Some Goodwill Centers will accept old computer equipment

According to the Goodwill website, some Goodwill Centers will accept old computer equipment

http://www.goodwill.org/page/guest/about/howweoperate/donations/tipsfordonatingacomputer

The very helpful woman at the Cinnaminson Public Works was correct--thanks!

I'll keep you posted on this---I need to find a nearby center that will accept it.

20 minutes later....

Just found the number for the Goodwill Donation Center on Route 73 in Maple Shade.

The very pleasant man I spoke to on the phone said that they will accept any and all computer equipment you have---it doesn't have to work, and you can just bring in the parts. Here's the contact information

Goodwill Donation Center
2835 Route 73 Soute
Maple Shade, NJ - (856) 439-0174

Getting rid of old computer equipment in Cinnaminson

OK, I've had some old computer equipment (PC, Monitor, Ink Jet Printer) sitting in my garage for 2 years.

I tried to give the stuff away at my neighborhood yard sale last Saturday with no luck.

I put the stuff at curbside on trash pickup day this past Wednesday with a sign that said 'free' and no one picked it up.

I know that I can't just put this stuff in the trash---it's against the law because of the potentially environmental harmful components.

Let me check the Cinnaminson Website to see if there is a mention of what to do with it...

Let me call my friendly Cinnaminson Municipal number and see what happens...

Hmmm...

http://www.cinnaminson.com

takes me to the School District Website. I don't want that. But wait, there is a Cinnaminson Township link

http://www.cinnaminsonnj.org/

Let's click on the Services menu...yes, there's another menu. How about Public Works? That takes me to another menu, but nothing about trash. Hmmm, it looks like everything I click on the Services menu takes me to the same menu, with Parks Highlighted. Must be something broken.

I take matters into my own hands and manipulate the url directly like so...

http://www.cinnaminsonnj.org/publicworks.htm

That takes me to what appears to be the correct window, but nothing specific about computer equipment (or for that matter the old paint I have).

I then called the number listed for Public Works

856-829-6703

and within 2 rings, a very pleasant woman answered the phone. I explained I had some computer equipment and old paint.

She told me that I missed the computer equipment pickup which was May 16th (I missed the announcement) and suggested that Goodwill Centers might take it.

As far as paint, she told me that if it's less than half a gallon, I can mix it with kitty litter and put it out normally. Any more than half a gallon, I can drop it off at the Cinnaminson Department of Public Works...

Department of Public Works
1601 Union Landing Road
Cinnaminson, N. J. 08077

I'll let you know how I make out with the Goodwill Centers.

Fan Mail post of the week

Hi John

I have purchased one of your books in the past and now I working on getting back into programming and wanted to get your new C# 08 express book. I look forward to reading it. I do have a question however, I have been a System Engineer / Sys Admin for about 17 years now and now I have the honor of working for a local health department as the Network Administrator.

I support a network of 70 staff and equipment and we use a lot of data bases and various programs to do our work as you can well imagine. I want to streamline a lot of the day to day activities by writing web based programs and pc based programs to better serve the staff here in their work.

My problem is that when programming I have used numerous books and although I do feel that yours is the best that I have read I still have the same problem when staring at the programming interface "how do I start?" what I mean is there is a lot of code in programs; now that being said nowadays most of the back-end coding is already done but I still have problems figuring out how and where to start, why would I use one command over another and are there cheat sheets a beginning programmer can keep around for quick reference?

I am interested in using Visual Web Developer 2008 Express with C# and using SQL for Database and am just at my wits end on figuring out the basics. Any advise would be helpful and I do appreciate any assistance you can give.

Thank you
Bob


My response:

Hi Bob

In the old days of team programming, we would just borrow some one's code and see what they did. That's a little harder these days, as there just aren't that many big programming shops---lot of people are doing things on their own. Plus, the technologies are much more advanced than when I started coding in COBOL.

Having said that, a book I use in my Internet classes that seems to meet your requirements is

Build Your Own ASP.Net 2.0 Web Site using C# and VB

It has a full featured Web application that you develop that could give you a good starting point.

You only need to know the C# you'll learn in my book, so that would be the next best step.

Penn State MIS 204

I've been asking my Penn State students if they've been reading my blog, and I can see from my Search statistics that several of you have found me.

Let's start thinking about the midterm, shall we?

Comcast showed up on time...Friday, February 20, 2009

Comcast showed up right on time this morning--the technician, Kevin, was someone who's been to the house several times before (for my problematic Digital Voice Service) and he confirmed that I had 3 Digital boxes, not 4 as the Central Office believed.

He told me that the phantom box will be removed from my electronic account (Penn State students, are you listening) and that I should no longer be billed for the movies that the person who has that box has been ordering.

I'll continue to monitor for these charges, as he or she seems to order them on the weekend.

Thanks Kevin and Mark for (hopefully) resolving the problem.

COMCAST Cares

Wow, I'm really impressed.

I had blogged about my experience with Comcast, my phantom box, and their failure to show up for an appointment to inventory my house.

Someone from their Customer Service department somehow saw my blog post, contacted me via a comment he posted, and within an hour of emailing him with my story, a representative (Betsy) from the Comcast Executive office called to say she would be personally handling my problem.

Comcast still isn't coming out any earlier (Friday, February 20th, between 8 and 10AM), but it's nice to know that someone there is overseeing the problem.

Can there be another company more INCOMPETENT than COMCAST of Burlington County

You may recall the issue of my 3 cable boxes--COMCAST of Burlington County has me recorded as having 4.

Last Wednesday, February 9th, I scheduled an appointment to have a search done of my premises to verify that I truly have 3.

When I made the appointment, the Customer Service Rep (I should have written or blogged her name) told me these types of appointments are limited, and that the earliest she could get someone there would be Tuesday, February 17th, between 12 and 2.

At 2:10PM today, after no one showed up, I called COMCAST to ask where they were---the Customer Service Rep (again, I didn't record the name) told me the technician was running late, but would be here today.

Finally, when no one showed by 3:45, I called COMCAST again. The Customer Service Rep (Danielle her name was) told me the appointment had been set up wrong, and that no one would be coming out today. Furthermore, she said, these types of appointments are limited, and the earliest she can get someone to verify my service would be Friday, February 20th, between 8 and 10AM.

Danielle apologized profusely, and assured me she knows how to set up the special appointment.

COMCAST, by the way, is great for apologizing---they do it all the time when they mess up your service, fail to provide reasonable Digital Voice in the Cinnaminson area, not show for appointments, mess up appointment registrations, etc, etc, etc.

Want to be they don't show?