For whatever reason, I always like to get on Craig's List and look for free computer stuff. I rarely ever find anything (that I want), and I'm not sure I want anything, but I always look. It is some kind of addiction, I suppose, for there seems to be no rhyme or reason for it. It is just something I do.

So, imagine my surprise when I went to take the trash out at my own apartment building, there, right in front of me, on the ground in the trash room, was a computer tower, just waiting for a dumpster diver to rescue it from an ugly demise. I don't know what other conclusion I can draw from it being in the trash room than it being intended for disposal, so I grabbed it. I had to. It was a computer, it was there, I was there, and I was curious. And I'm a pack rat.

The computer looked kind of old, so I wasn't all that hopeful, but an old computer these days is better than anything I had back in 1984 (despite George Orwell's predictions), and it had a note on it that I am still unable to completely decipher, so I really had no choice but to bring it inside and plug it in. I was actually kind of surprised to discover that it worked! It booted right up into Windows 2000 Professional. And there was absolutely no data and really no applications to speak of installed on the drive.

It's actually kind of a mystery. Even though it was in the trash room, I feel kind of odd having it, as if I stole it or something. But last year I found an empty computer tower in the same trash room (and I found out who threw it out, and I know it was discarded), so I figured this must be on its way out, too (though I don't know if the trash guys would have even picked it up).
I was going to harvest the floppy drive out of it (since I am short one - though I'm not sure I even need one anymore) and possibly the hard drive, so I opened it up. The case is a very unusual design, but very functional - things swung open, making it easy to get the hard drive out, for example. It turns out this is an old Dell computer. But then I changed my mind and put everything back in. It is a totally working computer and would be fine for someone who just wants to get on the Internet or create documents, etc., etc. After all, it's a computer!

Something is wrong with this world when there are thousands of people who cannot even afford food or clothes - much less a roof over their heads - and here I am pulling perfectly good computers out of the trash. Something just seems so wrong about that. Therefore, I now have to make sure this computer goes to someone who could really use one and would really appreciate it. I can't believe there would be anything so wrong with it that it wouldn't work. I haven't tested it to see if I can plug it into the network. But it kills me that there is this computing device sitting on the floor of my workshop that has more computing power than the Apollo space craft. And it was in the trash.

Funny how people take technology for granted...and at the expense of the environment, too...but that's another story.