Goodbye Switch

This was a center piece of my home server room for 8 years but I don't have room for it anymore so it must go! You are looking at a switch with 16 100mbps ports, 12 10mbps ports, and 9 100mbps fiber ports. Once upon a time this was state of the art!

Office/Studio Update: Back up sump pump

My sump pump runs every five minutes for 6 months out of the year. If that pump ever died it wouldn't take long for the basement to fill with water. Today I had a plumber install a $650 backup water powered sump pump. If the power goes out or my sump dies, the backup will use municiple water as means to pump water out of my basement.

In addition to a plumber I arranged for the cable company to come out and redo the house cable terminations and distrubtion that goes through the construction area.

Office/Studio Update: First wall

The first 8' section of wall is framed. Got three more sections to do and then hang a door.

Happy Birthday to Me!

When I turned 30 the entire day passed without anyone saying Happy Birthday. After that I decided that it wasn't up to other people to make a birthday special, it was up to me. Ever since that day I take off on my birthday and do things I enjoy. Saturday was my birthday and I filled it with the things I like to do: gym, hardware store, cleaned up my car, coffee shop, a great lunch, and a couple of movies. I finished the day, as always, with a great dinner with the family.

Olive Garden for Birthdays

The family went to Olive Garden to celebrate the February birthdays (both my daughter and I). Since when did burnt chicken parm, uncooked spaghetti, empty drink glasses, dirty dishes, and the never full bread sticks cost $110 for 5 people? Olive Garden says they aren't doing very well anymore. I can see why!

Office/Studio Update: Floor is done

The office/studio's moisture barrier and subfloor are done. Now I need some walls!

Office/Studio Update: Floor is framed

The office/recording floor is finally framed! Next comes the moisture barrier and then the subfloor.

View from my window

Great first day at Thomson Reuters. I share a 20x60 office area with 6 other people who each work in the office 1 day per week. This is the view out my window. That is the Genesee river and the old Erie Canal aqueduct/broad street bridge.

Office/Studio Update: Getting started

When I built my house I ended up with an 1800sqft basement. In it I put a 250sqft server room to support my business (Computer Network Builders) and my hobbies (Computer Network Builders). My electric bill was through the roof! After several years, I virtualized the server room to cut down on the electric bills. Then last year I moved almost everything to the cloud. I no longer need a 250sqft server room in my basement. I have cut the server room down to 160sqft to accommodate the larger office/recording studio.

Working on the office/podcast recording studio today. I have no one to help me with this project. Every step is a one man show!

Home Office/Recording Studio Introduction

I record eight podcasts per month and would love to record more. I also do several live broadcasts on my Internet TV stations. It is a regular struggle for me to find a suitable recording location and set up all the equipment. I have often dreamt of a recording studio where I could permanently setup up the gear. After much discussion, my Podcast Executive Producer (aka my wife) approved the construction of a recording studio in the basement. The basement would be a small 8x8 room sitting between the furnace room and my server room.

Then I decided to leave Sigma Marketing. At Sigma I had the best office I have ever had. It was a roomy 12x12 office. I knew it would be one of the things I would miss as I left Sigma. I convinced my wife that I should expand the size of the recording studio so that I could make a replica of my Sigma office. She agreed. And I drew up plans for a 10x14 home office/recording studio.

You will be able to watch the construction of this room in future blog entries.