I am in the midst of another office cleanup. Unlike last year, I don’t think I’ll bore / shock you with too many pictures. But as I shuffle things around, I have to occasionally shut down the network- including the server that provides this website. I expect the outages to be fairly brief: so far, there have been three outages of under thirty minutes each. But you have been warned.
One thing that is different this year is that I am attempting to dispose of a vast quantity of outdated/no longer used computer bits. I have four chassis, three of which have partial or nearly complete PCs ranging from a pentium III to a dual processor Athlon. There are also three CRT monitors, a stack of hard drives, another stack of network hubs and cards, and several boxes of “miscellaneous parts” (including RAM, sound cards, and other odds and ends). Most of the stuff is over five years old, and I can’t honestly tell you why I’ve held on to it other than it is hard to dispose of.
I plan on renting a truck later this week to cart it all to the Goodwill electronics recycling depot: they reuse what they can, and break down/dispose of what they can’t use. The scary thing is that I need a truck… I’ll probably post a picture or two of the loaded truck once it is all done. And probably a picture of the finished re-org: the “in progress” pictures would be truly frightening.
Mmmm… my Mum’s Vista machine is a year old. Every other computer is 2002 / 2003 vintage … laptop might be 2004. Still using a 1993 laser printer. Little slow but it works better than any other printer in the house.
I think my entire network is about on equal footing with your obsolete junk 😉
I don’t know whether to admire you or feel sorry for you… nope, I’d have to go with “feeling sorry for” 🙂
Kidding, but my computers get a lot of use, I’d suspect more than yours do. So a five or six year old computer in my house (one of the machines going to the recycle place is 8 years old, one of the monitors is 12…) is really getting kind of tired.
Another way to think of it… I believe I once read that the third largest airforce in the world was the American “mothball” fleet. The American military’s need to have the latest and greatest means that they are continuously removing incredibly advanced aircraft from service. Other countries are often almost able to save up enough to buy whatever it is the American’s removed from service as “out of date” a few years ago. My computer situation is kind of like that 🙂
Be careful while loading the back of the truck, try not to throw anything into the cab 🙂
I’d go with “feeling sorry” as well.
I have no desire to be as far out on the bleeding edge as you are, but I wouldn’t be tail end charlie of the upgrade cycle either if I had the choice.
I’m just fortunate that the hardware turnover rate has slowed down enough that a 6 year old computer can still function well, and I can still use the same software without having to buy new.
I guess I should be thankful that Vista had a “less than optimal” release 😉
Shane, might you be referring to this? Yes, not one of my better moments, I’ll admit. I’ll refrain from mentioning the extra wall you decided needed removing…oops 🙂 Mistakes were made, but it was work well done regardless. Although that room is now a {shudder} gym rather than a billiards room.
To reduce the likelihood of any broken windows, I decided to rent a cargo van this time. I’ll be picking it up in a couple of hours, and then relegating my cast-off computer equipment to history…