Around the East Side of Providence there's a pretty common occupation called
dumpster diving.
The East side is full of College Students - rich College Students who go to
The Rhode Island School of Design and Brown University.
Now, there are a lot of students who go to these schools who are not rich -
take my girlfriend Jen, she graduated from RISD in 2000 after paying for her
education through student loans and many part time jobs,
but there are a lot of rich students who get their way paid by rich
parents
and a smaller proportion of these students have very rich trash.
While Jen was in school we had apartments furnished almost entirely with
furniture picked up off of the curb.
Futons, lamps, stereos, televisions. Drive around the east side keeping
your eyes open on Sunday night and you're bound to find something
useful
some item some student replaced with a better item, so they tossed the old
one.
People have found year old computers, CD players, play stations... you name
it.
It's the one man's trash is another mans treasure taken to the
extreme.
Well. Things tend to get around, and since this has been happening for over
30 years, there are people who supplement their income by dumpster
diving.
The problem is if you leave one thing of worth near your trash, sometimes a
person will take it as a sign that you must have other good stuff in your
trash and root through the rest of it.
Take me for example. Or rather take my trash -
just like someone else did.
Last Saturday, I took down this tacky glass and metal shelf the crazy women
in my apartment before me had left and left it in this covered 7 foot long
wooden trash bin behind my house.
The bin was pretty full already because I had just moved in and had to clean
the place and throw a bunch of stuff out - as is usually the case after a
move.
On Sunday night when I went to take the bags of trash from the bin to the
curb, I found that someone had taken the shelf and then opened ALL of my
bags of trash and dumped them out into the wooden bin.
My upstairs neighbors put their trash in the same bin, so their trash was
intermingled with mine.
Every bag was emptied and I had this giant mess of dirty paper towels, food
waste, and other assorted nastiness - such as cat littler - in a 4 inch
layer along the bottom of the bin.
Co-Mingling trash. I hate that.
Yea, I was pissed.
So I spent an hour in the dark, with a flash light in my mouth, putting all
of the trash I had ALREADY put into bags once - back into new bags before I
could put in all out on the curb.
I even had to re-shovel shovel cat litter.
WHO IN THEIR RIGHT MIND EXPECTS TO FIND ANYTHING USEFUL IN A BAG OF USED CAT
LITTER?
IS THAT WHERE I KEEP THE WADS OF 20 DOLLAR BILLS I JUST HAPPEN TO BE
THROWING OUT?
Did I accidentally throw away my diamond collection in the cat litter?
Perhaps those really aren't scent crystals in there.
Is there a black market for cat poop?
Anyone?
Bueler?
Anyway, I hope this doesn't keep up. Battling hoodlums who threw my patio
chairs into the river was bad enough at the last apartment...
if I have to battle trash pickers who have no manners at this one, then I'm
going to have to do something drastic...
like buy a lock for my trash bin.
Ooh, the horror!
�
By the way, DON'T EVER RETURN A PHONE CALL TO AREA CODE 809
The area code will take you someplace in the British Virgin Islands which is
NOT governed by 900 number regulations.
They will charge you $2,425.00 per minute and there is not much you can do
about it once it is on your bill.
(just a little disaster recovery knowledge - passed on - to you - my much
appreciated readers)
�
I have the Slam to host tonight.
Jen's friend Tammy is coming tonight to visit for a few days. She is the
sweetest nicest person, but has strange timing. Last night around 10pm she
called saying she was coming to visit tomorrow.
It's all good, I'm just glad Jen will get to visit with one of her friends.
I'm fun and funny and all, I'm just no girlfriend.
Plus, I've been out of it lately.
�
I am either slipping into or coming out of a depression. I don't know why I
was depressed or am getting depressed, but I feel it.
Well, at least I felt it... apathetic, ungrounded, tired, cranky,
motivation...less.
Today however I feel great.
Who knows why? I'm probably just nuts
as nuts as a cat litter sifting Trash Nazi.
