I’ve been working on several projects at home lately. I’m not much of a handyman, but when motivated can be resourceful. I’m also very organized and attentive to details (often to the point of obsessive compulsiveness). One time I remember going through my website code by hand and changing all the tags to upper case. Then years later I went back and changed it all back. That kind of thing.
Anyway, this week I first set up the server (aka Jill’s iMac) in her room where it used to be. I moved the cable modem and router to the closet and ran a long ethernet cable to her desk. The router is wireless but you don’t want to run a web server over it. It’s just not good practice. The older iMac is already a slow enough server as it is. This project gave me some more power outlets behind my desk (yay!), more desk real estate, and allows Jill to have a computer back on her desk where she likes it. Here’s my tidy closet work with Jill’s clothing rack next to it:
The next project I did was allowing Jill to hook up TV and watch it on her computer! We were seriously looking at this amazing device that lets you watch anything you can on TV on your Mac. It’s so tiny too. You can also record and edit out commercials, etc. We have a TV, it’s just that I like downsizing whenever possible.
Last night near midnight I realized that I could use a video converter my dad bought me a few years ago to hook up the VCR/DVD player and convert the signal to firewire. I spend a few happy hours doing this today. The hitch wasn’t the hooking up cables, it was finding software that allowed me to view it on the computer. I found a piece of shareware that let me do this, and we can even record if we want to. Here’s a few pics of the cables involved and the end result:
Finally, this evening I worked on my amp lights and attaching them in a better way. I found some plastic things I was going to throw away (originally from my new desk for hanging folders) that fit the track lighting perfectly. I screwed them into my amp and it holds the lights in place. Now all I need are some large staples or something to hold the sides to the amp:
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