The Old/New Year gizmo-rama appears to be nearing its whimpering finale… The last of the gadgets finally arrived which meant that i spent most of the day under the desk pulling and plugging wires.
The Wire Box
About four years ago, i completely gave up on trying to run orderly bunches of cables hither and yon. Within a fortnight they were back to being their dusty, unfathomable jumble. So fuck it. All A/C wires got run to a one of those file boxes with holes in them where they were plugged into surge protected strips leaving one or two thick cables to lead out from the box to the electrical outlet. A lid was attached to the box. What mess the wires got themselves into inside was their business.
External Drives
Maybe about seven years ago, i gave up keeping any important data on the computer's internal drive. There were a number of reasons for this all of which justified not keeping anything important in the computer(s). I have two pair of external drives each consisting of an "original" and a "backup." Since then internet storage and USB drives provide provide additional security.
Patch Plugs
Given the above system together with the fact that i can't seem to use only one computer but (for a variety of eccentric reasons) am often switching from one to another, it occurred to me about three years ago that plugging and unplugging FW and USB cable was an ideal way to loosen or plain break the socket running to the mother board. At this point, i came up with a genius solution.
There exists a female/female FW coupler. I attached and firmly taped this coupler to a one foot FW cable and then plugged the end of that cable into the external hard drive. I could plug and unplug the external hard drive to and from any number of computers without worrying about damaging the socket. It's a genius solution, i must say.
So i've extended it to the other end of the set up as well. The only caveat is that there is a length limit for FW cables (15 feet being the absolute max), so the coupling has to be kept as short as possible.
Obviously, it does no good if the "socket-extension" itself wiggles around, so this year i made sure that i found ways to tape up and firm up this connection so that the plug into the drive or console remained as rigid as possible.
As for USB, I have applied the same principle using those mini four-socket USB strip/hubs.
Cable Clamps
All this still leaves a lot of cables dangling about (and it gets worse when ethernet and telephone are thrown into the literal mix). The best solution i have found is to use those black metal paper climbs. They come in mini, medium, large and ultra large. They are cheap and can be used to clamp whatever bunches of cables you have running in whatever direction. When the cables need to be loosened there is no unwrapping, untwisting or untagging the bunch. Just press the clamps little handles and everything drops loose.
Etc.
My new/used 2 Core Duo came with a complimentary macally keyboard and apple mouse (in matching white). I've always like Macally keyboards and have used their clickable (ugly as hell) Bondi IBM boards for years. But this newer gleaming white Macally has a lighter click and a nice feel. So I ordered another one with a two button matching mouse; as well as a black mouse for to go with the Pismo which i have decided is the Chevy Bel Aire classic of computers and which i will not give up.
As for all the rest… it has been the usual mess with new phones, head-sets, answering machines and -- seeing as i have so many consoles an ethernet router. The router i ordered didn't do what it was supposed to do but as it turns out my internet provider had an upgraded router/modem for no extra charge. Other than having to stand in line for half an hour behind morons ordering "channel packages" it was a good deal.
I have no illusions that a final solution has been achieved. It will all have to be redone again in six months for some reason or another… but at least for now it is done.
Needless to say... i was awol from gym :( which means double duty tomorrow.
It's raining anyways.
