The Chair

No, this isn't about the classic George Strait song. It's a quick post on one of my long-standing secret obsessions.....office chairs. OK, I have always enjoyed delving into "designer" furniture of all kinds, but have had an interest in "mid-century" modern, and particularly Herman Miller designs. Although, not mid-century by any stretch of the imagination, my favorite office chair has been the Aeron, ever since the first time I saw one. It doesn't help that you see them everywhere in print and broadcast media....even my alter-ego Dr. Gregory House MD sits in one!

They were almost mandatory for any up and coming firm in the dot-com era, so there are lots of them out there. However, these things still go for $600 and up, even for the used ones, which places them squarely in the "no-buy" zone!

A few years ago, when I was working at Texas Tech, I came across an earlier model, Equa 2 at the surplus warehouse and promptly paid the requisite $10 for it! And if you've never sat in a "high-end" office chair (like me), these things are a revelation! Unfortunately, it had torn up upholstery and padding as well as a missing arm pad. Even at that, it was nice to sit in, but then a few years ago, I came across another one at school which was about to be thrown out. It was a "low-back" and had a dead gas cylinder, but was nice in every other way. Also, my wife was just coming off of the second of her back surgeries, so the two were combined together to make one good chair for her.

So back to square one for me and a series of hand-me down office chairs....all the while, periodically looking at Aerons on eBay hoping that some miracle would befall. About a week or so ago, surfing the web while a client machine updated AND sitting on my old chair that the foam has so degenerated that you can feel the attachment bolts..... I found it! An Aeron chair in Bushland (outside Amarillo), Texas, on auction by a seller who required "local pick up", with a bad gas cylinder! The auction was for $250, on day 4 with no bids, and within the next 24 hours, the seller dropped the price, plus it was one that would take "offers". So I offered $135: he countered at $136 asking if I could indeed pick it up, to which I answered "yes" since my wife's uncle lives in Amarillo. To that, I added $35 more dollars for a gas cylinder and am now waiting impatiently to find a way to get my sub-$200 Aeron chair across the state.

Here's the upshot on this thing. Yeah it's cool looking, but there are actual reasons that it's considered to be the most popular high-end office chair in history. It's pretty much bullet-proof with a frame of aluminum. complete adjustability in every way imaginable, a breathable seat/back made of a high-tensile mesh material that they call "pellicle" in a suspension design. This is key for me since I'm naturally hot and the office with multiple computers running gets pretty warm in and of itself. It's also 90+ percent recyclable and virtually all the parts are replaceble extending it's expected service life.

The Spider Web

One of the things I really just don't enjoy doing is networking. Unfortunately, in our modern "connected world, it's not only a reality, we're pretty much at it's mercy.....that is if we want our computing devices to run well! For the most part, our little household has been running pretty darned well despite the large number of devices on the little network.

 

In fact, the little D-Link router/access point/switch has been plugging away in the networking cabinet for nearly 8 years now without drama of any sort. I originally went with this brand and model because it was one of the APs out there that used the Atheros "SuperG" chip that when paired with a laptop with matching chips could run  at 108mps vs. the standard 54mps of the standard "G". It handled the Wi-Fi as well as the wired parts of "Stanet" without hiccups for all this time, and I tend to be very loyal to the brands that work well for me, so over time I added a whole list of D-Link networking products (including an identical model at my brother/sister-in-law's).

That would include the DIR-615 when mine and my wife's laptops came along with "N" Wi-Fi capabilities, a well as the need for multiple networking connections in our living room area to accommodate not only the HTPC, but the Blu-Ray player, and Wii.

Around that time, it became obvious that I didn't have enough connections in the office either. I brought up the WHS file server which needed two ports, then a motherboard change on my workstation allowed it to have two as well, the two networked printer had to have their own and it was clear that the office needed an 8-Port switch. The thing that pushed it all over the edge was the client machine(s) that needed their own connection(s) to do updates after reloading. So, in came the D-Link DES-1108 to which was connected a separate DI-624 (the in-law's old one after they went with AT&T U-Verse) to handle those ports. There's also a 4-Port DSS-5+ that handles the printers as well.

Everything percolated along pretty well right up until this thing came along: the Nettalk-Duo. You've heard of Majic-Jack voice-over-IP phone service, right? This is a more advanced product that doesn't require a computer to be on. It's designed to attach directly to a router. So, here's how this came about: we haven't had a "landline" since before the year 2000. These days, we have a child who comes home before we do, so we want him to call us when he gets here AND we are not parents who are going to give an 8-year old a cellphone! Unfortunately, this device doesn't like my "long-in-the-tooth" router. Hmmmm...

This is the item that ends up pushing "Stanet" to the next logical stage: Gigagit networking. Virtually all my desktop/HTPCs have built-in Gigabit LAN anyway and with 5e Ethernet in the walls, all that's missing is the 1000mps switching function. I picked up the D-Link DGL-4100 router a few months ago which had Gigabit, then added the 8-Port DGS-2208 switch that now handles all the network traffic. With a second one on the way for the office, and the move of the DGS-5g from the office printers to the living room entertainment section, the entire "backbone" will now be Gigabit! This allows the Nettalk Duo to work and everything (particularly the digital media to and from the HTPC) to move across the network MUCH faster. An added benefit is that now I have the kids on a separate "SuperG" DI-624 AP that I can turn on and off "at will", while momma and I are on a completely isolated "N" router.

And of course, all of the devices (with the exception of the DIR-615) were bought used on eBay or Craig's List. It seems that networking devices don't hold there value very well! :)