The Hazleton Junk Drive

On Holy Saturday this year I happened to look out my kitchen window and notice that my neighbors had a massive junk pile outside their garage. I immediately was brought back to my youth seeing the junk pile over my fence. So I decided to look a little closer at the junk pile when I had noticed what looked like a vacuum cleaner handle sticking up in the mountain of junk. I thought I could salvage the old vacuum cleaner. Luckily moments later I saw the junk haulers pull up their truck to haul away the junk. I went outside and asked the one man what kind of vacuum cleaner that was and he said it was a Hoover. Well he asked me If I wanted it and I said yes. After handing it to me I noticed that the Hoover was a vintage vacuum cleaner from the late 40s to early 50s. It was a Hoover Model 115 Junior. I groped the bag and noticed that the bag was full of dust. After about 2 hours of removing the dust from the shakeout bag with pliers and vacuuming it out with other vacuums I managed to get it cleaned up.
  The vacuum actually still worked when I plugged it in. However my mother disapproved of me bringing this antique vacuum into our home and my brother had taken it away and put it in the garbage. I guess they didn't want bugs and mites and germs. I tried to explain to them that it probably belonged to that little old lady who used to live next door to us and that the vacuum was probably bought at my grandfather's appliance store. They didn't buy my pleas to keep the machine. I hated to see it get thrown away after I spent time and aggravation to clean the thing out. I originally had plans to sell it to a vacuum collector.
  That whole ordeal has lead me to the main topic of my post today, The Hazleton Junk Drive.
  I'm going to be nostalgia tripping today to a part of my youth growing up in Hazleton, PA. Up until the year which I believe was 2002, the city held an annual junk drive once a year where you can throw literally anything away no questions asked. This was usually held in the springtime hence the term spring cleaning. However this was more like Christmas in July if you ask me.
  I still have vivid memories of seeing people walking up and down the city blocks rummaging through people's junk piles. People actually threw away some pretty good stuff from what I remember. The junk pickers would have their old beat up pickup trucks, full size station wagons with the back window smashed out of it filled with junk. I remember some of the junk pickers vividly double parking their vehicles and walking the blocks picking up people's junk. These junk pickers would give the American Pickers a run for their money since they were getting this junk for free and not lowballing hoarders for junk.
 Although as being around 12 years old when the Hazleton Junk Drive came to an end, I really never had a chance to explore people's junk piles that much. I believe the last year that Hazleton had the Junk Drive, my two nephews and I spotted an old leather salon chair a few blocks down the street from my old house and we decided to bring it home. So my 2 nephews and I walked down the street with a skateboard so we could put the chair on it and haul it home. We proceeded to put the chair on the skateboard and all three of us pushed the chair up the street so we could put it our backyard and make a robot out of the old chair.
  However just like the old Hoover Vaccum that I found in the trash, my Nephew's other grandmother came to pick them up at our old house and just so happened to be sitting on the front porch of my house talking to my mother. My nephew's grandmother had saw the 3 of us pushing this old salon chair on a skateboard and told us to put it back in a very annoyed tone. We ended up not taking the salon chair all the way back to where we got it from but to the back of my old house. Our old hose had a huge backyard which had a space in the back where the fence had ended. We kept it there for a few days and we really never got to build that robot that we had planned to make.
  However about 2 years later the City of Hazleton decided that the junk drive was unnecessary and obsolete when they made the rule that you can throw this stuff out every week for garbage not one time a year. Garbage day hasn't been the same ever since they changed the rule for allowing you to throw anything away every week. I want the junk drive back.

High School Class Fundraisers that Student's Can't Attend.

  I've noticed a trend in some high school class fundraisers in my area, that you have to be 21 to attend them. This is completely illogical since the students benefiting from this fundraiser aren't allowed in. Your probably thinking what kind of idiocracy is this crap. Well for starters one type of fundraiser is called A Night At the Races. This type of fundraiser is where you bet on a pretaped horse race and most of the proceeds benefit the class. Now this is where the stupidity kicks in, being 21 or over to attend the event. I get it that you have to be 21 in order to gamble, but at least allow the students to help out at the benefit for their graduation class.

  A simple solution to this problem would be to NOT allow the students to gamble or allow them near the betting area. They can always work at the concession area, sell tricky tray tickets or clean up after the event. This is reminds me of a local movie theater that serves alcoholic beverages where you have

to be 21 or accompanied by an adult in order to see a G rated movie. Yes that's right you have be 21 to go see a G rated film there. Here's a solution to this problem, have the waitstaff carry those little penlights to check ID's of theater patrons.
  Although having a class fundraiser where you have to be 21 in order to attend is quite stupid. What I don't seem to get is why do they pick a fundraising event where you have to be 21 or older to attend it. The senior class that is benefiting from these class fundraisers need to help out at them. When I was in high school I don't recall having a class fundraiser where you had to be 21 in order to be there. I remember having to sell frozen pizzas that you had to carry home from school, chocolate sales and other stupid nonsensical items to peddle at everyone in your family.  Man those were a total pain in the ass when one of your family members ordered 5 frozen pizzas that weighed like 100 pounds when you had to walk with them to your dad's car that was several blocks away from the school.
 I'm glad I'm not in high school anymore so I don't have to peddle frozen pizzas that benefit stuff that I won't attend such as the prom or some class trip. I don't know why I bothered to sell these things because I never attended the prom and I still don't regret it. So the next time your high school class is holding a class fundraiser make it an event where EVERYONE can attend not just the adults

Raiders of The Lost Garage Episode 1

  I'll be periodically blogging about my cleaning up and organizing all of my Father's tools in the garage. My mom doesn't approve of me going through the garage and pillaging it. I'm just trying to consolodate all of the tools my father used to hoard.
   Many years ago when my Father had his appliance repair business he used to buy Snap-On Tools. Now you probably know that Snap-On Tools are not cheap at all. They are a quality made tool that is backed by a lifetime guarantee. However long story short when my older brother acquired the my father's business after my dad had his heart attack, my brother's work truck was broken into and the thieves stole 95% of the Snap-On tools that my dad had bought in the 80s. Snap-On doesn't replace stolen tools if you don't know so if someone steals yours you're shit out of luck there.

   My dad had a handfull of Snap-On Tools left over that somehow never went to my brother when he took over the business and now I ended up with them. It's still an ongoing process sorting out the many tool boxes in the garage to organize into the tool chest. I thought I had accumulated all what was left of them. So I thought. Today as I was consolidating some tool boxes I looked on the one shelf and I spotted what looked like a hole punch tool. I picked it up and upon closer inspection of it I noticed it said Blue-Point Kenosha Wisconson Made in USA on it. If you don't know already, Blue-Point is a brand of tool made by Snap-On that also has their lifetime warranty. I had no idea what this tool exactly was until I went on the computer and typed in the model number: CF-71 upon my search results came up that they are a Spark Plug Gapping Plier tool. now Snap-On no longer makes this type of tool and in case you are wondering what happens to your lifetime warranty, Snap-On will give you a modern equivalent no questions asked.

List of Materials that Heavy Duty Shop Scissors can Cut through.

  I love shop scissors. If you don't know what shop scissors are I'll explain. Shop scissors are meant for heavy duty cutting jobs that most scissors can't cut and the blades don't get dull from cutting a plethora of materials. Shop scissors are built heavier and are designed to cut through every type of material, heavy cloth, plastic, etc. Here is a list of materials that I compiled. Don't go buying fabric scissors when you can buy Heavy Duty Shop scissors that cuts through just about anything

1. Satin
2. Fleece
3. Foam
4. Leather
5. Upholstery material
6. Plastic
7. Cardboard
8. Spandex
9. Metal Wire
10. Electrical cords
11. Paper
12. Chiffon
13. Silk
14. Rubber
15. Carpet
16. Muslin
17. Burlap
18. Nylon
19. Gasket Material
20. Hose
21. Canvas
22. Sateen
23. Kevlar
24. Tulle
25. Mesh
26. Rope
27. Denim
28. Wool
29. Construction Paper
30. Felt

The Paranoia that comes with owning an Automatic Watch

 I own two vintage automatic watches. One's a Bulova and the other is a Seiko. However my dad once told me that a magnet can screw an automatic watch up. So exactly what does a magnet do to an automatic watch? Well for starters the magnet can magnetize the springs inside the watch. This causes the watch to run fast.
  However once you own an automatic watch that isn't antimagnetic resistance, you get paranoid of everything around you. You start to fear if that everyday object next to you contains a magnet inside of it. I won't go near my subwoofer, or my CRT TV while wearing my automatic watch. Other objects that contain magnets are cell phones, magnetic back nametags, electric motors such as the ones found in power windows. Hard drives contain magnets as well. DVD Players, CD Drives and flip phones have them as well. Once you see the amount of stuff that contains a magnet in them the paranoia kicks in.

Rolex Milgauss

  Is there a solution to this? Yes there are several solutions to this dilemma. You can always buy a demagnetizer, They cost around $50 which isn't too shabby. Or you can get a very expensive antimagnetic watch such as a Rolex Milgauss for around $5k-8. Or you can avoid magnets all together like it's the plague.
  This always begs the question why aren't all automatic watches antimagnetic? I mean surely if Rolex could come out with a watch that has antimagnetic resistance why can't all other watch makers do so? Not everyone can afford a Rolex.

What Happened to Cartoon Network?

  I remember when my cable provider started to carry Cartoon Network back in the mid 90s. It was a great channel back then when they showed nothing but classic American cartoons such as Tom and Jerry, Looney Tunes and any Hannah-Barbera cartoon.
 Then sometime during the mid 90s they reached out into producing their own original programming called Cartoon Cartoons. A precursor to this was a variety show featuring different animated shorts done by different animators called The What A Cartoon Show. Some of these shorts eventually evolved into their own Cartoon Network series. This launched several of their classic iconic cartoons such as Dexter's Laboratory, Johnny Bravo, The Powerpuff Girls, I Am Weasel and Cow and Chicken were all launched in 1996 with the Powerpuff Girls started in 1998.
  However in 2004 Cartoon Network began it's slow decline into crap city. They started to show programming that was live action. One of these shows was called Out of Jimmy's head. It was half animated half live action and was kind of like a Who Framed Roger Rabbit kind of feel to it. Out of Jimmy's head was originally a made for TV Movie about a boy who goes on a field trip to a Disneyland type theme park and gets into an accident and is given a brain transplant with the founders brain since all of the people in the character costumes are licensed Brain Surgeons.
 Flash forward to today and Cartoon Network is still descending into a network Identity crisis. Cartoon Network has resorted to rebooting classic shows such as Teen Titans and The Powerpuff Girls and Looney Tunes. However these reboots are nothing but terrible and get horrible backlash from the fans of the original source material. For instance take a look at Teen Titans Go!, if you were a fan of the original series like I am you know this shameful reboot is just a major middle finger to fans of the original series. Cartoon Network had to turn a good serious series and reboot it into a hideous comedy. The series got a lot of backlash from fans as it should have.
  

What Happened to TV Land?

  Back in the day TV Land was a channel that was supposed to be a full time version of Nick at Nite. TV Land used to show all kinds of classic TV shows from the 1950s to the 1970s. They even would show old TV commercials during commercial breaks. Nowadays the channel has seemed to have jumped the shark. No pun intended.
  If you ever have noticed that TV Land has been showing less and less classic TV shows and showing more TV shows from the early 2000s. Heck they even are showing original programming. I rarely watch TV Land but I find it odd that they would start their own sitcoms, Most of them feature washed up sitcom actors and actresses.
  This makes absolutely ZERO sense to have a TV channel that is focused on classic TV shows when you now have you're own original programming. I guess showing reruns of The Brady Bunch and I Love Lucy lose their luster after showing them millions and millions of times over. However there is an alternative to TV Land. MeTV and Antenna TV. Both channels are classic TV oriented, They all show a variety of old TV shows ranging from The Patty Duke Show to Columbo, Heck these channels are more diverse than TV Land is now. We don't need to see a 3 hour block of Bonanza or reruns of George Lopez. from 6 AM to 3 PM. TV Land needs to bring back it's variety that it used to have.