The Weekend Wrapup

A fairly productive weekend I think. I actually got stuff done! Not a lot of code, that’ll be in the evenings, but a bunch of other stuff. First of all, did a bunch of running around. I had a couple of projects around the house (computer related, go figure) that needed “stuff” for. So I headed to Abbotsford in search of a power bar and letter trays (more on that in a sec). I made about 7 stops at 3 different stores. Guh. And all of it in the pouring monsoon that we had.

My projects were to

• Make a $8 network rack which required plastic stackable letter trays (with a specific type recommended) and short (1′) extension cords to let you plug many wall warts into a single power bar.
  
• Tame the wiring under my desk which required a long (4′) power bar to hook under the desk.
  

First hit Staples looking for the power bar. Nada, so head to Home Depot for the same, they had one, but it was super expensive ($60) and only had 6 outlets. Ok, whatever, suck it up. Then I headed to the other Staples for the letter trays and extension cords. Nope. So to London drugs, where I found the letter trays (wh00t!). Ok, that’s one down. Next to Canadian tire, where I found I think the exact same power strip that the Lifehacker article referenced. Yay! Ok, right, I forgot I wanted to get a labeler as well. So back to London Drugs, where they told me they don’t have any, now back to Staples where I was looking at the labelers earlier (and decided I didn’t want one cause they didn’t have the one we have at work which I liked). Get the labeler and then back to Home Depot to return the first power bar.

Whew.

I managed to clean the part of my desk with the two hubs, cable modem and router were and actually created a decent version of the network rack (photos to follow Real Soon Now). I even used the fancy new labeler so I can figure out which power block and which end goes with which device. Very proud of myself.

The second project, putting the power strip under the desk to tame some of the massive number of power connectors, didn’t happen. The power strip is perfect, but my desk has a metal rim around the edge that’s in just the wrong position, meaning I can’t mount the strip out the outside edge, and currently inside the metal rim I have a cord tray, in just the wrong spot.

I could just move the cord tray a couple of inches to the inside, but I just didn’t feel like doing it at the time. Also it’s completely full of cords of all shapes and sizes, so crawling under the desk and unscrewing it while wrangling all the cords just wasn’t that attractive. Eliminating about 6 cords that are currently going from computers and monitors to power bars sitting on the ground would be really nice though.