Quote:
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Originally Posted by Carmine
"Purpose of your trip to Canada?"
"We drove through to purchase a TV in New York State."
"What kind of TV requires you to drive to NY?"
"Um, it's an old TV."
"Why would anybody want that?"
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Hehe. I have had some similar experiances. As well as old TV's and radios, I collect old computers. Twice in the last couple of months I've drivin to Canada to pick up some computer equipment. The first time I was coming back with my haul - a Burroughs B80 minicomputer from 1978. The entire back of the Chevy Venture was full - the system unit is the size of an office desk. A massive power supply (like a 30" cube) wedged in behind the driver's seat such that I had to be squished forward the entire ride. A disk rack wedged in behind the passenger seat, and massive thick cables stacked on top of it all. It must have looked really weird to see this van loaded down from the customs office there. On top of that, I was nervous - the first time I'd dealt with bringing anything back from Canada like this. The customs officer was really puzzled, and curious why someone would collect old computers. He seemed fascinated why anyone would want to fix up and play with such old equipment. I talked to him for a few minutes on the joys of collecting computers, and explained what my machine was. He peered into the back more closely, he could probably just barely make out the printing console poking up in the dark. The thing that I think conviced him was when I said "It's like the geek equivilent of collecting and restoring old cars".
The second time, I had a load of DEC and Sun gear. The passenger seat had a 21" monochrome monitor seat-belted to it, with a VT100 terminal on the floor. The back was loaded to the roof with hardware, a Unibus chassis was directly behind the headreast - good thing I didn't have to slam on the breaks... This customs officer was also intrigued, and was very nice, he was really interested in the whole idea of collecting old computers. He was very nice, and asked the "Where do you keep it all?" question. He seemed genuinely interested.
So, from my experience, the customs guys are very nice if you just talk to them honestly and nicely. And comparing your insanity to collecting old cars is a good way to get people to understand.
Although it seems to be very hard to get people to comprehend collecting old television sets -
"What do you do with them?"
- I fix them up and get them working again.
"Then what? What do you do after you fix them?"
- Watch them.
And that won't satisfy most people. They don't get it. For so many people, a collection or hobby has to be something that gets more valuable, or something that I sell. They just don't get that for people like me, the joy of bringing something old back to life and using it just doesn't make any sense. It's hard. Some people just never get it.
-Ian