Re: Some thoughts on collecting

["Tim Haynes" <timhaynes@alumni.NO.SPAM.PLEASE.uwaterloo.ca>]

I think I'm going to cry...

How hard was it to remove the seats from your car so you could max your
space?  :)

Tim

"Bryan Villados" <news002@macgeek.org> wrote in message
news:%0sz9.82834$X9.27241579@twister.socal.rr.com...
> I feel your pain... I recently went to an elementary school that was jam
> packed with Apple equipment. I could only take one car load, and I had to
> leave the rest behind. I took some photos of the temporary storage
facility
> that sat on their school lawn:
>
> http://www.macgeek.org/temp/DSC00013.JPG
> http://www.macgeek.org/temp/DSC00015.JPG
> http://www.macgeek.org/temp/DSC00016.JPG
> http://www.macgeek.org/temp/DSC00017.JPG
> http://www.macgeek.org/temp/DSC00019.JPG
> http://www.macgeek.org/temp/DSC00020.JPG
>
> --- Bryan
>
> "Ernest" <ernestls@attbi.NOSPAM.com> wrote in message
> news:yoiz9.36374$Dc4.147710@rwcrnsc51.ops.asp.att.net...
> > Sometimes, collecting old computers can be kind of depressing. Today, a
> nice
> > man, a teacher from a local school brought over several large boxes of
old
> > Apple II software and manuals. There wasn't anything particularly
> > "collectable" in the lot, other than a set of Mastery Development
network
> > setup disks.
> >
> > The part that was depressing for me was seeing how neatly, and carefully
> > arranged and sorted it all was. This was obviously a school with a
> struggling
> > budget, and I could clearly see how much pride they took in their
> > hand-me-down software and manuals. Much of it was even sorted by class
and
> > grade, with a student's name on each 5.25" disk. I guess that it was
their
> > work for that year -mostly 2nd-4th grades.
> >
> > I don't know exactly why sorting through this stuff depressed me. Maybe
it
> > was because I could see that they once cared very much about this stuff,
> and
> > now it was being thrown out like so much rubbish.
> >
> > Next week, I get to go and pick through their old hardware -including
> their
> > Mastery Development Network systems. I'm sure that I'll find some nice
> things
> > but it will probably hit me the same way. They were still using their
> Apple
> > IIe's on this network up until a year or so ago, when the license
expired.
> >
> > It's lately begun to get to me. Each of these old systems, and bits of
> junk
> > have their previous owner's energy (for lack of a better word) all over
> them.
> > I find disks with old letters and diaries on them, or computers with
> stickers
> > that some teenage kid stuck on them. I take them apart, and clean them
up.
> I
> > effectively sterilize them of any sign of previous usage. I never
thought
> > about it before but I've started to lately and it sort of bums me out a
> > little. Who were these people? What are they doing now? Did Sue finally
> marry
> > Bill? Has Jack gone on to college? It's like seeing the ghosts of
previous
> > users.
> >
> > I should also say, though that most of the time, the history of these
old
> > computers fascinates me. I only collect clones now, and I know that
there
> > can't be more than a handful of certain ones left out there. I enjoy
that
> > part of it -knowing that at least the systems that I have will not be
> going
> > to the land fill any time soon.
> >
> > E.
> >
> > --
> > Web Page: http://12.228.5.66
> >
> >
>
>