jc

Around lunchtime I got a call from none other than djw, who reliably informed me that this afternoon was a good time to come and steal loot pick up some old computers from my former school. At such short notice, I barely managed to convince Dad to give me a lift there and back in the car.

Just over a year ago we arranged to meet up with another friend on my school's Open Day, to just catch up with anyone we encountered. I was a big (if sometimes unwelcome) presence in the IT department in my six years there, so I naturally had to head over to IT to see what had changed. We ran into the resident BOFH who I already knew, and he showed us a new storage room in the basement filled with unused 4400s.

These were the same 4400s which djw and I helped upgrade and install when they first arrived at the school. They had no use in the school by this time, but the school couldn't give them away to any random person or organisation because they were part of a finance agreement, thus leased by the relevant company. BOFH promised however to give us first refusal on any Macs or peripherals they planned to throw out in the future.

This was in November 2001. Little more than two years later, and I'm back in the school looking over a completely reorganised storage room. The 4400s, I am told, went to a nearby high school, and were promptly thrown in the dumpster. That should be a crime. We mourn for the 4400s.

I did however have the pick of about half a dozen 14" CRTs, two 5x00 all-in-one computers, two 7x00 desktops and a 610 Centris, along with a neat label printer and 24-port Ethernet hub. After keeping Dad waiting for a couple of hours, I signed the Transfer of Ownership forms, loaded up and slowly drove off. The car's suspension was seriously tested by its heaviest load ever, and my muscles will take a good while to recover from carrying that load up three flights of stairs.

I've just discovered two of the CRTs are terminally broken, so I'll cannibalise for parts and dump them tomorrow. The computer I'm keeping though is more powerful than the computer I paid £1,400 for just eight years ago. Funny.