Geek Speak
Sunday, February 10, 2002
Oh my god. I am such a geek.
Today, I did it. I networked our flat. I bought a router, installed an ethernet adapter to our old Performa and got our airport (wireless device) finally working again with the Powerbook. Now we are sharing our ATT Broadband service on two computers which will hopefully soon be expanded to three once I figure out how to get my work laptop (freakin' Windows NT) connected.
What is going on? I don't know anything about computers. And here I am buying adapters on Ebay, pulling cables through our walls and purchasing network cables at the local Circuit City.
Freak.
But I'm kind of proud of myself. In that completely geeky sort of way. I mean. It's working. It's all working. Almost. (See previous comment about Windows NT). And it didn't take all weekend. Just part of it. And now both James and I can be online at the same time if we need to be. Or, better yet, when we need to print something off the internet, we don't have to deal with transferring files on zip disk from the Powerbook to the Performa. How annoying was THAT?
And best of all, my Airport is working. Once again I can be on the Internet anywhere in the flat without having a cable umbilical cord dragging along and limiting the free reign that we paid full well not to have.
You see, months ago when we still had Qwest DSL service, it just quit working one day. Stopped. Out of the blue. And we never EVER got it working again. Fed up and tired to being on 24-hour tech support, we switched to ATT Broadband which does not support the Apple Airport networking device. There we were. Left with a $250 piece of hardware that was unsupported. But then after talking with people at work, discussing the possibility of getting online with a faster connection for my work pc at home, I was informed that I could share my cable access with a router.
Truth be told, I was hesitant to attempt this whole thing. I've never been good with hardware and really just didn't want to deal with it. Then we were informed that there is a possibility our office may be moved to another part of the Twin Cities later this year. This move will make my commute horrible. And if that happens, I'd like to be able to work from home more often. With a high-speed connection.
So, I ordered the router on Monday. I bid on the ethernet card on Tuesday. And this weekend. I became tech-Heather. Which has truly impressed James -- if not made him a little scared.
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It's been a pretty lazy weekend. Beside the computer stuff, we've done nothing else really but cook. Shop. Yesterday, I got up for 9:30am Step and followed it with 10:45 Yoga. James met me for Yoga class. And I have to admit, I was quite proud of myself. I held the wheel pose for longer than I ever have before. I even giggled after class, "James! Did you see my wheel?"
Hee.
After class, I sat in the steam room for a while, took a shower. James and I then went for coffee since we were downtown. Dunn Brothers was very cozy. We sat in front of the fire and shared sections of the newspaper.
 Finally, around 2ish, we headed home after wandering a bit through Marshall Fields (which is NOT easy when you're carrying a gym bag with a Yoga mat hanging out). When we got home, we planned dinner and headed out to the store with a little detour to Pottery Barn where I got James his Valentine's present. Martini glasses (how groovy are these?).
For dinner, I made homemade tomato sauce. James fixed pasta. We made a roasted tomato salad on fresh greens. Drank a couple cosmos in the new glasses and watched Moulin Rouge.
Tough life, I know.
Although, today, it actually seems like we've done LESS. Besides my computer escapades. We started getting the Sunday New York Times this week, so I spent a lot of time with the paper and James fixed a very Valentine's chocolate waffles w/raspberry sauce for brunch.
I think later we're going to play Trivial Pursuit.
And we have asparagus for dinner. Life doesn't get any better than that. Asparagus. In February.
It's just been one of those comfortable weekends. Full of rejuvenation and comfort.
And a little hardware to boot.
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