[caption id="attachment_3377" align="alignnone" width="497"]
I'd already seen the Windows 8 icon on the bottom of the laptop, but seeing the Metro Start screen was still a shock.[/caption]
The woman said it didn't work -- the HP Pavilion G6 pictured above -- that it was only good for parts. The yellow-tipped AC adapter was what caught my eye -- it looked right for the HP tank top. I told the woman if I did get it working, I'd wipe it clean, that I didn't care about her files, that I ran a different operating system. She had pretty, light hazel eyes that did "deer in headlight" beautifully. He boyfriend came out, having heard the salient points, and declared she didn't have anything on the laptop worth worrying about.
[caption id="attachment_3378" align="alignnone" width="497"]
When I opened the bag of pop cans I knew by the smell what was also in the bag: marijuana bud -- someone being anonymously generous.[/caption]
I packed away the laptop, and continued with my binning. Fortunately I was finding bottles and cans, which, paradoxically, are my bread, and butter, if you will. At one point I made a tangential pass through a single-unit, residential neighbourhood. I saw a woman put a white carrier bag, looking to contain a few pop cans, on a fence picket. I plucked it, and ignored it until I had occasion to pack more cans on the trailer. The carrier bag did hold six pop cans and a little bag containing some green blobby bits -- marijuana bud.
"Yuck," says I, but I know this is real generosity on the part of that woman. I'll trade it for bottles, or just give it away. I've already traded one "lump" for a nice bag of sour cream and onion-flavour potato chips. Ha! You gotta figure that other binner's just shaking his head thinking I'm such a dumb putz. But I think I got the better end of the deal.
I will add that back in, say, 2004, binners in Fairview would regularly find "dumpster weed;" apparently trashy marijuana from small-scale, area grow-ops. I haven't seen that in Fairview for years, but I'm told it still turns up in other neighbourhoods. Beyond that, people throw out an amount of marijuana in the form of "roaches" -- the "butt" of a joint. I also remember one gentleman, flagging me down one morning, about a year ago. He had a lot of luggage, and I though he was going to try and hire me, and my bike trailer to haul it somewhere. Actually, he just wanted to give me a big fat joint. He was on his way to the airport, and they frown on that sort of carry-on. I in turn, gave it to the first binner I saw.
Après-binning at McDonalds, I tried to plug in the Pavilion G6, but, it was obvious, even to me, that the included AC adapter wasn't for that model. Then I realized the HP was in sleep mode. It may indeed be sick, because, when I tried to wake it up, it basically rolled over and went back to sleep. I shut it off gently with the power button, and turned it back on -- twice -- just to see. No password protection; the user is called "User." I've no interest whatsoever in a Windows 8 box, but I won't sneer at a better platform for a Linux install. I'll sit it in my locker, and, If, and when I have an AC adapter for it I'll start paying attention to the Windows Secure Boot issue as it relates to installing Linux.
I'd already seen the Windows 8 icon on the bottom of the laptop, but seeing the Metro Start screen was still a shock.[/caption]The woman said it didn't work -- the HP Pavilion G6 pictured above -- that it was only good for parts. The yellow-tipped AC adapter was what caught my eye -- it looked right for the HP tank top. I told the woman if I did get it working, I'd wipe it clean, that I didn't care about her files, that I ran a different operating system. She had pretty, light hazel eyes that did "deer in headlight" beautifully. He boyfriend came out, having heard the salient points, and declared she didn't have anything on the laptop worth worrying about.
[caption id="attachment_3378" align="alignnone" width="497"]
When I opened the bag of pop cans I knew by the smell what was also in the bag: marijuana bud -- someone being anonymously generous.[/caption]I packed away the laptop, and continued with my binning. Fortunately I was finding bottles and cans, which, paradoxically, are my bread, and butter, if you will. At one point I made a tangential pass through a single-unit, residential neighbourhood. I saw a woman put a white carrier bag, looking to contain a few pop cans, on a fence picket. I plucked it, and ignored it until I had occasion to pack more cans on the trailer. The carrier bag did hold six pop cans and a little bag containing some green blobby bits -- marijuana bud.
"Yuck," says I, but I know this is real generosity on the part of that woman. I'll trade it for bottles, or just give it away. I've already traded one "lump" for a nice bag of sour cream and onion-flavour potato chips. Ha! You gotta figure that other binner's just shaking his head thinking I'm such a dumb putz. But I think I got the better end of the deal.
Vancouver really is a green city
I will add that back in, say, 2004, binners in Fairview would regularly find "dumpster weed;" apparently trashy marijuana from small-scale, area grow-ops. I haven't seen that in Fairview for years, but I'm told it still turns up in other neighbourhoods. Beyond that, people throw out an amount of marijuana in the form of "roaches" -- the "butt" of a joint. I also remember one gentleman, flagging me down one morning, about a year ago. He had a lot of luggage, and I though he was going to try and hire me, and my bike trailer to haul it somewhere. Actually, he just wanted to give me a big fat joint. He was on his way to the airport, and they frown on that sort of carry-on. I in turn, gave it to the first binner I saw.
Après-binning at McDonalds, I tried to plug in the Pavilion G6, but, it was obvious, even to me, that the included AC adapter wasn't for that model. Then I realized the HP was in sleep mode. It may indeed be sick, because, when I tried to wake it up, it basically rolled over and went back to sleep. I shut it off gently with the power button, and turned it back on -- twice -- just to see. No password protection; the user is called "User." I've no interest whatsoever in a Windows 8 box, but I won't sneer at a better platform for a Linux install. I'll sit it in my locker, and, If, and when I have an AC adapter for it I'll start paying attention to the Windows Secure Boot issue as it relates to installing Linux.
What I've been doing with the HP Pavilion G6 ►
I think -- don't quote me -- that monthly welfare cheques are issued this Wednesday. Hope so, for the sake of all the binner folk who get that money, not that it's very much.. By the looks of how so many of them are crawling all over Fairview turning over every stone, and poking in every nook, and cranny, I would say they're hurting.
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