August 25, 2005

Display of death

My monitor started sparking the other day. There was an all out light show on my desk coming from the bottom of my screen until i was able to push the power button. I've never had a piece of electrical equipment malfunction that severely on me before. It was quite shocking.

Luckily, i happened to have an old, spare monitor lying around. It''s much smaller than the other one and is a bit fuzzy; however the worst part is that the picture keeps drifting to the right. You know how you can se the horizontal position on the monitor? Well, every few minutes i have to adjust it back to the left. It's really annoying. It's funny how worthless a machine is without a display.

I plan to put up with the backup until i buy a new machine. That means i'll probably be using the computer less at home. I'm just waiting for the shock of my tuition bill to wear off before i make that purchase. Now i have to find a way to properly dispose of the obnoxiously-large CRT whose time has come. Am i just supposed to throw it in the dumpster?

Posted by Matthew at August 25, 2005 09:45 PM
Comments

They have places where you can recycle computer monitors. You'd have to look up a recyling company in the phone book and call to ask where.

Posted by: Kristi at August 25, 2005 10:05 PM

check out: http://www.comprenew.com

T.

Posted by: Tracy at August 26, 2005 08:47 AM

I looked around the Comprenew site but it didn't look as though i could just drop off my monitor there. It looked to me as though they only catered to the business market.

I did come across another company called Valley City Environmental Services. They told me they would recycle my monitor for an $8 fee. I could drop it off at any time. However, because they actually do contract work for Kent county (in which i live), i can drop off my piece of used equipment at the Kent County Recycling Facility at the corner of Market and Bartlett, downtown Grand Rapids. I can give it to them without incurring a fee. I'm not sure when the KCRF is open and whether or not they do accept drops-off, but at least i now have some clear options.

For recycling options all over the county, the website www.earth911.org has a great listing of local resources.

Posted by: Matthew at August 27, 2005 07:58 PM