[NPMUG] Goodwill CRC update, May 8

[Robert A. Donaldson]

Dear Mac friends:

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

In contrast to last week, today was NOT a productive day. We feared we  
would tie out worst-ever record of just on refurbished Mac until well  
into the afternoon when a hard-drive swap brought a 350 mhz iMac back  
to the living. We managed just five Macs all day to bring our all time  
total to 1,869. One Mac was re-imaged from a store return, and six  
others were de-manufactured.

We still are struggling with technical glitches in implementing our  
new enhanced OS X disk image. We'll be trying a couple of new  
approaches next week. I fear the geekyness of it all may permanently  
affect those of us who have vowed never to use Terminal.

My presence at our normal work day next Friday, May 15, is temporarily  
up in the air as I have potential family matters that may conflict  
that day. I'll be sending out an email at mid-week to let everyone  
know what the plan will be.

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