Bob;
You mentioned a while back, that your father is a computer engineer who replaces old computers almost daily.
Well that is a wonderful gift. Having a free, constant supply of quality material is a real blessing; but there's a downside in that it can quickly pile up and get out of hand.
I'm speaking here from my own experience. For years I had a constant, free source of quality material (computers and medical electronics). Not really having the time to deal with it, yet not wanting to pass on anything that might prove of value, I collected everything that came my way. It quickly outgrew my available storage space.
Eventually I came to realize a number of things: 1) That I was not physically able to store & process everything that came my way.
2) That there is better quality and lesser quality material.
3) That there are better, faster and more efficient ways to accomplish the same thing.
(And yes, I can remember wasting endless hours, pulling individual pins with a soldering iron and a pair of pliers).
The first thing I did was to stop accepting monitors and dot-matrix printers. As for ink-jet printers, I learned where the PM's are. I now dis-assemble only those parts and toss the rest.
I also got rid of all the computer cases, saving only the boards, cards, drives, etc. etc.
Even so, i'm still swamped.
Recently, my source of supply dried up and even though it's depressing, it has given me the opportunity to start working on depopulating all those boards i've been saving up all those years.
A couple months back ( Mar. '08.), a member (from Alaska) related how he had 28 warehouse buildings filled with old computer equipment and more coming in every day. Now that might be a wet dream for some, but you dry out fast, once you awaken to reality and realize that it's a nightmare and it's real.
Reminds me of the joke about the guy who dreamed he was eating a turkey dinner. He was so stuffed that he couldn't eat another bite.
When he awoke in the morning, he found that his pillow was gone. :lol:
Remember, most Big problems start out as small problems that aren't solved.
Part of what this forum is all about is: more-experienced members trying to help the lesser-experienced ones not make the same mistakes they did.
Shaul
