I’m a digital horder to a degree, but not anywhere near what i used to be. I don’t save 1/1000th the crap I once did. I still come across old hard drives that I filled, I load them up and I sit scratching my head trying to remember why I saved this or that. I started a way of filing that has worked well for me through the years. On my desktop, I create a folder that represents that month.
Example: Jan-2012
In this folder, I put anything and everything that finds it’s way to my desktop. Come Feb 1, I move the Jan-2012 folder off to one of my external drives to archive. Then, down the road when I have someone ask me about something they sent me in July 2011, I know exactly where those files will be. Some might have a ‘photos’ folder or ‘videos’ folder but when you go through the content I do, that filing system would become a clusterfuck and fast. Doing it this way, I can have smaller photo or video folders within the months etc.
I know many that read my blog often hear me rant about how OS-X rocks and how Windows sucks. I should be clearer though. I don’t think Windows sucks. I used it myself for most of my computer based life. I too used to custom build boxes, choosing the mother boards, ram, sound card, all the details. It was like adult lego for me. It wasn’t the components that would let me down though, it was the filing system Windows was based around. In time, it’d get slower and no question many of you on Win boxes can relate.
I’m sure one or two of you hardcore people out there are going… hmmph, not me brah, I have the latest software… blah blah blah. Listen guy, I’d slap my knowledge up against the next guy any day for keeping computers running smooth. The end result, Windows still uses a system that is archaic at best. Windows 98 rocked. It was simple, sweet, not bloated. Xp was awesome as well. Vista was a smoldering pile of shit, they tried to add a bunch of stuff Apple had been doing and well, that failed. Win 7 is amazing, I love it. Great OS, rarely crashed for me and I do mean rarely. Still, there are things about Win 7 that are still several steps behind Unix or OS-X.
For example, the search feature.
If you’ve ever searched for a file on a Windows machine, you know that it does find it… but it can take some time depending on the size of your drives, what is indexed, if you have advanced indexing turned on etc. Now, if you’ve ever used OS-X’s search feature, you know it’s blazingly fast. I mean, bam. No lag, no wait. there it is, what you wanted.
Small things like this is why I chose OS-X. Some of you have flipped to Mac from Windows and now you look back at Windows the way I did. You can’t believe you accepted an operating system to be so juvenile for so long. OS-X flat out works better, faster, next to no bloat, better ram distribution, the list goes on. This is slowly turning into a fanboy rant, and I didn’t mean that. Sorry Win users. 
Okay, why I started this blog..
I don’t know about you but I can recall a time not too long ago, where I’d see a posted pic of a guy’s desktop and I drooled. I saved it as inspiration for the system I wanted to build someday. There were actually two pix I had come across. Now these weren’t gaming rigs so it was never about lights and water cooling for me, that stuff is tight but it’s not my thing. No disrespect to those with it, I’m sure it’s great.
Here are the three ‘dream room’ set ups I used to drool over.
I loved this ‘cause Adam had a decent desk (albeit cheap which made it even better to me). he had a Mac Pro and twin 23” screens… at the time I didn’t have a Mac Pro but I wanted one, badly. He had a decent sized gaming tv in the room as well, this guy’s office was the bomb as far as I was concerned. Gaming systems and everything! This was his 2007 set up.
He later updated it…
Nice. Great work Adam! If any of you want to check his write up on his systems etc.. head over to The Art of Adam Betts
The one that really made me drool, and still does..
I saw this guy’s pic online, he had a complete Flickr gallery with tons of images of his office although I can’t recall the link. I liked this office because it was a triple screen but also in that it had two mac pros. I always wondered.. what does this guy do that he needs TWO of these bad boys?
When i first flipped to OS-X, I couldn’t afford much more than a Mac Mini. I laughed at it’s tiny size but was surprised at how much faster it was geekbench score wise over my previous Windows based machine. Like, four times quicker sort of thing. So in my head, sure.. laugh at it but the fucker is quick!
A breakdown.. this is from October 2009 if I am guessing correctly.
1 – Mac Mini
2- Samsung 24”
3- 4, 5 – External drives
6- Lipo 6 (a staple at the time)
The desk was an Ikea desk, they still sell the same one. I had tape over the front because the fucker started to splinter on me. Bryci’s desk was right behind this set up, she (at the time) was using a 24” iMac.
UPGRADE!
I decided fuck it, picked up a Mac Pro. It was the 2008 model but it sill had a respectable Geekbench score of 11178. At the time it was the current model, but I bought it in early 2009. I paired it with a 30” Apple cinema HD screen. Hands down the best panel on the market for 30” at the time. I moved the Mac Mini over to the side and slapped Windows XP on it for Bootcamp so I could still test things Windows wise when needed.
The splintering desk can eat a dick. I put it downstairs in the storage area of the condo we lived in with a note… FREE IKEA DESK. It lasted a few hours.
Notice, I picked up the kick ass desk Adam Betts had used in his first shot. I felt if Adam vouched for it, it’s gotta be decent. I picked it up at Staples. Staples has since replaced the same desk with a cheaper made carbon copy of the original.. not as good quality, same price. Thanks Staples. /sarcasm
I also added a Herman Miller Aeron chair to the mix. This chair is *the* chair if you’re at your desk a lot. Yes, it costs more then most chairs but in the 4 years I have owned mine, it is identical spring wise from the day I bought it. Same firmness, same strength. These chairs come with a 20 year warranty or something as well. Wait.. maybe 10 year. I dunno, worth it is what i am saying. If you watch office/board rooms in tv shows or movies you’ll often see a ton of these chairs. Like I said, they’re the best Jerry, the best! Picked up a Logitech G9 mouse. Boom. Best mouse ever.
We then moved from the little condo to a bigger house a year later…
more room. Time to pick up the Ikea desk again, a new one minus splinters. B wanted one as well.
Same basic set up as I listed above, add in new desks. B was using a PC laptop for a bit, we were waiting for newer MacBook Pro’s to be released and we had a cheaper HP laptop as a great stand by. Well, great once you clear the HP bloat they add to their boxes.
crappy iPhone pic – I added a couple 30” screens into the mix. Also picked up a newer model Mac Pro. Left screen is Win 7, powered in Bootcamp by older Mac Pro, right two screens are newer Mac Pro powered.
MOVED AGAIN!
This time I picked up a better desk. There a fuck ton of drive caddies on the floor here, can’t seem too well but they are there.
better view of my office area as it currently is.
I don’t need the latest and the greatest, I don’t own the latest and greatest in anything I have really.. possible exception being my new camera purchase that comes in February 2012. The screens seen above, aren’t made any longer. Apple stopped making these awhile back. Too expensive to create and sales weren’t there for them. My last one I had to grab off eBay.
This post isn’t be boasting, it’s me saying if you have a goal, don’t give up. Granted, this was a material goal and those are not really good to have… I didn’t give up. I wasn’t trying to best Adam or this guy, that guy. I was trying to create a fast environment in which to be efficient so I could spend less time on my systems. If you want to read more on the systems.. go here. One of these days I’ll update that page.. er.. the entire about me area.
Alright, long ass blog geekpost over.
If some of you have set ups you’re proud of, link me damn it! I’d love to see it. It doesn’t matter what you use, as long as you’re loving what you’ve got. It’s not a contest. (don’t forget, I write my shit off against my taxes, or I sure as fuck would not own most of this stuff)
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