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My Almost-daily Journal |
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| About I love trying out new things, especially when it comes to internet technology. I never really kept a journal, but it's something that I've always wanted to do. Now, everybody will get a chance to look inside my twisted, and somewhat-warped mind.
I've also subscribed to Audio Blog, so a few times a week, I'll leave actual voice blogs. Very cool!XML Newsfeed Previous Posts
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Friday, September 17, 2004
The Computer Room Move Now that Josh's old room is factory fresh with a new paint job, new closet door, new blinds, and SS outlet covers, the move is on! The computer desk that we used in the dungeon for our computer room is a huge workstation desk. I'm not sure I'd even call it a desk, since there are no drawers on it... just a huge taupe work area connected to a taupe metal frame. Thank goodness for commercial modularity! The top of that table weighs at least 60 lbs. It's a beast of a table. Ten people could stand on it and it won't even budge. Anyway, a few screws were unfastened, and I had that desk apart in three minutes. It was a delight to transfer to the new computer room (except for the 60 lb. top). So now the computer "desk" is set up, and I still have to somehow haul up my file cabinets, desk drawers (it's a modular, seperate unit that really doesn't even match), book shelf, the printers, and the mini fridge (that never, ever gets used). The room looks marvelous without all the clutter. I don't know how it's going to look all packed in. Danielle and I were talking about adding a lounge chair in there and make it sort of like a library. Danielle LOVES to read her books, and with a lounge chair there, she can read while I do web work. Other than to try and keep the home office clutter-free and less "dungeon-esque", my biggest problem I face is networking. What's the best way to renetwork my house. If you're Peter, you'd just go wireless. And that might not be a bad idea. But, for some reason, I'm fond of Cat5, Cat5e, and Cat6 cableing. Plus I'm a little reluctant to broadcast my bandwidth into the airwaves. You just never know nowadays. I guess I'm a little old-fashioned. My choices are to just run Cat5 cable downstairs into the old dungeon computer room, where the router and cablemodem would continue to live, or run cable coax into the new computer room, and run the router, printserver, and cablemodem out of that main room. I really like my desk space and having three less devices to look at and take up real estate is semi-appealing. I think I'm going to start off with just networking that room into the "network", which means I'm going to have to get Cat5 cable into the basement. My choices are: 1) drill into the floor right behind computer desk, 2) cut rectangular hole in wall, drill down through footer, snake Cat5 cable into basement, and finish wall with network outlet to match scheme in room, 3) drill through wall to access spare bedroom #2 (that room is networked, and there's a switch in the room)... only problem is that computer desk is opposite of the wall I'd be drilling into, 4) drill into heat duct (through register), to snake cat5 downstairs (I've had bad luck with heat duct networking... bad connection for some reason). My preferred choice is #2, but that means I have to be a handyman again, and I'm sick of it. I'll probably do #4 and see what type of connection I can get. This way, with a direct line feed into Josh's room, I can take switch and use it to split the line for Danielle's computer. The most interesting thing that came out of the big move was the realization of the cable spaghetti created through years and years of accumulation of power cords, network cords, phone cords, etc. There's nothing more that I hate than clutter and chaos. I had three power packs that weren't being used, as well as three phone cords, a USB cable, an old mouse, old speaker wire, and a patch cord. It's nice when starting fresh... you can keep the order. And it amazes me after seeing all the spaghetti, that everything actually goes back together nicely (i.e. I'm not scratching my head wondering where different cords go). Another nice thing is the hardwood floors. Desk chairs slip easily back and forth with little effort. That's very nice. I also put felt on the bottom of the desk, so moving from one end of the room to the other won't be a problem. Finally, my last crusade after getting permanently wired in that room will be to decide were the printers go. I have a huge HP large-office quality printer... I think an HP 4050. It's not a cute little "desk printer". Right now, that monster is sitting on top of the refrigerator in the dungeon computer room. Not even sure I'm taking up the refrigerator. I also have an HP 1100 color printer for photos, as well as a Canon scanner. Shit... lots or peripherals. I sure wish I could find a Marvel corner unit and an additional table piece to enlarge the usable working area. I have a feeling I'm not going to have much luck with that. If anybody knows anybody that uses Marvel office furniture (taupe/tan/beige) I'd love to get matching components for my desk. I'm going to check ebay and the 'net right now. Oh yeah, one more thing... computers are going to be side by side. I really hate that I'll be using a 20" CRT and Danielle iwll be using a 17" LCD. I hate that they don't match. If I see a deal on Dell's 20" LCD's I think I'm going to buy a two-fer. I'm sick, I know. I want everything to match, including keyboards, mice, as well as cases. Not sure what I'm going to do. Oh yeah... I'm Chatty Katy... not sure the idea of having an upstairs home office is going to be a great thing. Usually, I can have customers just follow me into the basement and I can work. Now, I have to lead them through my house... and if Danielle wants to go to sleep while I'm working with a customer, it's going to be a slight problem. Final revelation: the "dungeon computer room" may not have been all that bad. Definitely had its benefits. Bachelor party is tomorrow. I'm having a little anxiety. I hope everything goes as planned. More will follow on the bp. posted by Dino at 2:49 PM (permanent link)
Comments:
I'm sure the bachelor party will go very well.
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As far as working with your clients, that's what a laptop is fo. |