ONE MAN'S TRASH IS ...

... now in my living room!

On Salt Spring Island, the local dump is owned and operated by Blackburn Garbage Services. People often drop stuff off there that really isn't garbage, and that could be useful to someone else. To facilitate this sort of exchange, Blackburn set up what is affectionately known locally as the 'Blackburn Mall,' an area in the yard that people can wander through and make donations for items they want to take home.

At my computer, I have been sitting on this chair for the last probably eight or ten years...

It's a cheap student computer chair (Staples puts them on sale from time to time for $29.95) and it's been fine, really, but not very supportive of my not-exactly-petite bod.

Well. A few days ago we did our weekly trip to the dump with our garbage, and saw this one sitting at the 'Blackburn Mall'...

 It's the deluxe executive model. Adjustable in various ways. Brand new, not a mark on it. LEATHER. Shall we say it got my attention? So when I went inside to pay for our garbage ($3.50 a bag) I said I'd like to make a donation for that chair. I had a $10 bill in my hand to pay for the garbage, and the woman said, 'okay' ... and took my $10 bill. And didn't want any more money.

At Staples.com, this chair is listed at $250. I just paid $6.50 for it. Brought it home and disinfected it (not that it even needed it, it must have only been there a few hours) and it's now at my desk.

And all I can say is 'Whoooooooooooohoooooooooooooooo!'
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