Apologies to readers who were expecting some BWIA content. Not quite yet, as you might care to read below. I'm in the process of getting my office back together and it'll be a bit before I'm back up and running, writing about license-exempt Broadband Wireless Internet Access. But... soon! Promise!
Definite progress on the office this weekend!
My desk is now moved into the new office, but not permanently installed. It's an Ikea EFECTIV (sp?) (discontinued) based around a curved corner unit with extension tables to the right and/or left, grafted on with a combination of special legs and clamps. It's great, except that it's fragile if you try to move it. So I'm waiting until the work on the wall shelving is done before bolting the desk together.
We had seen a hanging / bracket wall shelf system at one of the local Storables stores and liked it. But I read a good post on Lifehacker about a similar system (Elfa) at The Containter Store and mentioned that the selection of accessories was fantastic, and after a visit to see the system I agree. The Storables system is much more customer-friendly - it's accessible in the store with all the component parts right there for grab and go shopping, they have an easy-to-follow catalog with the various items, and they also have a true "maple" finish for the shelves and that would have matched the desk much better.
But, again, the selection of accessories, especially "small stuff" like "backstops" for using the shelving as bookshelves, is much better with the Elfa products, so no regrets on having chosen to go that route. Having settled the question of which system to use... now the chore of laying out the new office to accommodate the shelving. It should be pretty simple.
We bought some sample pieces of the Elfa rail, standards, and brackets to "test fit" in the various places in the office, so I'll figure out what the shopping list will be for the next shopping foray. Once all the pieces I decide I need is in hand to do the wall drilling all at once, I plan to rent one of those sexy rotating laser levels to "shoot" a line around the room so all the shelves will end up at a uniform height even on different walls. I figured out last night that this would be really critical for a new idea I had of building some custom triangular shelves for the corner above the desk. I've long wanted to mount the secondary monitor for the iMac above the iMac, but short of hacking together some ugly plywood contraption, there was no good way to do it. With the new shelving system and a little bit of work figuring out and building the corner shelves I need, it will end up looking very nice.I'll even have more and better storage in the otherwise unused space above this corner. In theory, anyway.
The Container Store will get even more of my money from being the only place that I can get a low-profile (27 inches tall) legal two drawer file cabinet... @ $299 each! These file cabinets have a modular base, so you can put on low profile rollers (adds only about 1/2 inch to overall height), or a base that builds it up to the apparently standard 29 inches - mix and match, and each type of base is extra, of course. Buying those file cabinets will be a bit expensive, but using them means I can put them under the desk without having to "hack" the legs (and affecting the stability) to increase the height 2 inches needed to make room for stanndard-height file cabinet. Having the file cabinets close means I'll use them a lot more (a tip from Getting Things Done) and overall the desk will be more stable, enjoyable, and productive.
One of the many small things that swung me over to the Elfa shelving was that they offered shelves in varying depths. (Storables offered just 14 inch deep shelves, but you could order custom lengths! They would have made a lot money from me from that.) The shorter depth shelves will be much more ideal for the "radio corner" where I'll be stacking up the various data radios, TNCs, and other gadgetry associated with my packet radio systems. It will be a kind of "non-rack" rack and in my mind, it already looks very cool.I'm typing this on a temporary computer setup. The iMac is still sitting in the corner - it's just too big and fragile to put on the desk given the prospect of shuffling the desk to do the work on the shelving. I'll wait to bring it back to life until after I have the shelving "mostly" settled and the desk installed. The iMac needs some surgery - add 1 more GB of RAM to bring it up to the max. of 3 GB in preparation for a clean install of Snow Leopard and all that entails... but that's a whole 'nuther project.
But this setup isn't bad - the MacBook Pro is good enough for now (forgot that it was a bit hard to read on the TypePad edit screen when it's not right up next to you). I'm on Ethernet rather than Wi-Fi, and that speeds things up in small and perceptible ways. I'm also using the IBM PS/2 keyboard, and it's so much fun to use those big, clicky keys. But man, do I miss the Apple keyboard shortcuts (this keyboard is pre "Windows" key, so there's no easy way to map an Apple CMD key. There's probably a way, but that can wait until I have the iMac back in use. If I was using a PC, all of the keyboard shortcuts use the CTRL key... which the PS/2 keyboard has, of course. More about clicky keyboards for Macs in a subsequent post.
It gets a little chilly in here, so I'm running the little electric heater and that makes it cozy in a hurry. One of the things I insisted on for the new offices is a dedicated 20A circuit for powering the electronics and things like the heaters. TIna would routinely pop the circuit breaker when she had her heater on and used her (little!) laser printer. I discovered that the 15A circuit in her office was shared by three of the four bedrooms on the main floor... so that 20A dedicated circuit in each office was badly needed!
Sorry no pictures yet - it was yet another busy weekend - worked at the day job on Saturday and Sunday was mostly consumed with family stuff except for the visit to the Container Store. I'm definitely enjoying the new office - it already feels much better than the old office.
Thanks,
Steve