HIGDON

I know afternoon running is not ideal but sometimes it just cannot be helped.  I had a busy morning and didn't find the time to run until 5 PM.  And I had a pickup appointment with a Freecycler at 6!  It's Hal Higdon's birthday and I really wanted to spell out his full name, but there was not enough time for it.  Sorry, Hal, "Higdon" will have to do.  For the inquiring minds, Mr. Hal Higdon is famous in the world of running thanks to his marathon, and other distance, training programs.  See more at http://www.halhigdon.com 

Actually, I thought about sticking "al" below the big H, to have the H pull double duty, but I barely finished the "n" when the Freecycler arrived at my subway station.  I rushed home and brought the two bags of Chinese VHS tapes to her at the subway station.  She texted me that she looked forward to watching the old Chinese movies from the 80s and 90s.  Hopefully the tapes will stay out of the landfill for another ten years, or more, thanks to Freecycling!

SPRING CLEANING TIPS 2013 - PROPER E-WASTE DISPOSAL

Spring is here!  Well, the weather is not spring-like, but spring is here regardless.  With spring we will have spring cleaning.  Faithful followers of this blog know that I already have a head-start with spring cleaning thanks to The Freecycling Network (TFN).  I managed to give away many baby-related items plus old-technology stuff.  Ideally the people who get stuff from TFN or similar networks are individuals actually making use of them.  In my case, I suspect I've been dealing with an eBay Seller, so I am not going to list any more stuff for the time being.  I did have a bunch of old 4-GB, or smaller size, internal hard drives, and some internal burners, mostly CD-R or CD-RW, but there was a DVD burner.  Instead of listing them on TFN, I packed them all up into one heavy backpack and rode on the bike to the E-Waste Warehouse of the Lower East Side Ecology Center (LESEC).  The LESEC regularly holds e-waste events in the five boroughs, whereby people can drop off old electronics for re-use or recycling, or at worst for proper disposal so that the old stuff don't end up contaminating soil or stream. Now things get even better!  The E-Waste Warehouse on President Street in Brooklyn, almost by the Gowanus Canal, is open five days a week (Tuesday through Saturday).  Nothing fancy, just a loading dock where people can drop off stuff.  It's far from the main road, so there are plenty of parking or double-parking space should you come with a truck-load of stuff.  For some kind of tracking, you may be asked from which zip code you come from.

When the E-Waste Warehouse is open for business, this sign is put out on the sidewalk.  The loading dock is just to the right of this photo.  A LESEC person sat on the dock collecting stuff, I didn't want to bother him with photography.

The LESEC E-Waste Warehouse is near a T-intersection.  The Gowanus Canal is behind the photographer and the street where the white van is on is President.

Years ago I would drive van-load of stuff I rescued from the street to LESEC events.  I should also take such items to the E-Waste Warehouse, but I won't be doing that at all.  It's a bit far for me and I hate driving, even when there is plenty of parking.  Instead, I've been taking old electronics to my local Best Buy at Caesar's Bay.  I just walk there with a laundry cart, usually with just one item, but one time I brought three pieces.  I just chalk the walk up as a Charity Miles walk, usually done after a meal.  Right at the entrance, I would ask for a Recycle sticker to affix to each piece, then just drop the stuff off at their Service Desk.  No need to even wait on a queue if there is one, just leave them on the floor out of the way for the service people to get in and out of the area.  All the staff are so friendly, they even thanked me for recycling.  According to this blog post, http://www.greenbiz.com/blog/2012/04/24/how-best-buy-makes-money-recycling-america’s-electronics-and-appliances?page=full , Best Buy makes a little money off the free service and their e-waste handlers meet industry standard.  Still a win-win situation for me.  As long as I don't do any compulsive buying while at Best Buy.

I recently found out that Staples also accept old tech stuff for recycling.  I knew that Staples used to take only Dell stuff but things changed for the better.  The local Staples store is much closer for me than the Best Buy store, but recycling with Staples is a little more involved.  You need to be on queue as if you are buying something, then the clerk has to look up some codes to I.D. the pieces and print you a receipt.  On those days when Staples have $1, or better, sales I wouldn't want to be at Staples.  I suppose I'll take the long walks to Best Buy after all.

BROOKLYN FREECYCLE

Let's hear it for Brooklyn Freecycle!  Or FreecyclePlus actually.

Did you visit any of those links I provided in my last post?  Practicing what I preach, I actually posted a few things with Brooklyn Freecycle today.  It's nice that my Offers appeared right away, but it won't do any good if nobody wants the stuff.  I am sure if the site ever gets popular, spammers will ruin it for everyone and new posts will have to be approved, just like with The Freecycling Network.

FreecyclePlus uses a point system in dealing with Offers and Requests.  Supposedly, people can bid with points to have a better chance of getting stuff.  But points are not really required to bid.  Huh?  It reminds me of Whose Line Is It Anyway's point system.  The points don't matter and Drew Carey awarded, the improv geniuses on the show, with abandon.

Anyway, one of the stuff I am offering on Brooklyn Freecycle is these CD tray thingamajig, viewable at

http://www.flickr.com/photos/qaptainqwerty/8467538481/

Do you have any idea how to use these trays?  I only I bought at BJ's Wholesale not really knowing how they are to be used.  Many years later they just sit around not used.  I suspect they are used together with some CD-organizing system, perhaps hooked onto some rod and swing out as needed.  Hope someone will see through and can put them to good use.

CAESAR'S BAY RECOVERS

Today, for my almost-daily walk for Charity Miles, I went to Best Buy in Caesar's Bay to drop off a broken DVD player for recycling.  Best Buy staff are well-trained for receiving recycling materials.  Walking in the door, you need to tell the door person that you want to recycle the equipment and get a Recycle sticker, otherwise he may think you bring the thing in for return and there would be a different sticker.  You would then bring the old junk over to the service desk, which can be long sometimes but you can just leave your junk on some counter or the floor and alert a staff member.  That's it!  The old equipment will be properly recycled, somehow.  Got to trust someone somewhere, you know, you won't get anything done if you are skeptical about everyone and everything.  The trick is to walk straight out and not wander around, to avoid buying things you may end up regretting later.

Last time I visited Caesar's Bay (http://www.qaptainqwerty.com/2012/11/caesars-bay-and-waterfront-after.html) , Kohl's, Babies 'R Us, and Toys 'R Us were not open for business yet.  Today, I saw that Toys 'R Us had taken over the store near Best Buy to sell bikes, video games, etc.  The place was once a Strauss auto supply store, then became a seasonal store, like Halloween costumes in September or thereabout.  The main building for Toys 'R Us was still not open, but right in front of it, in the parking lot, they have built a large tent to be a temporary store.  A security guard told me that the tent was supposed to be open at 3 PM or 4 PM, definitely tomorrow.  It's the holiday season, the business needs to make a few quick bucks!  I know, it's all wrong the way people think of shopping when it comes to most holidays, but if the local business is alive, hopefully the locals can have employment, too.

Interestingly, on my way out of the parking lot to get home, I bumped into the Spanish interpreter I met on Election Day.  Actually, she recognized me and greeted me first, addressing me as a Mr. Lee, her usual way of talking, perhaps because she worked in a school before.  She lives not far from the Toy 'R Us on Flatbush Avenue near Kings Plaza but came to Caesar's Bay, with her mother, only to discover that Toys 'R Us here was closed.  The Flatbush store is right on the waterfront of Mill Basin so I wouldn't be surprised if it was damaged in the hurricane.  She made my day on Election Day by asking me, shortly after we first chatted, if I know who Chow Yun-Fat is.  Sure I know who he is, as I can be his stun double.  If you are seeing this, drop a note to say hello, Ms. Arias.

At the side of Best Buy, temporary brick-and-mortar store sells bikes, video games, etc. 

The main building is still not functional, but now there's a big tent in front of the store that will definitely be open for business on Wednesday, November 21.

Facebook - Share Photos With Groups

I've been active in helping run my high school reunion scheduled for next year. We have a Facebook group, naturally, and found a few hundred people already. It is great to see the old photos when someone managed to dig them up and share them. Most of the time though, the owners of the photos only share them via their personal albums. One would have to be friends with the owners to know about the photos. I suggested that the owners share the photos with the group but most of them don't know how. So here it is, the step-by-step process of sharing a photo, which was already uploaded to one's personal album, with a group.

For this example, I will post a photo that I already put into my personal album called "Recycling". The group that I will post the photo, that of a recycling bin under the sink, to the group called "I Love Recycling".

First I went to my list of groups. There are many ways to get there. You can go to lower corner of any Facebook screen to click on the Groups icon, which is a picture of 2 people, blue one on the left and a black one on the right. The way FB present the groups can be annoying. It defaults to show only those with recent activities on the right, plus groups that your friends have activities in on the left, so that the group that you want to get to may not be visible right away. If that's the case, you would need to click the See All but on the right side to see all your groups. Even then your groups list will not be in alphabetical order but rather in order of activities. Find the group you want to add the photo and click it. (I'll assume everyone uses a Mac and there is only one button to click. I sure wish life is really that simple, but I digress...)

Once in the group, scroll down to below the Wall Posts and above the Link List to find the Photos section. Click Add Photos.
As shown in the screenshot below, you want to have the tab called Add From My Photos selected. You can upload photos from scratch but why repeat the work? In my mind, the only time you want to do that is if you don't want to share certain comments people already added to the photos that were already uploaded into your album.
You may have many albums and again FB annoyingly doesn't list things alphabetical by default but rather by creation date, or some other way. Find your album and click it.
To add just the photo of the bin under the sink, I clicked its checkbox. Note that the photo of the standing bin in the dark is already selected. I added that photo earlier so it remains selected. To finalize this part of the process, I clicked Add Selected Photos.

If I have many photos to add, there is a Select All button on the right, but my screenshot doesn't show it.
Back in the "I Love Recycling" group, my new photo is now shown as the latest addition to the group's photos album. Done!