Or, in this case, into a convenient cupboard/closet/wardrobe, that I just happened to have handy.
Please stop screaming. I know that you’re screaming. I even know what you’re screaming. You’re screaming something along the lies of
“Why in the name of (insert preferred deity here) does this (insert preferred term of abuse here) Woman always start these blogs with an obscure title, and an even more incomprehensible first sentence?”
Please, calm down, I know you want answers; I feel your pain.
I’m just not going to do anything about it.
It’s just the way I like to write, blame my teachers/upbringing/genes/jeans, whatever. If you have read this far, congratulations! You have proven yourself to be an individual of extreme patience and discerning taste. Please accept the Sorter Suzy Asterisk of merit *.
OK, now let’s get down to the sweaty stuff I mentioned in the last blog. We have a second spare bedroom. It’s spare because of a lack of offspring to occupy it. So, we did what any other DINK couple would do; we bought a whole lot of computer gear, told ourselves we were going to start a business, and proceeded to shovel/shoehorn the said gear into the room.
Several years down the track, my partner has discovered a modest skill for writing, and I’m going mad at the whole wire and cable bound mess that the computer room has devolved into.
One of the common myths about modern living is the idea of the ‘wireless’ office. Please, let me say, right here, right now, that I am not going to tell you what computer to buy. Never. Not ever. It’s not that sort of blog (although, If you happen to be a slave of certain operating system that the French might refer to as ‘funetre s’ you have my sympathy)
Anyhoo, we run Apple Macs. I like the design, and I like the simplicity of the system. What I don’t like is the fact every new device we get hold of has a wire attached to it. This wire has some various names USB/Firewire/network/power/display/ sometimes I even know what some of them mean. What this means, of course, is that in time, the so called ‘wireless’ office starts to rival ‘Charlotte’s Web’ without the cuteness. Oh, did I mention that both partner and I run laptops! We have even less excuse for this chaos.
Then one day, about a month ago, a light seemed to flicker briefly behind my partners eyes. It was a small light, no bigger than an LED. But I knew what it meant; He had had an IDEA.
And it was this.

We have a wireless network box/thingy (I’ll use ‘thingy’ when I don’t know the techo term – OK?)
Both our laptops have wireless cards installed.

This means that we can access the internet and network the system anywhere in the house – you guessed it – wirelessly.
Our network box/thingy has a USB outlet/thingy on it. This, according to the info sheet, can run printers and external/backup hard drive/thingys

If, you’ve been following these posts, you’ll recall that we just finished putting all of audio/visual material onto a program called iTunes. We ran this from an old computer that has to connect to the network via cable. But that was pretty much the only thing we used it for – so……
Everything that involved a cable could be set up in that convenient cupboard/closet/wardrobe (See? I get back to that obscure opening line eventually.)

So now, when we close the cupboard door, all you see, in what will become my partner’s cosy writing retreat, is one lonely, solitary, teeny tiny white power cable threading it’s way neatly under the door (we’re getting a dedicated GPO installed, then even the cable will go)
Just to clarify; the cupboard contains
the network/cable modem box/thingy,
Three external hard drive/thingys.
Our old iMac, enjoying an easy retirement running iTunes,
a USB hub/thingy.
Two printers,
a scanner (shared via the network, partner knows about this stuff)
And all those @#$#@%^&&% power bricks and cables. All out of sight. All neat and organised.
I am set up in my new office. The only thing on my desk is my laptop. The only cable you see is the power to my laptop.
At last. The truly wireless office.
And it’s all mine
Bliss!

Previous Article in Series

Tweet This Post