Geek Alert!
Jun. 25th, 2005 09:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fenchurchIt's all about the problem-solving...
We moved the computers to the basement a few years back, putting them right underneath the only window in the room (discounting the sliding glass doors on the other end). It's long and not terribly narrow... this is a daylight basement and only a very small part of it is actually underground.
Well, it's still got the blinds that were there when we moved in... which I suspect were probably quite nice when they were purchased (they're honeycombed to act as an insulator, since the place still had the old, icky single-pane windows when we bought it -- replaced not long after). The problem is that the space is really too long for the blind's structural stability. We have to basically get up in the window (not easy to do with computer desks in the way) and hold the top of the blind while we pull the cord in order to raise and lower them without the whole thing coming down.
Anyway, in the mornings,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
rackham likes to sit down here and read his email or play computer games or what-have-you while waiting for his carpool to arrive... which has meant keeping one ear constantly on the alert for sounds of a car (leading to many false alarms, since it's tough to hear anything down here, and we do have neighbors who are leaving around that time of day, too).
Of course, the smart solution would be to get some sort of new window treatment so we could more easily glance out the window (and I suspect that will happen later this summer, since I've recently realized that duh, we don't need to replace the blinds with blinds and can put up some curtains). So what did we do? We ran down to Fry's yesterday and bought a cute little webcam that we now have perched in the upstairs window and pointing out at our driveway... and streaming over our LAN.
Yep, if I want to see who is out in our driveway, I can click on the shortcut on my desktop and I'll get a live feed from the upstairs window.
Seeing things like this (which I snapped just a few minutes ago):
On one hand, it seems just a bit silly... but the other hand is all geeked out about how utterly cool it is! I can see our driveway without leaving my computer!! Neat!
We moved the computers to the basement a few years back, putting them right underneath the only window in the room (discounting the sliding glass doors on the other end). It's long and not terribly narrow... this is a daylight basement and only a very small part of it is actually underground.
Well, it's still got the blinds that were there when we moved in... which I suspect were probably quite nice when they were purchased (they're honeycombed to act as an insulator, since the place still had the old, icky single-pane windows when we bought it -- replaced not long after). The problem is that the space is really too long for the blind's structural stability. We have to basically get up in the window (not easy to do with computer desks in the way) and hold the top of the blind while we pull the cord in order to raise and lower them without the whole thing coming down.
Anyway, in the mornings,
rackham likes to sit down here and read his email or play computer games or what-have-you while waiting for his carpool to arrive... which has meant keeping one ear constantly on the alert for sounds of a car (leading to many false alarms, since it's tough to hear anything down here, and we do have neighbors who are leaving around that time of day, too).Of course, the smart solution would be to get some sort of new window treatment so we could more easily glance out the window (and I suspect that will happen later this summer, since I've recently realized that duh, we don't need to replace the blinds with blinds and can put up some curtains). So what did we do? We ran down to Fry's yesterday and bought a cute little webcam that we now have perched in the upstairs window and pointing out at our driveway... and streaming over our LAN.
Yep, if I want to see who is out in our driveway, I can click on the shortcut on my desktop and I'll get a live feed from the upstairs window.
Seeing things like this (which I snapped just a few minutes ago):
On one hand, it seems just a bit silly... but the other hand is all geeked out about how utterly cool it is! I can see our driveway without leaving my computer!! Neat!
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2005-06-26 04:33 am (UTC)I can see my driveway from here!
Date: 2005-06-26 07:18 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-06-26 08:24 am (UTC)*peers at picture* Is that a mini Cooper?
no subject
Date: 2005-06-26 03:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-06-26 09:06 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-06-26 01:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-06-26 06:12 pm (UTC)Bravo!
Does it have night vision though? Or a motion light on the driveway?
And awesome mini-cooper :) Can't wait till JadeCon to see you again!!!
no subject
Date: 2005-06-26 11:23 pm (UTC)I can't wait for JadeCon, either! Only a few more months left! Which reminds me, I still need to see about some of the little things... like airfare.
no subject
Date: 2005-06-26 11:58 pm (UTC)I completely lucked out. Everytime I looked it was still over 200 bucks (like 240+) from almost all my locations. With the short trip too (fri-sun, *whine*) I was getting concerned. I pulled up the site the other night and wham, got my ticket for 170 in and out of the local airport even. On the airline I was wanting too.
May you have as good luck. :)
no subject
Date: 2005-06-27 08:18 am (UTC)