My computers: Where they live, work and play....

501 own a tablet pc.l thought it would make it easies to write.like wingspan it seems so much more Natural than tipping tome. But, and this is abig but, the damn thing doesn't Really work. ...

Okay, that's enough. I was trying to handwrite the previous paragraph. It said, in neat, printed english "So I own a tablet pc. I thought it would make it easier to write. Handwriting seems so much more natural that typing words. But, and this is a big but, the damn thing doesn't really work...."

You see what I mean. The handwriting recognition not only sucks, but it changes words randomly between the tablet input panel and the typing field. That means, even if you capture what you've written in the text preview pane (a pain in the ass area where you can delay adding your written text to an area until you have error checked it, and good thing too, because it is generally wrong), you have to spend twice as much time fixing the misunderstandings between you and the tablet than you'd take just typing the damn information.

And thus, why I am typing now. This is doubly painful because I have become accustomed to typing on a Mac keyboard (all best buy had in the way of USB keyboards when I needed one most). There is a difference, most noteably the fact that the Mac (emac to be exact) keyboard is sharply slanted toward the user (think stadium seating for letter keys) and the tablet's keyboard, like all laptops, is flat, with some of the more useful keys in odd and unexpected places (why do they do that?).

Nonetheless, I soldier one.

Today's topic is using my computer. Or, more precisely, my computers. They dominate my days (nights, weekends, meal times, basically my whole, and entire life). I have basically two places to I tend use them:

First, my little six by five foot, wood panelled office (formerly, and I am not kidding, a closet). This space houses my desktop computer (a sweet little shuttle mini, powerful as hell and precious to me), who's name is bubbles (as in cobra bubbles, the big FBI guy in Lilo and Stitch), my usb kvm (an anniversary gift from my SO), a Windows 2003 standard domain controller, a Windows 2003 enterprise Virtual Server 2005 machine (with three gigs of ram, 80gig hd 4200rpm and 120gig hd 7200rpm), and a spare server running server 2000 but will soon be my spare 2003 server, technet subscription, virtual server beta box. That maxes out my kvm, the space I have in there, and the temperature. In February it was about fifteen degrees outside and almost ninety degrees in my little room. I have two fans running to cool off the space (running on a different circuit to avoid any messy power issues). That does cause an unexpected problem.

In order to tell what the temp in the space actually was, I have been using a thermometer/hygrometer. For those of you that don't recognize what a hygrometer is, it measures the moisture in the air. About 40% is where I am comfy (having grown up in humid places) and I have all kinds of humidifiers around the house to keep it that way too. Well, it was about 35% in there (I keep a personal humidifier on my desk at all times). Funny thing though, I started using the fans when it got too hot (a little note--- getting really hot is bad for motherboards, hard drives and the like and can destroy them. In earlier days, it was easy to melt a processor if the box itself was too hot. Nowadays, processors deal with heat by slowing down, way down. I don't like slow, I have things to do. Thus the need to cool everything off) and noticed that every time I touched any of my equipment (hard not to do in that space) I would get zapped by static electricity. Hard, visible spark, audible noise. I glanced at the hygrometer and found that the humidity in my space had dropped to below 15% (even though the outside humidity on that day was well over 40%). Yeowzers. Not only was I uncomfortable (the fans kicking up dust and smacking electrons around, my eyes burning and itching) but my nose actually started bleeding by the end of the day (mind you, that day was about eighteen hours of work, no normal hours for me). Now I have a second humidifier in the doorway of the room (again, trying to keep it on a different circuit since it too uses a fan) and still I am barely in the thirties. I find that about 34% is where most of the static stops. Honestly though, without the hygrometer I wouldn't have even given humidity a though and would have begun to suspect a grounding issue with my equipment, testing with my multimeter, fussing with my ups and power cubes. That hygrometer really saved me time. Not to mention helped explain my discomfort and later why my skin started peeling like I had a sunburn.

Now that space is cute, cozy, (obviously warm in the winter) and good for focusing. As a matter of fact, my profile pic is my desktop view of the world in winter. However, after spending months cooped up in there, it does put a bit of a cramp in my creativity. After a while all sitting there elicits is a strong urge to nap. I needed to get out.

Which brings me to my second place to use my computers--- the dining room. Also pictured on my site, this relatively roomy (larger than 6'x5') space is lit by a sliding glass door that opens onto my deck and backyard, and a window that faces southwest. This room is dominated by the plants I keep there to over winter that belong on the deck (complete with lights on timers and a broken automated watering system). It also houses, of course, the dining room table, books, and the stereo system. Unfortunately, it is also conveniently close to the TV, kitchen, and comfy couch, good for wasting time and the occasional nap. When working in the dining room, I use my tablet pc, an Acer 303xmi, with an extra gig of ram and an external 7200rpm, 120gb HD. With the laptop I can remotely control the machines upstairs in my office, so it's like having the kvm. Of course, there are disadvantages, the keyboard I already mentioned, and the fact that the screen quality is a bit off, seeing as the tablet's digitizer screen is a little fuzzy at all times and forces me (during crunch times) to sit with my neck slightly tilted down for hours and hours. On the upside, it is brighter downstairs in my home, more open and airy, gives me a chance to look outside. With the sliding glass door open, it lets me feel the cool breezes and watch the mourning doves hang out in my yard (oh, and poop on my deck).

However, there is one good reason (other than it's too tempting to be distracted) why I don't spend a lot of time in my dining room-- it is a pain in the butt to disconnect all the stuff I have attached to the laptop when I am working with it in my office and drag it downstairs and plug all that stuff back in. Also, as the table is logically in the middle of the room, the cables stretch across the room, ready to hamstring unsuspecting passersby and yank my poor equipment off the table and onto the floor. All to just have a change of scenery. So, more often than not, I just stay in my little room upstairs for days and days on end. Despite the fact that I mourn the seasons passing without my involvement and long to be able to experience the sun (in small, manageable doses of course. Maybe appreciate it up close, but in the shade), I found it easier to stay in my room to get things done. And really, the dining room is nice, it is closer to being outside, but it isn't actually being outside.

Today I have decided to change all that. I am opening a new chapter in convenient places to work at home. One that will let me enjoy the outside world while not either frying to a crisp or becoming a neighborhood attraction (lookee there marge, our neighbor's usin' one of them com-poot-ers, run and get the camera).

Remember how I mentioned that I had a deck outside my dining room? Well, heretofore it has been largely unused. It is blindingly hot during most of the day in the summer, and completely without privacy as my neighborhood was created back when it was great to have your neighbors in your backpocket (pah! Who needs yards they thought, only good if you *like* to use your lawnmower). Thus my poor deck has become neglected, a nice place to hold plants, potting soil and a rusting hibachi. What I'd like to do is get an umbrella to keep me shady, and tall potted plants to create some privacy. Mind you, my pockets are so empty that I'm spending lint, so money is an issue. I'll just have to get creative, that's all.

To that end, I am heading out now. More later and maybe pictures.