Trash Or Treasure?

As I have been off of work since mid-December, I decided to thin out our household inventory.  My theory is that you should rid yourself of items as quick as you acquire them.  And since we just acquired a couple of container trucks full of new items at Christmas, we need to get rid of as much.

While going through some boxes that we haven't opened since the Clinton administration, I found this neat little treasure.  I gave this to my grandfather when I was about 14 years old.  His favorite animal was the penguin.  I had previously given him a stuffed penguin, though I don't know where that is.  When my grandfather died in 1990, my grandmother wanted me to have this.  Though she also wanted me to have his boxer shorts.  I promptly stuck it in a box and somehow it ended up in my house when I moved here.

I stuck a new D battery (can you believe this thing requires a D battery???) and it works!  It's missing a green flag, but otherwise is in good condition.  So now my dilemma - do I keep this because of the fond memories of my grandfather, or do I do my best not to become a hoarder and donate it to Goodwill?  I did look it up on eBay and there are like items selling from 99 cents to $45.

In other news, I did take 2 car loads of items to Goodwill.  Mostly clothes, but some baby toys.  Don't think we'll need anymore baby toys.  Or 2 year old boy corduroy overalls.

Coming to Eldersburg - Red, Hot, and Blue?

I heard a rumor that the nice building next to the Wal-Mart in Eldersburg will soon be occupied by the chain restaurant Red, Hot, and Blue.

The building was constructed what seems like several years ago and has sat vacant ever since. I heard a previous rumor that the debt-struggling Mikhaeljohn's (sp?) was going to move in after they moved out of the plaza over by Arby's. That turned out to not be true - or the rumor was true, but unfulfilled.

Anyway, after that rumor had quieted, I later heard that Goodwill would be moving into the building, which seemed absolutely preposterous on many points. Why does Eldersburg need a Goodwill? Why would someone rent out perfectly good office\restaurant space to Goodwill?

Fortunately, the rumor proved to be partially untrue. Goodwill is moving to Eldersbug (totally ridiculous), but is going into a soon-to-be-built building next to Wal-Mart and behind the rumored building.

So while it's nice to know that we're getting a good BBQ place (or should I say another - Hi, Smokey's!), I am still shaking my head as to the new Goodwill store. Aren't there hundreds of acres of abandoned properties in Randallstown? Does the average family in Eldersburg that makes over $100,000 need a Goodwill? Is Goodwill truly serving the needs of their clients by opening a store in Eldersburg? This just seems to be a terribly misguided decision.

Goodwill Irreverence

This weekend I spent many hours cleaning out my daughter's room. She's the type of person that doesn't mind a good mess. However, she's not paying the mortgage and I DO mind the mess. So on Sunday while she was at a friend's house I plowed everything out of the room and into the hallway. I was surprised to learn that her room has wall-to-wall carpeting. Who knew?

After an hour or so of cleaning and several hours more of going through the stuff and readmitting it to the room we had a pile that was eligible to be hauled to Goodwill. There's nothing like getting rid of stuff you don't need and getting a tax-break from the IRS. Now if we could only find a way to get rid of my neighbors and get a tax break for that, too, but I digress.

Yesterday was the haul-it-to-Goodwill day. I had 15 bags of stuff, plus 2 boxes of assorted books, toys, and stuff that wouldn't fit in my trashcan. I pulled up as I usually do, backed up to the unloading zone and popped the hatch. If you've never been to Goodwill, the facility employees disadvantaged men. Some are mentally ill, some are border-line mentally retarded, some have criminal histories. You get the idea. The intention is to employ them, get them on their feet, give them some purpose in life, structure their lives, etc… And I admire this.

As I'm unloading one of the men comes and helps me pull bags out of my truck. We're almost done when a bee-atch pulls up in her Acura with the hug a tree, celebrate diversity, and O'Malley for Governor bumper stickers, pops her trunk, and sarcastically hollers with a total air of superiority and disrespect, "Hello!!!! Would you MIND helping ME???!!!"

I'm not sure if anything came out of my mouth, but I know thoughts were racing through my mind. I wanted to smack the fecal matter out of her. Why do people have to act that way? Where's the respect? It's as if she's saying, "I'm in favor of helping people except when it inconveniences me."