24 February

One thing leads to another, which leads to another, which leads...

8:00 am Anchorage Park Strip. This was the view on my morning "walkies" with Nimbus. The temperature was a cool 8 degrees but there was DAYLIGHT!


It started with winning silent auction bids. To support Gus’ middle school we bid on several silent auction items during school conferences and among several items we won for $30 (!deal!) a gently used third generation iPod Nano that a parent had donated. Included in our winnings also were a couple of large gift baskets filled with items any boy would love. Gus lately has been hooked on Daddy-O’s iPod that has a ga-gillion mega bites and an incredibly extensive music library –though Gus’ favorite parts are the games and Johnny Cash… To get the “new” iPod up and running I needed to get a new cable and had Derek load up a new music library for him. At the MacStore where I bought the cable, they threw in a very cool

rubber tire style frog skin cover out of the FREE bin because our style of Nano is “old” -cool I’ll take it! After getting the baskets home and sorting through all of the things we won, I ended up donating some of the items starting a thrift store bag. To make room to store the large empty baskets, I needed to organize and clean out the storage area under the stairs. While cleaning out under the stairs, I started cleaning out my studio… I can’t even call it Spring Cleaning because it was only 4 below yesterday morning! But a good Spring Cleaning it was, all followed by buying that little iPod. While cleaning the studio, I got rid of several outdated pieces of office equipment, including a vintage fax machine and a copier. I was able to take those to Total Reclaim which provides recycling (for only 35 cents a pound) and management services for Computer and Electronics Recycling, EcoLights Lamp Recycling, Refrigerant Services, Appliance/HVAC Recycling and who are “committed to protecting the environment and preserving the natural

beauty of the state for all Alaskans.” While buying the new cable for Gus’ “new” iPod, I broke down and also bought a JBL dock for Daddy-O’s iPod so we can all enjoy his music. Our vintage stereo system has long been collecting dust after we rid ourselves of the gigantic speakers that we use to use as end tables. I’m not kidding, our old speakers were the size of college dorm room mini-fridges! We kept saying we’ll buy some of those new hi-tech mini speakers to hook up to the stereo and CD shuffler but took so long that the entire system became obsolete. So along with a now growing bag of donation items to the thrift store I also carted out of the house our old stereo system. That thing weighed a TON!! Holy Cow, thank goodness I didn’t have to pay by the pound to donate the stereo like I did the obsolete office equipment!! Now filling the house with great sound, the footprint of our temporary music system is the size of a dinner plate and the studio and house are about 500 pounds lighter, thanks to our winning auction bids!

Meet Oscar! His owner is holding the leash for me while I take a picture of Nimbus and Oscar a Pembroke Welsh Corgi, our informal "walkies" buddy!

5 comments:

Tracey Broome said...

I have that JBL dock, it's great. Wesley has my old Sansui speakers from high school in her room, yes heavy and the size of a frig but you can't find anything that will reproduce their sound these days. I did throw out my old turn table for a new one that hooks up to my computer, and I can put my albums on my ipod, very cool! I too am about ready for a Spring cleaning, but I'm waiting until I can open up the windows!

cookingwithgas said...

Funny how one thing leads to another.
I have been getting rid of clutter- I think I had better check a closet for the old stereo- that we will never fix....

ang design said...

far out sounds like spring cleaning to me :P unfortunately some old schoolers still use fax i keep it for them :)) and recycling we have a great system, a depot up the road that gives us 10c per can and placky bottle and the council has a great R/C system they pick up the large products (if peeps dont go road shopping first) and 1/2 our bin is for household R/C too :)) happy tuning....

Anonymous said...

Um is Oscar's owner from Lapland? That looks like some traditional garb he is wearing....

cindy shake said...

Thanks for commenting guys!
We agree Tracey! We do miss the great sound from big boxes -but there is less to dust with hi-tech stuff -ha!

Hi Marj- Oscar's owner is wearing a beautiful, brown velvet and Wolverine trimmed traditional Native Alaskan Parka. It was hand made for her and is quite dressy. A lot of people wear traditional style parkas for functional warmth and their beauty. Our mornings have only been hovering at zero!! brrrr! She walks Oscar before she goes to work.