My friend Dan came over other day to borrow DVDs for a business trip to India he's taking. Somehow I ended up telling the story how in 9th grade I just missed being allowed on the bus because I was just under 1.5 miles from the school. In fact, the middle of our block (where there were no 9th grade students) got the bus but not the end of the block (where I was). So my dad went to the library and got the surveying maps and measured the distance. It had all the blocks but not the cross streets.
So he went to the hardware store (this was 1980 or so, before Home Depot) and bought a 50' tape measure. I still remember, "Lufkin 50' yellow steel clad tape No. 50". And we went and measured all the cross streets. One was a major road (like 5th at Pitt) and that was fun trying to do it during a red light. End result, we determined I was 1.5 miles 158 feet 3 inches from the school and I got a bus. I won't ever forget these numbers. If I get Alzheimers and am mumbling numbers, it won't be the Lost numbers it will be these.
So to tell the story, as a visual aid, I went to my yellow plastic toolbox to get the ruler. It reeked of oil. I had a can of WD-40 in there and apparently it leaked. So after Dan left I was cleaning this up. Time to get rid of the can, hmmmm I wonder if I have to dispose of this specially. Here's what the label says:
"Danger: Extremely flammable (propane). Keep away from heat, sparks, open flame, heat sources, any other source of ignition. Disconnect electrical tools and appliances before spraying. Keep can away from electrical source or battery terminal. Harmful or fatal if swallowed. Contains petroleum distillates. If swallowed, do not induce vomiting. call physician immediately. Use in a well ventilated area. Do not breathe vapor or spray mist. Deliberate or direct inhalation may be harmful or fatal. Contents under pressure. Do not: store above 120 deg F, exposure to heat may cause bursting, puncture, incinerate (burn) can, discard in trash compactor."
Read the end of that. I couldn't figure out if I was supposed to puncture and incinerate it or not? Maybe I had to find a trash compactor? Puncturing would relieve the pressure, is that what they wanted? Remember Happy Fun Ball?
Every 6 months or so I get a notice from the town about recycling and how to throw things out. I keep it in a drawer and looked at it. It said things like don't recycle light bulbs even though they're glass (who thinks of this?) and they don't accept pizza boxes because they are food stained (but they do take them from me). There's a town recycling depot and it had the hours so I went over. Another friend used to go often and get computers and computer parts for free and build frankenstein machines to run as music servers or to use to upgrade our TiVo's.
I stopped into the office and asked the guy. He said that it's a hazardous waste and they took them every two weeks on saturdays starting in May. I asked "there's a season?" Yeah from Oct to May they don't take hazardous wastes at the dump. You're supposed to store them (the hazardous waste) at home. He asked if it was just one can (I had it in a non-biodegradable plastic bag I got from the supermarket), I said yes and he took it from me and threw it in the trash bin in his office on top of the wrapper from his lunch.
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