Wheeeee crufting
"Crufting", at MIT, basically means getting things from other people's trash and putting them to good use. Doesn't really matter where you get the items, as long as it doesn't involve theft. Strategies range from dumpster-diving to reading the Reuse mailing list to just being observant in the less-trafficked hallways, and having a habit of glancing into large piles of junk. Sarah (yay friendly, nice, compatible new roommate) and I are both into this -- in fact, when I proposed that we room together, it was by sending a note in an anonymous-note game we played: "Room w/ me, fellow crufter?" It's not just a habit, it's a way of life, and it brings people together!
In the past several days, on top of the 'mainstream' free junk we get from people trying to get us to join clubs, we've acquired many very fine pieces of cruft, some decorative, some useful. Here's a sampling of what we accumulated before this evening:
> A giant jigsaw puzzle piece made of plywood and beautifully painted -- we're going to try and make this into a billboard, by attaching cork strips and/or magnetic surfaces
> An old room sign from 8-205 in main campus (that means building 8, second floor, room 05). Nice little piece of MIT history, and by coincidence, our room number is 205.
> An EXIT sign (currently indicating a completely non-exitable window)
> Half a brick, which makes a great doorstop
> A longish metal pole with a bend at the end -- attached vertically to the wall, this will make a great place to hang my cloak(s)
> Quite a bit of caution tape
Earlier today, while walking back from dinner, I finally stopped by a frat-house dumpster we've been eyeing for quite some time. I got a biggish plastic storage bin (sans lid), a very nice bucket, and some kind of plastic tray thing that used to hold a flat of soda but now holds our paper recycling. All sort of dirty, but none damaged at all, and perfectly usable. Eris, the things people just throw out *shakes head* In the same dumpster there was one of those octopus lamps, the ones with several lightbulbs on flexible tentacles. Damaged beyond working order, perhaps not beyond repair, but I'm not competent to fix that. May someone find use for it.
We've been wanting some kind of small filing cabinet or file box. And what should I see advertised on the reuse list but a two-drawer filing cabinet. I went out to get it. On the way, I stopped by a large janitor's-mini-dumpster-on-wheels, and found some sheets of foam, which will end up being padding on the bunk-bed frame so Sarah's feet don't get bruised first thing in the morning. Then I found the pile of free stuff, including the filing cabinet, but the cabinet was about 3x as deep as we wanted/needed/had room for. So I got something else from the pile: a very nice wire/plastic paper tray for my desk. After that, since I was over in main campus anyway, I went to the classroom where I took the physics placement test, because I remembered seeing a brick with holes drilled in it, which would be good for holding toothbrushes. The classroom was unlocked, but alas, the brick was gone. Some lucky person must have picked it up in the meantime. So I took a slightly circuitous route back homeward, and at the last I ran across a pile marked "Free Stuff" -- yay! -- and picked up these two things that may once have been part of a coherent piece of furniture, but will serve us well as shelves if we can figure out how to mount them without doing undue harm to the walls.
This is ridiculously fun, and it's very nice to get things for free without having to steal them -- hooray for a recycling culture here.
In the past several days, on top of the 'mainstream' free junk we get from people trying to get us to join clubs, we've acquired many very fine pieces of cruft, some decorative, some useful. Here's a sampling of what we accumulated before this evening:
> A giant jigsaw puzzle piece made of plywood and beautifully painted -- we're going to try and make this into a billboard, by attaching cork strips and/or magnetic surfaces
> An old room sign from 8-205 in main campus (that means building 8, second floor, room 05). Nice little piece of MIT history, and by coincidence, our room number is 205.
> An EXIT sign (currently indicating a completely non-exitable window)
> Half a brick, which makes a great doorstop
> A longish metal pole with a bend at the end -- attached vertically to the wall, this will make a great place to hang my cloak(s)
> Quite a bit of caution tape
Earlier today, while walking back from dinner, I finally stopped by a frat-house dumpster we've been eyeing for quite some time. I got a biggish plastic storage bin (sans lid), a very nice bucket, and some kind of plastic tray thing that used to hold a flat of soda but now holds our paper recycling. All sort of dirty, but none damaged at all, and perfectly usable. Eris, the things people just throw out *shakes head* In the same dumpster there was one of those octopus lamps, the ones with several lightbulbs on flexible tentacles. Damaged beyond working order, perhaps not beyond repair, but I'm not competent to fix that. May someone find use for it.
We've been wanting some kind of small filing cabinet or file box. And what should I see advertised on the reuse list but a two-drawer filing cabinet. I went out to get it. On the way, I stopped by a large janitor's-mini-dumpster-on-wheels, and found some sheets of foam, which will end up being padding on the bunk-bed frame so Sarah's feet don't get bruised first thing in the morning. Then I found the pile of free stuff, including the filing cabinet, but the cabinet was about 3x as deep as we wanted/needed/had room for. So I got something else from the pile: a very nice wire/plastic paper tray for my desk. After that, since I was over in main campus anyway, I went to the classroom where I took the physics placement test, because I remembered seeing a brick with holes drilled in it, which would be good for holding toothbrushes. The classroom was unlocked, but alas, the brick was gone. Some lucky person must have picked it up in the meantime. So I took a slightly circuitous route back homeward, and at the last I ran across a pile marked "Free Stuff" -- yay! -- and picked up these two things that may once have been part of a coherent piece of furniture, but will serve us well as shelves if we can figure out how to mount them without doing undue harm to the walls.
This is ridiculously fun, and it's very nice to get things for free without having to steal them -- hooray for a recycling culture here.