I mentioned a couple of days ago that I’m cleaning up my office. Stage 2 was supposed to be “re-do the wiring”, but that became “stage 3” when I decided I needed to add a new filing cabinet and a few other things to help organize.
Stage 3 took place today: this site was down for a while as a result. Rewiring always causes mixed feeling for me. On the one hand, I derive some satisfaction from turning a gordian knot of cables into some sort of organized, hopefully neat configuration. On the other hand is the near-certainty that, within mere days of making everything organized, I’ll have to fix something and tear apart the cable routing in frustration.
One “happy surprise” of this cable re-structuring was coming up with a new/safer way to situate my network router. For years now, both the router and my ADSL modem have been attached to the second desk in my room. But that was becoming a problem, primarily since the area behind the second desk had become a favorite play area for the kittens. What happened was this…
- I wanted to replace an aging (plastic) file cabinet with a sturdier metal one. The cabinet I bought on sale had a funky little “shelf” on top, ostensibly to put your printer on, and under which you could then store paper. Since my printer is happy where it is I had no real intent of using this stand. But I thought perhaps my router and modem could go under it….but I like having that gear “bolted down” to prevent certain felines from deciding it looks better on the floor. So, I set that idea aside and continued reorganizing
- wanted to remove the computer shelf on my desk, which has been irritating me for years since it inhibits access to my computer. Instead, I would put my computer on a wheeled computer stand
- The computer shelf thus removed left me with two large laminated “chunks” of particle board. I had no idea what to use this for…wait a sec. That one chunk looks sorta the same size as the funky shelf on the cabinet…would it slide underneath? Yes! Perfectly, with less than a millimetre on either side. Of course, it is nearly inconceivable that the router and ADSL modem would bolt onto the board and slide underneath the shelf…
- Good gravy, it fits!
I have to assume that this nearly miraculous series of events is a re-balancing of my techno-karma after my recent series of Vista problems. Either that, or it is a sign of the impending apocalypse. Either way, my network is back up and running, and my cabling looks elegant for the moment.