[NPMUG] Goodwill CRC update, May 1, 2009

[Robert A. Donaldson]

Dear Mac friends:

Many thanks to  Rich Fitzgibbon, John Hamill, Tucker Trainor, and Dave  
Sevick for joining me at the Goodwill Computer Recycling Center today.

If there are any Communists left out there, happy May Day :-)  
Remember, they didn't get to celebrate Christmas. Sorry, I was a  
Russian history major...

Today was an extremely productive day. We refurbished 28 Macs,  
including two G4 iMacs and a VERY nice 500 mhz G4 Cube, which we  
married to a 17-inch ADC flat panel Studio Display. One Mac was re- 
imaged from a store return, and only two were de-manufactured. Our all  
time total of refurbished Macs is now 1,864.

We've begun production with our enhanced OS X disk image, and we think  
we've figured out how to deal with the technical glitches we  
encountered last week.

The slot-load CD FireWire G3 iMacs we are now refurbishing have a  
minimum of 512 mb of RAM and 20 gb hard drives. The new image has both  
OS X and OS 9.2.2 (Classic) so the new owner can take advantage of all  
the children's software we previously only put on OS 9.2.2 iMacs.

The ComputerWorks store will sell this new version for $99.00, and  
continues to sell our previous OS X-only version (with less RAM) for  
$79.00 while supplies last. The tray-load CD iMacs with OS 9.2.2 still  
sell for $39.00 while they last.

Among today's iMacs were 17 600 mhz models (all in Snow) with 40 gb  
hard drives and CD-RW optical drives. They will be priced higher than  
the $99.00 model.

We'll have another work day next Friday, May 8. Our work day on  
Friday, May 15 is up in the air right now. My wife is having hip  
replacement surgery on May 11, and could be discharged from the  
hospital on May 15. I'll post an update early that week to let  
everyone know if we'll be meeting. She thinks she'll be out by the  
15th, but I'm not betting on the hospital.

Please note PennDOT has begun the widening project on East Carson St.,  
and the block in front of the CRC is restricted to two lanes. Meter  
parking in front of the building has been eliminated during the  
construction.

As a gentle reminder, please note Goodwill has finally re-instituted
the security procedures they were using in the Lawrenceville facility
before the CRC moved to the South Side. Security cameras have been
activated, and the metal detector at the exit has been switched on and
staffed.

Entry is only from the South 26th St. entrance. We cannot enter the
ComputerWorks Store and go through the back door as we used to.

We are asked to stop at the reception desk at the main lobby to sign
in to get a volunteer badge, then sign in to the log book at the CRC
entrance at the metal detector. The log book now has a separate tab
section just for our members to sign in and out.

We followed these procedures when we were in the Lawrenceville
building, and it's taken Goodwill some time to re-install all the
devices to cover the area with video surveillance.

These measures are to make sure data on disk drives does not get out
of the building before the drives can be securely erased or destroyed.
Goodwill is serious about this, as everyone should be. Any incident of
data from the drives they are entrusted to wipe or destroy getting out
would destroy the credibility of their operation, and lead to people
sending computers elsewhere for recycling.

So please, check in. It takes two minutes, and we're not in any hurry.

Hope to see you there!

Robert A. Donaldson
radonaldson at mac.com
(H) 412-922-3303
(M) 412-477-9188