photo challenge day 17: technology

Technology?  Are you kidding me?  I so have got this one covered.  I married technology!

Disclaimer: I know that part of this photo challenge is being creative and learning to take good pictures.  I know that none of these are really good pictures.  Partly due to the fact that I think my camera is still set for long exposure (but I'm not sure because The Expert is at work), and partly because I can't manage my flash.  I probably could if I tried, but I don't feel like trying.  It's too hot outside.



Also, I don't think that the subject matter is particularly attractive anyway.  I am sure that I am supposed to find the beauty in it, but I don't.  So I'm not going to pretend.

Please enjoy this representation of real life at my house.  Since I am not apologizing this week, I will not apologize for the dust.  What you are about to see is a true story.  This is what my house typically looks like.  I won't pretend it doesn't.

This is Tim, and this is what I get for leaving Steph at home for a day.  Sheesh.  I couldn't leave some things alone, so my editorial notes are in this font (minus the italics).

I couldn't choose just one thing, because technology has taken over my house and my husband's life.  It's kind of like a giant robot used our home as a throw-up bucket or something.  Today, you are privileged enough to get a technology tour of my house.  What you are about to see may horrify and amaze you.

Let's start with the basement.

This is the back room.

Tim has a kind of side business of refurbishing X-Box controllers.

He built this workbench mostly for that purpose, as well as any other small electronic projects.

Tico wanted to help me, so he pointed this out.  "Tico, how kind of  you.  I would have missed that unused receiver."  That white tube on the floor next to him contains a rear projection screen.  When we re-work our home theater and finish the basement, it will prove very useful.

If you didn't know, X-Box controllers come in all colors.

Moving on to the middle room, which is mostly used for storage, we have this container full of cables.  I am not very happy when Tim tells me he doesn't have a cable I need, or that he needs to buy some new kind.   How can he not have every single type of cable?  Usually he comes through, though.  If you need a cable, give us a call.

Also, in the storage room is this box of... stuff.  I think there are a few more boxes filled with a plethora of electronics.

Like these.

Do you know what that is on top?  A European VCR.  Yes, you read that right.  A VCR.  A very nice one... but a very European one.  This cannot be fixed by a simple power converter.  It only reads European tapes.  If anyone in Europe is reading this, I will send it to you for only the cost of shipping!  I didn't fully look this one over before I nabbed it.  I noticed the European SCART connector, but didn't think that would mean it would only play PAL formats and be 220V.  Doh!

Please note a few reference points on how tall this stack of "technology" is.  See the 5 gallon bucket?  The bottom box (which is overflowing), is taller than that.  I think this stack was as tall as I am.

And now we move to the large room in the basement.  This room is actually looking very clean, thanks to my husband who cleaned it up.  You're the best, Honey!

On that far wall you can see a black thing across the top of the wall. That is the screen that is not currently pulled down.  This is our home theater room.  It may look dingy, but it is actually very comfortable!

And yes, we have a projector hanging from the ceiling.  The lamp is on its last leg, though, so we don't do a whole lot of movie watching because it shuts off about every 30 minutes to cool down.  We are saving for a new one, and Tim is waiting with bated breath for his bonus so we can make that purchase (Lord willing).

What is this?  Another projector, of course.  This one was actually our original projector, and the one that is hanging up was one that Tim brought home from work.  No, no, no.  I got the original from the ETC at Taylor U, and the second from a friend (Andy!) who bought one as well.  Both were broken in some manner, the second just more than the first.  He put the lamp in the work (second) one, hoping it might help it work better, since I think the projector was newer.  It didn't.  I don't know what that shiny thing is, but I am pretty such it is one of the two scalers he brought home from work.  You will see the other one later in the tour :)  And yes, we use both of those remotes for watching movies.  The large one is for the receiver and the smaller for the DVR.

And this is the home theater set up.  Starting from the left, we have the center channel speaker (right in front of the boxes that serve as a boost for the Kinect), the receiver, the DVR (the flat gray thing in the back), the right speaker (I don't know if that's the right term or not), the VCR, a video tape (I believe it is "Matilda"... it was in the VCR when Tim brought it back from his parents') and the microphone for Rock Band.  It's a mess, I know.  I just have decided it's not worth messing with until I get to the false wall build-out for the rear projection.  I've been thinking lately that it needs to happen sooner.

 And here we have (from left) the left channel speaker, the woofer? (yes kinda, technically subwoofer since it hits lower than just a woofer), the Kinect, and the center channel again.

And on the home theater couch (which we don't use a lot at the moment, due to the projector not really working), we have some network cable, the user manual for the projector? (just cable labels that I found while cleaning up), and a blue X-box controller.  And  Tico.

Behind the couch (and next to the washer) is our stylish Ikea shelf that Tim modified to better store our DVD's and X-box games.

And of course our CD's... and empty CD cases.   Not empty, just in slim jewel cases instead of the paper sleeves that they all came in.  They're mostly PC OS, driver, and software discs.

This was behind me in the picture I just took (so it is across from the washer).  I think that black thing on the bottom is a speaker (sub I got from work on the cheap, thinking of using the amp in it for some rear speakers I'll build one of these days.  The protoype is on the desk you'll see later), but it is only used now to support the right rear channel.  The left rear channel was on top of the DVD shelves.  Even if our basement decor is quite humble at the moment, we do at least have surround sound!

I could have posted this one as a childhood memory, but it's going here.  Yes, this really is an old-school Nintendo.  And yes it really works.  And yes, we play it on the projector.  Duck Hunt doesn't work, though (with the projector).  See, we have all types of technology... not just new-fangled X-Box 360 Kinect and a DVR, but also a VCR and Nintendo! If you want it, we've got it!  No, you can't have it (don't read into the colloquialism).  But we do have it :)

And, just for the sake of covering every room in the basement, here is the first room at the bottom of the stairs.

Most of this is not specifically "technology" but do you see those to packages of black things toward the bottom of the photo?  Zip ties.  This is what professionals use for cable management.  And I am married to a professional.

I'm not exactly sure what this is.  Speaker wire?  Bingo.

And, of course, our wireless port.  On top of the deep freeze, right where it belongs.  Ready to be supplemented with the 16-port Gigabit network switch that Steph missed on her tour...sitting on top of the shelf with her plants ;-)

Moving upstairs to the kitchen and breakfast nook area.  This is a typical scene on the buffet, right next to the microwave.

Let's pan out a little bit, for reference.  That box is the packaging of Tim's birthday present that came yesterday.  Noise cancelling (isolating...big diff) ear buds.  He was so excited (heck yes!  They sound amazing!).  And we also have the video camera bag, another X-Box controller, my label maker, and the GPS charger.  Right next to the kleenex and graham crackers.  Welcome to my life!

A note on the label maker: This is one example of a perfect Tim gift.  He was trying to think of something really great to get me, and he knows I like to keep things organized.  So, he got this great piece of technology (Tim) that is incredibly useful to me as an organizer (me).  My camera is also a great example of a Tim gift.  Thoughtful and... technical.

Moving on to the living room...This one is my fault... tripod on the couch.

And... the desk area.  Technology central.  Let's have a closer look, shall we?

This is the computer.  It has two speakers.  Tim built the one on the right.  The monitor (22" 1680x1050, btw's.  Steph wanted me to add that.) is sitting on the other scaler that I mentioned before.  What does a scaler do?  I really have no idea.  Why it scales and switches video sources, of course!  I just know I need to turn it on if I want to use the computer speakers (it has a built in speaker amp, and the speaker I built isn't self powered...yet!).  Or the hi-fi (not in this instance cuz I reassigned another output on the PC to duplicate what goes to the scaler).  But we'll get to that later.  On top of the homemade speaker is our video camera-- a wonderful first-Christmas-together gift from my in-laws.  Maybe they were thinking it would encourage us to have children so we could make all kinds of home videos.  Sorry Mom & Dad T... it (obviously) didn't work.

This is the desk, right next to the mouse.  You can see yet another X-Box controller and some kind of charger for something.  Some people have legos all over thier house, others have Barbies... we have X-Box controllers.  I think this is the 4th separate location we have found one on this tour?

And what a cute little red bucket, right? "Oh, what do you use that for, Steph?  Do you keep candy in there?"

Nope.. batteries (Eneloop FTW!).  We need them for all of the X-Box controllers.  Yes, that is a graphing calculator (we're nerds, remember?).  And of course the X-Box 360.  I didn't take a picture of the regular X-Box in the basement.  Sorry.  I hope you don't feel cheated.

This is the bottom drawer of the desk.  It is a devoted "technology drawer" with the exception of the box of checks.  It's kind of like Tim's toy box.  It's looking kind of empty right now... probably because things are strewn all over the house.  And of course there is another X-Box controller.

Before we leave the living room, there is one more thing... the hi-fi.

This was at my grandparent's house, and we were allowed to take it home.  And I can't imagine a better home for it, because WE LOVE IT.  It is the perfect piece of furniture for that entry way area, and the sound quality on it is really great.  No seriously, it is!  Tim ran a cable (through the basement) from the computer to it, so when we want to listen to music that we have on the computer, it plays on the hi-fi, and we can hear it through the whole main level.  There are many benefits to being married to a technology guru... such as they treasure the same things you do, even if they didn't grow up with it.  Like this hi-fi.

Finally, we will go upstairs, because there is still more "technology" to photograph!  This is in our bedroom.  I have no idea what is in the box, but it says "new egg" so some kind of technology came in it originally.  And you can see cables sticking out on the left side.  This is the box of parts that I pulled out of the PC when I swapped the motheboard, processor, and memory.  I can't remember specifically what those cables are, but I believe they're something along the lines of USB header jumpers.  It is sitting on a random computer.  I have no idea what the computer is for, but I think it came from church.  Bingo again.  I was in the process of building a standard hard drive image on it for church, but we ended up not really using it.  I just need to take it back to church.

 And last but not least, we have this sitting on top of Tim's dresser, with his socks.  Wallet, keys, watches... they go on dressers with socks.  But this...this takes a special man.  And I almost didn't notice it... these types of things are normal in my life.  Video capture card!  Sadly it doesn't work on our PC because the card doesn't have 64-bit drivers since it's so old.  I had our PC dual booted with XP 32-bit for a while, but it wasn't worth it.

So there you have it... the technological tour of our home!  We have a lot of stuff, but I look at it this way: farmers come home from work covered in manure and mud.  Tim comes home from work with cables and scalers.  It's just a part of his job and who he is.  And I am so grateful that he has a job that he loves... it's one of the most important things in the world to me.

I love you, Tim!  Thanks for being so wonderful!

ADDENDUM:

I went to pick Tim up at work today (the pickup was in the shop) and he came out to the car with this.

I kid you not.  This guy is unreal.  Is there a support group for this?  Hey!  It has a broken DVD drive, and it was priced right!  Anyone want a fully working Elite Xbox (sans hard drive) when I fix it?