd kind of like to see if I could have any luck cruising for discarded tech.  Alas, I think I would have to go far afield to do it.  And that begins to cross over my essential laziness and apathy.

Putting out effort requires effort, you know...