Finding stuff second hand is something I really enjoy, and usually I find them next to dumpsters or out on the curb for trash pickup.

I really like to fix things so finding stuff I can breathe a new life into is always great: TVs, bicycles, a dishwasher, etc.

But my favorite was the last bike I found.

I was out on a bike ride when I found a BMX frame in the bushes off of the trail. I figured: why not? So I got a good bearing on my location and came back later with my car.

A few days after I finished fixing it up I was talking with one of my neighbors when they mentioned that their kid’s birthday was coming up and how they were saving to get them a bike. So I gave them the bike to give to their kid for their birthday. That kid rode the hell out of that bike until they moved out about a year later.

It’s been a couple years now (right at the beginning of lockdown) but I’ll never forget how happy they were when I said that I’d be right back and gave them the bike right there.

I had 2 great finds so far:

1: A David Clark noise cancelling aviation headset. It was used and a bit old but still worked perfectly. I was a student pilot at the time and was using the cheap headsets the school had so this was an awesome find. I think whoever put the pricing on it saw the weird plugs without knowing what it was and priced it at $5. I remember seeing them on ebay used for around $600.

2: A old network drive full of pirated content and porn from the early 2000’s. I don’t know what the fuck teenage me was thinking hooking this up to my PC without any idea what was on it but it ended up being a hilarious find. I think it was shared between a bunch of roommates as each folder was named after someone. It was an IDE drive so I made a backup (for reasons), wiped it, and now use it in a PS2. Think that was around $5 also.

• PS2 with a barely working optical drive. Easily fixed by adding a cannibalised HDD from a broken laptop.

• last week I found a solar powered water fountain pump that we used for a bird bath.

• Metal tapestry needles to finish my crochet projects

• A really nice LED lamp that I use for cross stitch and crochet at night.

• A couple of crochet kits with missing hooks, one of them is missing the buttons too. I have yet to start those.

• Garden chairs!

A lot more things but these are what I was excited about the most.