Thing #165: Broken Mini Flashlight

This far into the project, I'm still finding things that don't even work. I think I have another mini flashlight somewhere, so hopefully that one does work.

Thing #156: Aftermarket Audio Adapter

Dumped in the "Wires, Cords & Cables" recycle bin at a Best Buy.

I think this one went with the same cell phone as the last one, which doubled as MP3 player. You could either buy the proprietary Samsung headphones, or you could buy a $4 black market aftermarket headphone jack adapter online and then use your own headphones.

As you can probably tell from the photo, I picked the good option. It was the one and only time (to my recollection) that I've received mail from Asia (Taiwan?), so that was exciting.

Thing #155: Cell Phone Earpiece

Can't remember which phone this went with. I certainly don't need it now.

Dumped in the "Wires, Cords & Cables" recycle bin at a Best Buy.

Thing #129: VHS Tapes

One was labeled "Con Air". Okay, I admitted it; let's move on.

Another was labeled "SEA vs SD 12/02" which probably refers to this football game between the Seattle Seahawks and San Diego Chargers. Looks like it was a good one. Both starting quarterbacks are still in the NFL, ten years later.

The third tape was unlabeled. It could have had anything on there! It's not like I own a VCR to check.

I decided to just throw them all out, and forever wonder. Then, when I was taking them out to the dumpster, I discovered that somebody else had just left a TV/VCR combo in the alley. Aha! What providence! Now I could run the TV up to my apartment, check the tapes, then return the TV back to the alley, and I'd have a much more interesting story to tell on the blog!

Well, turns out I care less about telling interesting stories than I do about getting rid of things in a timely manner. I guess this is what progress looks like? Or laziness. Yeah, maybe laziness.

Thing #24: Electronic 20 Questions Game

You think of a thing, and this little orb asks you yes/no questions (20 of them, in fact) and then tries to guess what you were thinking of.

I got it as a white elephant gift at the most recent company holiday party. The novelty wears off quickly.

Thing #4: Duct-Taped Headphones

They broke and I duct taped them. But they still weren't comfortable and I have another pair, anyway. Easy.

Thing #3: Coaxial Cable

I had this short piece of cable (for sending a TV signal) and it didn't really work.

These are the kinds of things that I have a hard time just throwing out, because the copper wire probably has some small monetary value to somebody. But I don't know how to find that person, so off to the landfill it goes.

The nanobots of the future will know what to do.

Thing #1: Old Cable Remote

I haven't had digital cable for several years now, but when they took away the cable box, they didn't take the remote. I don't know why I still had it lying around, but there it was, so it was the world's most obvious thing to get rid of. I basically dreamed up this entire project for things like this. Why do I keep useless crap?

I salvaged the batteries for future use (or possibly future getting rid of), but then I didn't just want to throw a working remote away. So late last night I stopped by the Comcast service center. It was well after business hours, probably because this project will be more fun if I get to sneak around at night every once in awhile. Anyway, I saw they had a mail slot, so I figured I'd just drop it there and be free of it forever.

It didn't fit in the mail slot (I guess it's larger than a cable bill), but when I got close I saw something else sitting on the brick ledge below: another remote. Somebody else had left one already, presumably that same night.

Weird, huh? And what an auspicious way to begin the quest!