A Week of Tweets

Posted By on December 3, 2012 at 10:00 am

  • For some inadequately explored reason, I own not one, but two staplers. Neither, however, is a red Swingline. ->
  • Oh noes! I just realized – the world's gonna end on Dec 31! How do I know? That's when my calendar ends!!!1!! #stupidmayancalendar ->
  • That "shingles" ad bugs me. I had the chicken pox twice. You read that correctly: twice. I'm the only person I know of who's been so lucky. ->
  • New blog post – Thus Spake Russ: Rebuilding – http://t.co/fUp6DMG1 ->
  • When looking up the parameters of the unix command "date," I always feel vaguely uncomfortable typing "man date" at the CLI. ->
  • RT @MetricButtload: My goal is to make enough money that losers declare me unpatriotic. ->
  • I've been meaning to thank Emerson Electric for their "Consider it Solved" ads. Could be a boost to my career as a network troubleshooter. ->
  • Debating whether at some point I ought to provide photographic proof of my, shall we say, "lack of routine tonsorial attentiveness." #shaggy ->
  • RT @GOPWhip: ReTweet if you believe we cannot solve this #FiscalCliff by taxing the American people. ->
  • I'm surprised Kim Jeong-Eun hasn't yet made a parody of "Gangnam Style" nor claimed that it was really his idea all along. #PyongYangStyle ->
  • If the UN had developed the internet, we'd still be on 9600bps modems. Why should they get to regulate it? Let 'em invent their own. ->
  • I've never seen "The Dark Knight" – worth an evening? ->
  • RT @blakeraber: If I get 50,000 retweets I'll streak across the field after UGA's first score, and resist arrest to see how many times I … ->
  • Would it be insane to use something like Visio to plan out my new desk cabling? I suspect so, even if I have 32 devices to plan for. ->
  • Geeking out with Visio. The sheer amount of stuff I don't know is intensely humbling. ->
  • Kismet: "Say… what's this odd thing? I'll knock it over and find out." Me: "That was my drink, idiot. You've seen it hundreds of times." ->
  • It's 68 degrees out today, but it feels like about 12 degrees in my office. I'm considering stuffing the cats inside my sweatshirt. ->

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Rebuilding

Posted By on November 28, 2012 at 10:50 pm

For the last 15 years or so, my computer desk here at home has been one of those El Cheapo folding-leg tables which are typically seen propped up by the dozen in the back of school gyms, or set up in rows in church basements, covered with paper and holding potluck dishes up off the floor.

You know, one of these. Except way, way cheaper.

After so many years of hard use, I’ve decided that an upgrade is in order. Perhaps the distinct sag in the middle of the table (the 21″ CRT monitor I used to have weighed in at a hefty 85 lbs) had an effect on my decision making, or maybe it was the disintegrated paper veneer and the exposed rough surface in front of my keyboard.

Oh, and: I am sick and bloody tired of banging my knees on the metal apron that holds the particle board tabletop. Low tables are a perpetual hazard for those of us blessed with excess height.

In any event, I’m dumping this POS for a real computer workstation.

I shopped around, and after doing feature comparisons and whatnot, decided to go with a product from Versatables. Specifically:

It’s called the Versa Center. The top shelf ought to make an admirable perch for the cats.

Pricey? Sure. But even with the add-ons I ordered — a keyboard tray, an extra CPU holder for my UPS (which is as large as a small CPU) — once I applied the manufacturer’s Black Friday discount, it still came to less than the sweeeeet leather executive chair in which my butt is currently parked.*

I’ve already acquired all the components I’ll need to build the new setup — except for the desk itself. Versatables is one of those rare things: a business that operates in California. Shipping from coast to coast isn’t an overnight affair, especially given the total shipping weight of my order: 177 pounds in five packages. It’s going to be so much fun getting all that up the stairs and into my office.

I’m going with a dual-monitor setup for my personal machine — the two new 27″ flatscreens arrived on Monday; it occurred to me that added together, the two of them weigh and cost less than half what that old 21″ CRT did. I’ll continue with the single flatscreen for my employer-issued laptop.

Unlike previous office rebuilds I’ve done using the old table, this time I’ll be taking cable/cord management into account from the outset. I’ve decided to try the methods described at the ever-helpful Lifehacker site.

Upgrading the almost-five-year-old PC itself will happen next year. I expect I’ll be able to simply forklift a new one into the current unit’s place — especially if I get the cable management right.

At the request of a few people, there will ultimately be pictures.

* In fact, my butt, as well as the rest of me, is parked in this chair maybe 15 hours a day. Remember, I don’t walk or stand too well. If I’m going to spend so much time here, I might as well be comfortable.

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