Electronic crap = Money

I've got at least 3 old cell phones, an old PDA, cameras, an almost dead computer and lord knows what else stowed away at home. Think about it, I bet you do too. So when I read about Gazelle this morning in my Wise Bread newsletter (it's a really good one btw), I thought it was worth sharing since they give you money for your crap and pay for shipping. Here's the description from Wise Bread:

'We all have a few old electronics lying around that we never use anymore. It seems a waste to just throw them away, but it often takes effort to sell them. Now there is a new service called Gazelle that allows you to trade your old electronics for cash with the least amount of hassle.

Gazelle has a very simple to use website that allows you to search for the gadget you wish to get rid of. After you find your item you can input the condition it is in. For example, I typed in Palm Zire 71 and I was asked if the item powers on and what condition it is in. After that, Gazelle spits out an appraisal and allows me to add the item for checkout. It also has an estimate of how much the item may be worth in the future. For electronics the price trend tends to go down because people always want to buy the newest gadget. After I checked out, it prompted me to print out a prepaid shipping label and ship the item with a box. For some qualifying items Gazelle will even send you a box to ship the item.

After the item is received Gazelle will inspect the item and confirm that it is in the condition you described, then you will be paid the quoted price. This process takes about a week according to the website. The company also guarantees that if you ship in an electronic with data on it they would wipe it clean so you do not have to worry about your privacy. They will also take items with no value for the purpose of recycling.

Currently the company buys mostly electronics such as cell phones or gaming consoles, but they may expand the types of items they are willing to purchase in the future. It really seems like a love child between a pawn shop and Netflix, and I am sure it will help a lot of people get rid of their unwanted junk because it is so easy to use. Users of Gazelle will reduce the amount of junk that go to landfills and also reclaim a few bucks in the process so it really seems like a win win situation. So go ahead and try it out, because that pile of junk sitting in your garage may be worth some gas money.'


Get Cash For Your Gadgets at gazelle.com

News Flash Walter Cronkite

I don't get it. I've been on the not-so-enviable receiving end of some unsolicited heckling and I've also witnessed other ladies getting harassed in the last week. The majority of the hecklers, I've noticed, are construction workers. Normally, it's flattering and I don't mind but last week I found it intrusive, unnecessary and annoying. It also made me wonder why it's mostly construction workers. Is it because they're peeping on the general populace all day long while they're working? Is it because they think they're giving women a confidence boost? Is it because they're bored? Is it some frat boy mentality? Does ANYONE know a construction worker they can ask? We all people-watch, I mean, it's the sport of New York but to feel the need to audibly comment all the time? I don't quite get it. Do they expect us to turn around and drop down to our knees to propose marriage? Really? I get that it's summer, and therefore open season on women in skimpy clothing but I guess I wonder why comments have to be vulgar and not just generally appreciative if they are to be made at all. I feel like that makes more sense. Wouldn't the average woman be more likely to respond to a 'hey beautiful' rather than 'oh my f*c*i*g god, look at that a*s' or 'those legs would break me.' I think the increasing level of vulgarity is whats prompted me to post this but I recognize I've got no control over any of it. Just wondering what other ladies thought in regards to heckling?

We may be grown up

(mostly) but there's still fun to be had (absolutely). In that spirit my dear dear friend has been sweating over Sweeeeet for the last few months and it's finally done. It's a game/story book for adults but not in that lude and crude way. It looks awesome. I haven't gotten a copy yet but knowing her, it wont disappoint. Get a Sweeeeet! taste right here then get one for yourself to keep your A.D.D. ass entertained on the subway or on the beach.

Energy

Just read this in the EcoStiletto newsletter which in turn quoted MoveOn.org:

'And not to get all political on you or anything, but we thought we might help spread the word about Al Gore's challenge to the incoming administration to commit to producing 100 percent of our electricity from renewable energy and clean carbon-free sources within 10 years. To paraphrase: We're borrowing money from China to buy oil from the Persian Gulf while scientists say that enough solar energy falls on the surface of the earth every 40 minutes to meet 100 percent of the entire world's energy needs for a full year and enough wind power blows through the Midwest corridor every day to meet 100 percent of U.S. electricity demand. As MoveOn.org puts it, "When we send money to foreign countries to buy nearly 70 percent of the oil we use every day, they build new skyscrapers and we lose jobs. When we spend that money building solar arrays and windmills, we build competitive industries and gain jobs here at home...It is only a truly dysfunctional system that would buy into the perverse logic that the short-term answer to high gasoline prices is drilling for more oil ten years from now."'

I had no idea oil free energy was so plentiful! Did you?

Support the challenge!

my mind's in disturbia because this shit is making me mental

yes, i like rihanna, more and more with each poppy hit she rolls off the assembly line. her songs are damn catchy and for some reason 'disturbia' is resonating with me right now. another song i like is alanis' 'straitjacket.' hmm, 'disturbia' and 'straitjacket' what does that say about my state of mind or is it possible i'm reading too much into it? i think i'm just a little tired. the first part of this year has been a bit of a whirlwind between traveling, work transitions, and life in general and i'm pooped. i feel like sitting back and letting other people take the steering wheel. i want to be a passenger, i'm sick of driving. but perhaps i'm just literally sick of driving because i drove 500 miles last week?. but i usually like to drive, though probably not in traffic. yes, perhaps. because 'i would walk 500 miles, and i would walk 500 hundred more, just to be the man who walked a thousand miles to be with you, dah dah dah, dah dah dah, dah dah dah, dadadumdadeedumdadum...'

and that's my life in song lyrics ladies and gents. haha.