Meet my new friend, Herman Miller..

About a year and a half ago, I went to an auction that had a bunch of Herman Miller Aereon Chairs. They are the famous mesh chair of the dot.com era, and they went cheap - I think $200 or so for what is normally a $400-$600 chair. Not realizing what they were, and also not having room for them in my truck, I passed, and have been kicking myself ever since.

So when I stumbled on the chair above at the auction I was at in the middle of nowhere in PA, I was pretty thrilled, because I noticed it had a "Herman Miller" sticker on the bottom. Nobody else seemed to know what it was - I ended up getting it for $13 (it was part of a group of stuff and I bid to "choose" it). It's not an Areon, and it's missing a caster, and has a very small stain on the seat, but for $13, I still think it's a hell of a deal - it looks like it's normally a $370 chair (it has the optional "flexnet" seat, plus casters).

Now I just need to find a caster.

The view from 322 North...

So a while back I was browsing through auction site auctionzip.com and stumbled on an auction in the middle of nowhere that had some interesting computer stuff, including a bunch of computer cleaning stuff. It was quite a distance away, in the middle of nowhere in PA. But I figured it would be an interesting drive, so I took the afternoon off on Monday and drove up there.

It was a close to 3 hour drive each way, most of it on RT 322, a 4 lane trucking route up the mountains of PA. You forget how much very rural space there is in PA. It was a beautiful drive, but sadly the picture above - taken near Fishing Creek - is the only one I took. I didn't take my DSLR, and I also was kind of in a hurry driving because I was worried I'd be late - which turned out to be foolish, since not only did I end up getting there early, but they didn't get to the stuff I was there for until well after it was scheduled.

I think it was worth it - it was a nice trip, I got to eat some local donuts and a Dairy Queen Blizzard, something I haven't had in a while. I also spent $250 - I think I'll be able to resell the stuff for several times that, but it remains to be seen. I also bought myself a Herman Miller chair for $13 - it needs a caster and has a small stain, and it's a side chair, but still....

I wish I could go back, back in time...

Our department recently acquired an unused storage room known as "the vault" - a small room in the basement of one of the buildings on campus - that we use for storing old, retired computers before they are picked up for donation or recycling.

Obviously, the room hasn't been used much in a long time, because the above calendar was hanging on the wall. Hey, in August of 1985, I turned 5 - and most of the students at the college hadn't even been born!

Well, that wasn't worth cheating on my diet on...

So yesterday, I was hungry at work, and out of my ration of emergency granola bars. And unable to risk the swan song of a Mrs. Freshly's chocolate pie from the vending machine.

Probably not the best use of $1 or 500 calories. And yes, bsom, it's the one with the grey pudding...

(related post on my other blog here.