Hi, my name is Roy and I'm in the Austin TX area. I enjoy long walks on the beach, picnics in meadows, and kittens and puppies. Oh wait...wrong forum for that, huh?
Anyway, I've worked as an accountant in the mortgage industry for the last 15 or so years. In 2009, the company I worked for went belly-up (along with several hundred other mortgage companies). We weren't doing any of the shady loans or anything, we just ran out of money when the housing industry went under. Of course, working in the accounting department, we saw it all coming. So, three of us went to work at another mortgage company. Now, for the last two years, I spend an hour driving one-way to a job that only pays about 60% of what I was making. Considering how some of my co-workers fared, I feel lucky.
I'm always looking for a new way to make up some of that lost 40%. I coin roll hunt (CRH) pennies, nickels, and halves for the copper and silver. I started a website back at the first of the year. I thought it was a can't miss kind of thing. I gave away free romance novels and advertised the giveaways on mommy blogs. After spending one to two hours a day for three months I looked up and added up how much I made from Google and Amazon. $40. I figure there has to be a better way.
I still remember the first computer I built - a Win95 machine with a Pentium 2. My very first computer was an Apple][e back in the mid-80s. So, I saw an old machine at a garage sale a couple of weeks ago - and they only wanted $5 - so I took it. A few minutes with Google to find out what the parts were worth led me here. I've been reading voraciously ever since. Then, I decided to search for something. I had to register to do that though, doggone it.
I've wanted to reply to a few posts - but I read that Dee will fuss at me if I do that and haven't introduced myself first. I've already got a wife, two kids, two dogs, two cats, and two birds - all of which fuss at me. So, here I am, posting this to keep from getting fussed at.
So far, I've only been picking stuff up at garage sales for two weeks. I've gotten 7 desktops, a laptop, an old-school fax machine, a scanner, and a HDTV cable box/DVR. I need to find a way to get more and get it faster. I've already decided on easyrecycle to be my buyer (2 reasons, he's closest and I have relatives up his way). Nothing against the other buyers except distance.
Our HOA puts out a newsletter about once a month - and lo and behold, there's a huge ad for a scrapyard just a few miles away that I didn't even know existed. So, now I have a place for the leftover steel towers and such. I can't do too much of the heavy stuff, though - no truck or trailer.
I still have a few questions that I'll probably wind up posting if I can't find the answer here myself first. Thanks for letting me play in the sandbox.
Roy
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