Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2019/06/25/mystery-saint-giving-out-100.html
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Well it was only a hundred Canadian dollars…
About a year ago I went to a favorite local diner with my then four year-old son. When we went to pay the bill, the waitress told us it had already been paid for by a regular who picks a table every Saturday to buy lunch for someone anonymously. It was such a great feeling I had, I still think about it every time I’m in that diner. At some point I plan on adopting this same habit.
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I’m currently trying to raise money to buy a long time online friend a new laptop (desktop if we raise enough money). This guy is a saint, he’s taking care of his elderly grandparents, he lives in a US state where he can’t find work for what he went to school for (English major) so he’s been struggling making a living doing what he loves which is writing. On his free time on weekends he’s the GM for our long running D&D sessions which are great.
He’s been having computer issues for a long time now so he’s now been wholly unable to game with us and his internet time is pretty limited because his laptop is pretty old now. So my good Samaritan moment is that i’m raising money to for him unbeknownst to him, it’s slow going but hoping to surprise him with something in the coming months.
I’m not sure how he’s going to react, he’s the kind of person that’s too humble to accept a hand out but he really deserves a break. These kinds of gestures really make a difference in people’s lives, i’ve been helped by friends and strangers at the hardest times in my life and i can never repay it, all i can do is do the same for others.
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The bill was taped to a New Glasgow, N.S., gazebo in a Ziploc bag with a note encouraging the finder to spend the money on something that brings them happiness and to remember the good in the world.
We can all do this with say $1.00 - $5.00, you’ll never know who’s life you changed, but you’ll have changed none the less.
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Everyone has the capability to do some kind of good like this.
I work at a food pantry a couple of times a month, and it’s a completely life-affirming experience. After yet another horrible news cycle, I get to remember that with almost no effort I can make someone else’s life better, which makes my own life better.
I’ve worked in the medical product development; I’ve worked in global healthcare; I’ve worked on technology development to save the planet. Nothing is as good as handing someone in my own neighborhood a bag of rice because they need it. The effort required is nearly nothing - show up for a couple of hours, organize some cans of food, help some sweet old ladies (or refugees or down-on-their-luck professionals) carry it to the door.
Use Meetup, or a local volunteer-coordination group (here we have Boston Cares, Boston Volunteers, OneBrick, others), or call the local food bank (Greater Boston Food Bank is incredible) and find some little pantry in your area that can use your help. There’s one nearby, trust me. The worst that’ll happen is that you’ll enjoy it so much you volunteer a little more time.
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Yeah, so only about $75 real dollars. 
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In what year? At least someone will still accept CAD.
2034 post Iexit.
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You’ve probably already researched it, but I feel compelled to make a suggestion:
Gaming desktops can be a bit cheaper to get than laptops. A quick search shows $700 is when laptops start looking good for graphics. You can get a better spec desktop for $430 (except for graphics), better monitor for under $100 ($200 for a 43" 4k TV at Walmart!), and $150 for a good graphics card. You might also have luck getting someone to donate their older monitor or graphics card.
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My preference definitely is desktop, my leaning toward laptop is somewhat motivated by allowing my friend to have access to something while he’s on the go, considering he does have to take care of his grandparents at their place sometimes. I have thought a lot about getting a desktop instead… i think the other count against it in this case is that we’re doing it without him knowing and when you’re talking about putting together a desktop that you ultimately won’t have direct access to and won’t be able to set it up yourself, or that it may have problems if you ship it and it gets banged and jostled in transit, etc. The laptop is a more straightforward solution in this case, but it does limit a lot of what i can get if i have a limited budget. Right now i’m shooting for getting roughly a $700 laptop, might have to also get him a sturdy laptop cooler as those go a long way toward extending the life of a laptop.
That happened to me at a Starbuck’s. I actually felt a little bad later, like maybe I shouldn’t have accepted the largesse, paid my own way and let the generosity roll forward to the next person.
(Side note: in a reversal from what I’ve seen elsewhere, the Starbuck’s closed, and was replaced with a one-off, independent coffeehouse.)
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“One who knows how to give and accept kindness will be a better friend than any possession.” - Sophocles
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No, that would have been a rejection of the gift, which should always be accepted graciously.
But one could be inspired to similar acts in another time and place… 
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Well, this story can’t be right. Where’s the part where the bill turned out to be covered in anthrax?
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Little did Eric know that gazebos drop loot!
I’d keep an eye out for anything with the 2000 series AMD processors in it. The 3000 series ones are coming out in just days and there are already fire sales on the older ones. Lot of pre-builts and package deals out there, probably more over the next couple of weeks. Not a lot of gaming grade laptops out with them though, and their chips with the integrated graphics are running a generation behind. But there’s deals all over.
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What’s with the title? Bills, plural? Clickbaities?
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