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15 JUL 04: SUMMER CLEARANCE

Wednesday was a liberating day for me - as I finally began to recycle some of the electronic and computer gear that's cluttering my apartment. When it's all finished, I may be able to move my stacks of old magazines off the floor.

Have you heard about what Office Depot stores are doing? They're taking your old electronics and computer items from
now until about Labor Day - and recycling them for free! About the only way they could improve this offer is to give me blue book value as a trade-in....

The Office Depot recycling offer covers all aspects of computer-related products, from mainframes to scanners. They're also accepting television sets measuring less than 27 inches -- which I think are becoming to TV what short-bed pickups are to trucks.

This Office Depot recycling deal is exactly what I've been waiting for. I didn't want to leave my big, bulky old computer gear at the curb, because I wasn't sure the city of Columbus could handle the dangerous chemicals in them properly. And the gear is so heavy that if I dropped it in a landfill, the whole thing might cave in.

The Columbus Office Depot reportedly was jumping the gun on the published national starting date of Sunday, so I took my first recycling item to the store Wednesday afternoon. It was an "e-machines" computer monitor, which I happened to buy at that same Office Depot Friday, April 30, 1999. Even in electronics, there's a circle of life.

(Yes, I remember the very day I bought that monitor - because I bought an "e-machines" mainframe with it in a package deal. At last I was free to play Minesweeper in the privacy of my home, without a boss at work getting upset.)

The old computer monitor had sat idle for more than a year, because it started acting strangely. Some sort of power problem made my mainframe keep running, even when I tried every switch possible to turn it off. Does Georgia Power employ formerly convicted hackers?

So I carried my old computer monitor into Office Depot - and something predictable happened. The customer service person had absolutely no knowledge of the recycling offer. These office supply stores simply MUST start selling "USA
Today."

The customer service person admitted she was new on the job, so she asked a co-worker for guidance. That woman said Office Depot exchanges empty ink cartridges when you buy new ones. I already knew that - and as expensive as printing ink has become, I'd almost rather put chocolate milk in the printer.

Finally a manager came over who knew what Office Depot was doing. She let me drop off my monitor - and I promised I'd be back. Others may have "Fan Clubs," but I am now in the electronics elite.

I had only one regret when I returned home about giving up that monitor. I still had the original e-machines box stashed in a corner of the computer room. I should have packed the two together - but then the beanbag chair stuffed on top of the box would have nowhere to go.

Yet to come on my summer computer recycling tour -- a number of items a church member gave me in 1996, when I first began using home computers:

+ An NEC Spinwriter printer - one so heavy that I should have carried it to my trunk the last time Columbus had snow.

+ A separate "NEC Letter Quality Printer 3550" - which has so many attachments you can put on top, it just might double as TV's "Magic Bullet."

+ The grand prize of them all: a Compaq portable computer - portable as in the size of a large suitcase, with a small monitor built into one side and a detachable keyboard for typing. If anyone used this as a "laptop," their thighs would collapse from the strain.

(I'm still not sure if I'm going to turn in that computer for recycling. I think a museum in Silicon Valley would pay a good price for it, as a 1990-era souvenir.)

E-MAIL UPDATE: The treasurer of Judge Roxann Daniel's campaign wrote us again Wednesday. Take a deep breath, and let's see if Maxine Hardy rebuts Mark Shelnutt's denials of a proposed $10,000 payoff [12 Jul]

Despite predictions to the contrary, I'm back. Bloody and bruised, but still swinging. So you want to hear some positive reasons to vote for Judge Daniel? I have some:

(1) As I have made very clear to anyone who is listening, Judge Daniel and her husband, David, are dear friends to me and my husband. Over the years, we have supported each other in good times and not-so-good times. When my family learned, in December, 2002, that Roxann had been appointed to the Superior Court bench, we were thrilled. We knew there was no one more deserving. I was also a little apprehensive; I practice family law and I knew I would be arguing cases in front of Judge Daniel. I needn't have worried. In my very first hearing before her, Judge Daniel ruled against me and in favor of the opposing attorney, Ray Akin. Since then, I have never felt the slightest twinge of doubt that Judge Daniel would always strive to be fair and impartial, regardless of who is before her. I'm sure Ray would concur.

(2) Judge Daniel is a person of real character, which may not matter much in a U.S. President, but is a reassuring trait in a Superior Court Judge. It is probably not widely known in the community, but Judge
Daniel has had to deal with some of life's harshest blows, including the death of her first husband and the traumatically premature birth of her only child. (Garit is now 6 years old and entering 1st grade at Clubview. We are immensely grateful that she is now perfectly healthy, after being born almost 3 months premature.) Once, several years ago, Judge Daniel and I were returning from a long weekend at the beach with our children. As Judge Daniel drove and our children slept in the back seat, I spent a lot of time talking to her about all of my troubles. (It is true that Judge Daniel displays a "No Whining" sign prominently on her desk; nevertheless, she is an extremely patient listener.) Sometime during that conversation, she gave me a bit of advice that has helped me calm myself when I'm going overboard, driving myself into a frenzy with worry. She told me that the way for me to deal with my anxieties is to look for a way to serve other people. I know Roxann follows her own advice. She has always been a volunteer for worthwhile community projects. She has volunteered for Girls, Inc. (Girls' Club), Our House, Children's Tree House, and New Horizons, among other things. And when she tackles a project, she digs in and works; she's never just a name on a letterhead. I know about these things, because she tends to drag her family and friends in to help out, too.

(3) Roxann is a worker. Since she has been on the Superior Court bench, she has spent nights and weekends studying, reading pleadings, doing her own research, conferring with other judges across
the state, and meeting with citizens, not to mention conducting hearings and trials. In my office, my staff knows that we can depend on Judge Daniel's office to process our paperwork promptly and accurately. In the last year and a half, Judge Daniel has made a point of staying in her office late on Friday evenings, because she knows that attorneys and other citizens often have court-related business they need to take care of before the weekend. There is not a Superior Court judge who works harder than Judge Daniel.

(4) Here is something that almost no one knows about David and Roxann Daniel, because it's not something they intended to have told: for the past couple of years, whenever we go out together, David and Roxann make a point of looking for a soldier so that they can pay for his check. They want these young people who make such valiant sacrifices for their country to know that this community cares about them and is grateful to them. It's not a bid for votes because soldiers tend to be transient and often don't vote in this community; it's not a political maneuver because they've never made their practice known (until big mouth, here, decided to blab). I believe they do it because they are true patriots.

I can tell you more, if you're really interested.

Hmmmm - not one "Shelnutt" in there anywhere. Now that's the way to change the subject....

Maxine, we're sorry to hear you've been "bloody and bruised." Did Judge Daniel do that, when she heard you wrote us?

If Judge Roxann Daniel ruled against Maxine Hardy in a case, yet they're working together in this election campaign, it means one of two things. Either Hardy has a true spirit of forgiveness - or she knew deep down her client didn't have a prayer.

I can't help wondering if Judge Roxann Daniel declared Maxine Hardy a friend of hers, during that court case a couple of years ago. Mark Shelnutt says the judge openly called him a "supporter of my opponent" in court several weeks ago -- and if it was her idea of a joke, Shelnutt certainly didn't get it.

What's this line that "a person of real character.... may not matter much in a U.S. President?" Are we talking about Bill Clinton committing adultery - or George W. Bush lying about weapons of mass destruction?

I didn't know Judge Roxann Daniel has a "no whining" sign on her desk at the Government Center. Based on the e-mails we've received, she might want to make copies of that for all the Bobby Peters critics.

It's nice to know Judge Roxann Daniel volunteers for so many local charities. How she can do that while trying 250 cases a year is beyond my comprehension....

It's also nice to know Judge Roxann Daniel and her husband have paid for the meals of soldiers. But c'mon now - how many of those meals were at Coach's Corner, before Fort Benning made it off-limits?

(Come to think of it, other writers said Bobby Peters knew plenty of people at local restaurants - but they never said he bought anybody's dinner.)

Updated score in the Superior Court Judge race: pro-Peters messages 7, pro-Daniel messages 2 - and unanswered charges, too numerous to mention.

Meanwhile, WRBL played a clip of the much-discussed, little-watched NBC-38 "Rise 'n' Shine" debate Wednesday night. Bobby Peters openly accused Roxann Daniel of submitting a false application for the Superior Court Judge job. She replied, "There you go again!" And the host probably wished Duke and the Doctor were back on instead.

And did you see what happened when the Columbus Times hosted a candidates' forum? The Ledger-Enquirer reported both contenders for judge were there - but only about 15 people showed up! Maybe this blog IS getting readers, and answering everybody's questions....

BLOG UPDATE: We received an answer to the "Hook" mystery Wednesday. The Columbus Catfish management told us the team's longtime mascot is heading for Spain, and overseas college study. So much for making extra money there as a baseball scout....

I'm told the former mascot worked at Golden Park several years, going back to the days of the RedStixx. Maybe this explains why the big sign outside the Columbus Civic Center along 4^th Street still has a RedStixx logo on it.

The Catfish managers say they're looking for a full-time "Hook," after using several "interns" this season. Now wait a minute - what sort of job can you get, after interning as a mascot? Being soft and cuddly can't even get you engaged to Donald Trump.

Catfish management informs me several people already have expressed interest in becoming the full-time "Hook." Maybe we need a contest like "Survivor" to find the best mascot - with events such as a "Hook and ladder" competition.

Now let's catch up quickly on some other items from the last couple of days:

+ First Lady Laura Bush visited suburban Birmingham, for a campaign trip we're told focused on "family values." If a luncheon costing $500 a plate doesn't reflect family value, what does?

+ Columbus Police reported five men robbed "Guud-Ez Urban Wear" in the Mission Square shopping center, and took as much expensive designer clothing as they could. Imagine the headline if this happened in New York: "SEAN JOHN GONE."

(WXTX "News at Ten" reported the stolen designer clothing included T-shirts valued at $44 each. I assume you wear the dress shirt UNDER this T-shirt, because it's probably less expensive.)

+ People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals posted a billboard on Veterans Parkway, urging you NOT to attend the Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus next week. Good - then PETA will let me attend the Dixie Deer Expo instead.

(If you have a hunter in your family, PLEASE be sure he or she doesn't get next week's big events mixed up. That bloody tiger hunt near Palm Beach was bad enough....)

+ Sherwood Presbyterian Church continued a week-long summer etiquette course for children. Maybe next year this should be expanded - to include all the drivers in Columbus who cut you off in traffic, and never use a turn signal.

+ Which local TV reporter is packing bags, for an upcoming move to Birmingham? I'm told the deal is basically done - and this reporter resisted the temptation to work with Jon Paepcke.

+ Instant Message to Columbus Catfish broadcaster Nathan Raynor: AGAIN you make local sports history! I'm sure you did Wednesday night -- as the first sportscaster here ever to use the word "penultimate" during a game. You DID major in English literature, didn't you?

(Sad to say, many people around here probably hear the word "penultimate" and think of a life sentence without parole.)

BURKARD'S BEST BETS: Milk for $2.99 a gallon at Lewis-Jones.... gas for $1.73 a gallon at EZ Shop on Veterans Parkway.... but "Gummi Lunch" on sale at Big Lots?! C'mon....

COMING SOON: Here come the protest marchers.... a close look at some bricks.... and that item about quarters we've promised to bring you....

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