A big move!

After 6 years in the same place we have packed up and moved (all be it only one floor). I found it pretty sad to move out of our old place. I surprised myself with how emotionally attached I'd become to our old house. Even now I still have no real logical explanation for why, but it made it quite hard (and sometimes stressful) event.

A big thanks though to those who helped me lug all my gear around. It would have been impossible to get it all done without everyone (especially as we didn't have any movers)

Now to the important stuff... all the Tech....

Probably the nicest thing (well for me) is there is now a study to get all the Mac gear setup (including the very nice house warming gift of a G4 Cube).

And the arcade table has it's own dedicated nook which is probably best placement it's had since I'd got it. (Although it does have to share it with the new bike as well, jury is still out as to whether it gets cycloc'd to the wall)

The biggest question at the moment is what to do about rear speakers, the current thought is a wireless solution. The two best options I've found so far have been from JBL and KEF. The JBL one is the current pick (mainly because of price). The JBL WEM-1 looks like it would do the job perfectly but it's still an expensive solution vs tripping over wires.

The other option is to go for a sound bar (and the obvious choice there is the B&W Panorama) but there is a big expense in swapping out all the existing gear I have dedicated for surround sound.

Time will tell...

A Bachelor weekend of Gaming and Home Makeovers

This weekend Ness and Zach headed off to Tassie to visit the grandparents so I was left to my own devices.

Saturday was an old school gaming day with the usual crowd of gaming friends giving the 360, Wii and Projector a full work out. Sunday though saw the start of a full house makeover while the rest of the family was away. The biggest change was swapping the rooms that were the study and Zach's room including a full repaint. I picked some new colours for Zach's room and away we went. There were a few other things that were thrown into the mix including finishing off the plastering work from the Airconditioner and tidying up from other reno projects. I think I bit off more than I could chew for the few days that we had to complete. I was planning to catch up on some sleep but I filled most of that time on top of a ladder brush in hand...

There aren't any pictures as yet because the new layouts and colours are all a surprise for the others return, but I will post some as soon as we've had the reveal!

In a way being so busy with the work has made the time go very quickly and I haven't had much of a chance to miss them... but now it's all done I can't wait for them to come home!

Stay tuned for the pics :)

A new chair series

Yesterday I picked up some new chairs for our dining room. We found a steal of a buy for some Kartell Victoria Ghost Chairs. They are a swap out for the BluDot Real Good Chairs that have turned out to be disappointing. We've only had the Blu Dot chairs for 11 months but most of the legs have started bending. We'll scavenge parts from the remaining chairs to get study/desk chairs.

The New

The Old

A weekend of rearranging...

This weekend we did a bit of rearranging in the house... We'd accumulated a bit too much furniture and now with Zach taking up a room all of his own we just didn't have space for it. We also wanted to change some of the layout in the lounge room and create a wall of cupboards. This time, however, instead of trying to cram everything into our C4 we hired a 1 ton hiace van on Saturday and started moving. The van was so much easier than a ute because we didn't have to tie anything down.

We managed a trip to the RSPCA op shop to drop off the furniture, a trip to ikea, back to Amanda and Tom's with their ikea loot and to pick up our rocking chairs to be recovered, back to Studio 54 and then off to drop off the chairs. Considering the ~$100 it was to hire the van all up it was well and truly worth it, much easier than the stress of a car burdened with Ikea boxes.

Yesterday we spent most of the time rearranging and building Ikea bits and pieces. It was a bit slow going as I've been sick with a stomach bug since Wednesday (but unfortunately have too many deadlines to take time off work) and someone had to watch Zachary but we managed to get most of it done.

The best change of the weekend though was the modem/router box from ikea... hides all the gear away beautifully.

A weekend of jobs (and arcade table upgrade)

This weekend we 'tried' to have an at home weekend and get a few jobs done around the house. It was mostly successful although I didn't get all the jobs I was allocated done, and I also created a few more for myself.

Things left to do : 

• Rehang the big mirror
  

(Some of the) New things:

• Rehang Zach's pictures
  
• Fit some rubber stoppers to the new chair to give it the same angle as the black one (someone cunningly added two rubber gromets to the back chair's swivel mount to give it a greater reclining angle... much more comfortable as a result)
  
• Ebay Sellathon
  

I did manage to change Zach's cot to the bigger size because he's been hitting his head when he kicks his legs. We also started to seriously dedust after the plastering work and we've decided we've got way too much stuff in the house and have started a massive declutter. The lounge room was the first to get a makeover and now has a lot less stuff in it. I've got to work on the Ebay Sellathon and get some of our unused clutter out.

This morning though Zach woke up early (4:30 early!) and I couldn't get back to sleep afterwards so I started on one of the jobs I'd been meaning to get done; The Arcade table upgrade. Here's the list of upgrades for today: 

• RAM upgrade to 768MB from 256 (was supposed to be 1.2 but one stick was dodgy)
• Upgrade the MAME version to 0.129b
• Update some faulty Roms
• Install external USB access
• Swap out CRT to LCD Monitor

Unfortunately I dropped the last item from the list as the exposed CRT monitor was just a bit risky as it'd been powered on this morning.

The Upgrade was very successful and a whole heap of games that I loved when I was at Uni have now made it to my high rotation list.

• Killer Instinct
• Alien vs Predator
• Dungeons and Dragons
• Street Fighter Zero 2 (my favourite SF of all time)
• Marvel Super Heroes (so much time to be wasted here)
• X-Men vs Street Fighter.

There are quite a few more that have benefited from the upgrade but there is plenty of time to be wasted on that little lot. The best upgrade was actually adding the external USB access which (after I discovered that the iMac USB keyboard gave me bios support, ie F1 Boot keys etc) means I can easily change configs and update software without having to take it to bits

I've got a few more upgrades I'd like to do to the console:

• Monitor swap out (obviously)
• Upgrade to >1Gb RAM
• Add Support for 3D Games (aka Tekken my greatest arcade weakness)
• Add network support (wireless preferably)
• Add Hinged Top (for easy access and some storage)
• Add 2 Player controls to the front panel (for Street fighter et al. battles)

Anyway, enough blogging it's time to go and enjoy the fruits of my labour.

Monday and back to the grind

We had a great weekend this weekend. After a long time coming I finally got around to watching Ironman. While it's a better than average comic hero conversion movie, the transfer to bluray is STUNNING and just looked fabulous in Studio 54 GoldClass. It was almost as cold as the real gold class as well with the new industrial strenght aircon.

The weekend was filled with a fair bit of work for me with the occasional outing (as Ness has put so beautifully) for some Chrismas Shopping. It was pretty hot out in the markets but we managed to keep Zach out of the sun despite his protests about wearing the hat.

The weekend went really quickly and I feel somewhat down on sleep, but hopefully this week will be a bit quieter and I might get some longer sleeps as Zach is staying asleep a bit longer (probably with the combination of the aircon and moving Zach to his own room)

And after a few weeks of searching I finally found my DS again, which is perfect timing as Andrew and I are going to brave the worlds longest sushi queue in the City today, We'll need something to entertain us!

It's official Coooooold in here.

The aircon is in da house!

From Aircon

The installation isn't finished there is still a lot of plastering work to be done but the big important job is done, the cold stuff is in! It's nice and cool in every room of the house now even when it's not blasting the air out. There is still all the finishing to be done, like boxing in the unit and the ducting into the lounge all of which will be done next year, but even now the cooling is better than ever.

I'm amazed at how quickly they got all the gear into our place and how they did it. When I checked it out at lunch that vent you can see in the photo above was being held in place by a guy in that ceiling space.

We did get some plaster work done but mainly patching up from where the lighting was done yesterday which looks great.

From Aircon

They've done a fantastic job and if anyone is looking for airconditioning I'd recommend these guys in a heart beat. Both days they've been here despite all the plaster cutting the house has been almost completely dust free.

The aircon is getting close.

I dropped home today to discuss some of the finishes for the plastering and it's progressing really well. The exposed ducting is different to what i expected but not really sure I knew what it would look like. The good news is we're still on track for an Icy studio 54 by tonight.

7.1 is on it's way

After blogging that there wasn't much on the way as far as tech was concerned. Well after some innocent ebay browsing I stumbled across some matching speakers for my Jamo THX system. They are the flush mount rears for the system, which means I'll finally have a >5.1 system after have 6.1+ amps for years.

Yesterday we had some new lights put in, (which is a continuation of the previous light change over) we added some halogens on the roof in the bedroom (which look fantastic) and a big fluro in the study (which finally gives us some usable light)

Today is also the Aircon day! Hopefully by the weekend we'll be kicking back in some chilly A/C!

The great airconditioning refit begins!

After the saga of our Aircon breaking just after we brought Zach home, work on the new airconditioning system has started.

Aircon

We've gone for a ducted system throughout the house which means the other bedrooms (including ours) will actually get some decent cooling. The plan from here is to have the internal unit installation finished by next Wednesday and then have some plastering done Thursday. The final duct work into the lounge won't be done until after xmas but at least all the bedrooms will be cool!

More early morning browsing....

Not quite as early as usual but heres a few jems of the morning...

Roman this one's for you..."Pew, Pew!"

This is just a litle odd.

What We Learn From Living Out Of A Suitcase from Apartment Therapy Main..

Stylish Parisian Studio Tech Tour

Pyroblazer for Wii

Miyamoto Scrutinizes Mario, Zelda, Hails Portal

Again... weird
Obama, Palin coming to Mercenaries 2 DLC Pew Pew!!!

High-def audio wiring guide removes the mystery

Warning: The following post may contain Zachary

While I'm still in the excited new parent phase (as opposed to the terrified new parent stage) I though I should start warning those people only looking for tech stuff.

Tonight (aka this morning), I'm suffering from a mild case of "Zachawakitis" which isn't all bad, as well as the formentioned "exited new parent" plus side, I've also started whittling away at my overpopulated Google Reader list. But, before we get into that a few small Zach updates. We attempted a trip to the shops today, we were running a little low on food and though that Coles was probably a fairly inocuous destination for our first house -> car -> pram -> destination. The whole trip went really well, despite the checkout attendants surprise that we took an 8 day old to the shops. Zachary to his credit went through the whole thing barely stirring once. Obviously the payback is now where I'm still awake at 2am. I was a little surpised at how many people shot a second glance at the Stokke though.

In house news, our Air Con has broken down just in time for summer. It looks like it's going to be an expensive venture though. The words "well we're going to need a crane to start with..." and "body corp approval" don't inspire thoughs of cheap.

Oh and this morning I flicked on FoxSports HD to catch the end of an thrilling goal fest in the EPL. By the end I was cheering for 'Spurs to steal the point!

Now onto google reader....

This ad made me laugh....

It may be lack of sleep though.

Fable II is out and looks like a must play title. I've still got oblivion to get through so not just yet for me.

And OMG say it's not so!!!! Tennant calls time on Dr Who

BanjoKazooie is making it's way to the 360 and Portal Still Alive Available Now for Download instead of waiting for the Orange box to drop in price!

Nothing like coffee by the moon light

It's official, nothing is going to make this baby come out. Our second fire alarm in as many weeks and still no movement from the little Paris.

We took our freshly brewed coffee to pass the time (and yes they are my bare feet, I wasn't the one who forgot shoes though!!!)

A post because I haven't

I meant to post a few times over the last few days, but as my title suggests I haven't. There isn't any real reason. We had a pretty good weekend, we started a little earlier that we liked when the fire alarm when off after someone burnt their toast. It did mean we actually got out and about and pick up our new lounge chair.

From The New Chair

Even though it's orange it still works into the room really well, that and it's really comfy. It's so comfortable I've labled it the new DVD chair (or maybe it should be the Blu-ray chair). 

I also had a bit of a glut of TV on the weekend. I finished off the Forth Season of Dr Who (which was great, but I'm not sure that Catherine Tate was the best companion) and the Third of Battlestar Galactica. The fourth season is on TenHD at the moment but after watching one episode I think I'm going to wait until it comes out on DVD, the constant stream of ads and the poor timing of the show makes it pretty hard to watch (even on the PVR).

Gaming was also slotted in there somewhere with some dedicated time to CoD4 multiplayer and Smash Bros. (not quite as dedicated as some though.... :P)

Yesterday I was pretty sick so asside from work I didn't get up to much. 

That's pretty much the wrap up for the week so far (apart from our neighbours discovering their subwoofer, which is so loud at the moment that it rattles the paintings on the walls... I haven't called the 15" jamo into battle yet but I don't think it will be long now)

Lounge update - wiring done.

Yesterday turned into a lazy day, for on other real reason than it was that sort of day. I did finish of the wiring in the lounge room though. I've now hidden all the cables running up to the projector in some conduit which makes the whole thing a lot neater. Other than that I only managed to acheive a lot of web surfing and the end of Dr Who Season 3. Blink has to be the best Dr Who episode I've ever seen...

Lounge Room Chairs....

So after finishing the Lounge Make over (well pretty much anyway... I have one lot of wiring to do today) and having a few people over for the AFL Grand Final ("Go the Pie Man!!!!) it has become a little obvious that we are a bit low on lounge chair quota. The Round Sofa and the Ottoman are fantastic for laying back and taking in some TV but that's all we've got for seating. I've started a bit of a quest for some lounge chairs. One of the other reasons is with the little one getting closer to coming home neither the Round Sofa nor the Ottoman are going to be useful to get in or out of with a small thing in your arms.

The top two condenders are the POÄNG from IKEA and the ASTRO from King. 

POANG

ASTRO

I also really like the LILLBERG rocker but it's no easier to get in and out of than the round sofa. (obviously continuing in the black and white theme though).

As these things go of course I could fall in love with something else before either of these things make it into the house..

Anyone else got any thoughts?

The Lounge Makeover continues

We had a little bit of a trip to IKEA to continue the lounge makeover last night. The amazing thing about the trip was that we only bought what we went for... nothing else.

We picked up the doors for the bookshelves and a couple more shelves for the cabinets holding DVDs.

From Lounge makeover

The doors actually took a surprising amount of time to get on. Not because they were difficult but just fiddly. We initially tried the doors with white inserts but ultimately decided on the black finish.

From Lounge makeover

Now all I've got to do is finish the wiring and hide all the cables, a job for either tonight or tomorrow. I've come up with an idea to reduce some of the speaker visibility but I'll see how it works after they are in place.

Back into the flight routine.

Today I’m back on another flight (surprising I know). I’m off to Melbourne today and tomorrow. The flights are certainly getting more stressful with Ness getting closer to due date. I had a good chat to Paris this morning and made sure that he/she knew not to go anywhere until I’m back.

 I’ve added some more items to the ebay sellathon and there are quite a few more items to end up on the list, but they’ll have to wait until I get back home.

 I’m hoping to see Wall-E on the weekend, we’ve taken a hot tip to see it in gold class because it’s school holidays and the chances of it being kid free are reasonably high.

The other big plan for the week (at least mine) is getting the lounge room finished with a trip to Ikea to get some doors and another cabinet and after the last Ikea trip, fit the baby seat to the C4. I’ve also got a little bit of rewiring to do with the change of layout. That should be the end of the setup for the lounge.

 

A new house layout!

Yesterday, for some unknown reason, I decided that we should have a new layout in the lounge room. One of the main drivers was a better spot for the new Samsung Flat Panel. I was toying with the idea of moving the TV onto the (long) wall and mounting it, but Ness came up with the great idea of moving the bookcases from the study out into the lounge and framing the TV cabinet with it. So that was the job for yesterday in between events in the Festivas.

The end result I think looks really good.

From Lounge makeover

It also managed to solve a problem I've been having with DVD storage, with one of the bookcases holding all the DVDs of the other two stands. 

The Projector setup will stay the same and will give the room a bit of a dual purpose. I've kept the speakers in the same orientation and am using the internal sound from the Samsung at the moment.

It's not quite finished yet, we're planning on putting the doors on the cabinets and adding one more (for the high def titles) on the left hand side next to the DVDs but I think it will work well.

The bedroom v2.0 (inspired by ikeahacker)

Yesterday we spent much of the day finishing off bits and pieces for the new bedroom. We've gone for a whole suite from Ikea. The big draw card was the.. um... drawers. The bed has some great storage built in which means that we can hide away all sorts of bits and pieces (even Networking gear and media storage).

We did have to employ a few techniques worthy of Ikea Hacker to get the headboards and mirror on the wall. The biggest challenge was the mirror which took a bit of engineering after the standard method almost ended in disaster (and a lot of bad luck). A big thanks has to go to Tomas for giving me the design behind the mounts.

I think the mounts worked really well and the mirror looks great now it's on the wall. We're just waiting for some lights to be fitted now and it will be all done.

The other big help for the day was (the other) Tom who lugged all the old furniture out of house and the new stuff in.

The whole thing is here (with before and afters)