A perfect stranger gave me a HP-41CV today.

[hecube]

This is not a joke but there's a back story.

We can post personal ads on the intranet at work and I posted several months ago an ad asking for old HP calculators donation.

I completely forgot about it until today when someone came by my desk to give me a HP-41CV with Surveyor pac. The calculator is in very good condition and works perfectly.

[Mike T.]

You lucky ...

Though to be truthful I was given an HP100LX in similar circumstances.

Have fun.

Mike T.

[Martin Pinckney]

Where ya been, hecube? Stirrin' things up somewhere else? I've missed you.

[hecube]

Well thanks!

Last year was a funny time for me. There was the commemoration of Apollo XI's 40th anniversay (I'm a big space nerd), the fact that my main hobby (playing guitar) was not satisfying (I had just quit my band) and the fact that I needed to throw myself into something all led me to become much more active in this forum.

I made a big push to acquire a small calculator collection. However, at the end of the summer I thought about where I was going and it became obvious that the calculator collection was not going to sustain my interest as much as my passion for guitar. I decided to only keep calculators that were in relation with space exploration, sold back the rest and I jumped back into guitar.

That's about it!

[aj04062]

I'm with ya on the guitar!

However, I think I'm still going to keep the collecting going. I'm sure my wife wants the collection cut down.

You made me remember the "laser art" pictures I got when I was a kid. I remember writing to NASA for these things. I still got about 20 of them, including some cool patches from Apollo 13.

[Michael Plant]

I got jealous and made caustic remarks until I remembered that my own 41CV came to me in similar circumstances. Last year, I posted a note on my one of my favourite boards about my calculator obsession and noted that I had bought a 35s because I couldn't afford a 41. I wasn't posting to request giveaways or items for sale, but a board member sent me a mint one and wouldn't even accept money for postage. My favourite calculator!

[hpnut]

I have had a few pieces of calculators (HP 50g, HP 33s, HP 20b and HP 30b) sent to me by a few members (who shall remain anonymous) of this forum to me all the way from the USA. I did not solicit them but I was offered them (for nothing).

not exactly complete strangers but these people are examples of genuine, warm hearted human beings. To you my friends, you know who you are.

hpnut in Malaysia

[Borja]

A friend gave me a rarity, an HP-10C in perfect working order last year :)

[John Mosand]

...and an engineer friend of mine gave me a 1982 10C, with the original batteries still working!

[Michael Meyer]

Someone here is going to give me an HP-70. I can't get over how kind and generous people here are!

[Philip Reagan (Texas)]

Someone gave me a pristine 16C once he found out I collected and he wanted to give it to a good home.

[Norman Dziedzic]

I got a 42s from someone on a different newsgroup after posting about calculators. It is pretty beat up and suffers from short battery life but the price was right He even paid to ship it from Europe to the States. His kids who are US sports fans got some nice jerseys for Christmas :-).