Well, technically, that should be downsizing. And no, I dont mean either Quest, or Fast Chicken (of course, it’s impossible to downsize Fast Chicken – we don’t have employees!)
I mean us – Leonie and I. At home. We have too much “junk”, stuff we dont use, and things that we use in the “wrong way”. For example, anything we haven’t used or unpacked since we moved house in February (with some exceptions, like camping gear) is either going out, being sold or given away to the Salvation Army. The microwave has been replaced with a smaller (and cheaper) model, and now we have a MASSIVE amount more bench space (the old one didn’t fit into the microwave space). Old, worn-out or just not used clothes are going, and we may get rid of a bed or 2. Not sure on that one yet.
But the biggest change (for me) is in the lounge. Currently we have a 20″ TV (very old), a VCR (which is mostly to go from composite (media center, DVD player) to the Antenna input that the TV takes), a 5.1 home theater stereo thinggie, the cable TV box and a Media Center PC (thanks to Microsoft). The only thing that is going to stay out of all of that, is the stereo. Here’s the plan:
1. Ditch the TV/Video/Media Center/CableTV. These are generally used for watching broadcast TV, which in NZ, is utter rubbish. Sadly, this will cost about $150 to get rid of, but that’s life (cable disconnection fee). The Media Center will go to either another beta tester, or back to Microsoft. I’ve installed Vista B2 on it, which I’ll play with for this week, but after that….
If you happen to want either the TV+VCR, or the Microwave, they are on TradeMe. They both work really well. They are just surplus to requirements.
2. Get a SONOS for music. All our music is on the server, so having a system like that makes a lot of sense. I’d get a ZP100 for the office (where the server is), and a ZP80 for the lounge (no amp in the ZP80, so have it on the stereo) – and possibly another one later, for outside in the summer – it just depends on how movable they are. There is also a SONOS dealer in NZ now, which may make things easier.
3. Get a projector for watching DIVX’s and DVD’s. In the past 8 months, we have watched NO series’ on broadcast TV, but have watched all of CSI, CSI:NY, CSI:Miami, Lost season 2, Desperate Housewives, and Dr Who. All of those except Dr Who are now finished. These all come up nice on a projector, as they are all in HD. Of course, I can’t do this in NZ, ‘cos we don’t have HD anywhere – even Sky and Telstra (cable) are not planning to offer it. A second hand projector (eg, a BENQ one) which is suitable for us would be around $800 from TradeMe, which is cheaper than getting a 32″ TV, and takes up a lot less space. Lamp life isn’t an issue if it only gets used every weekend or maybe an hour on a weeknight.
4. Replace Leonie’s Dell with a MacBook (non-pro). She’s wanted a Mac for ages, and with them now on x86, I think it’s about time to get one. Or two :)
None of this is going to happen “overnight” (well, getting rid of the TV etc will), and I can usually get the projector from work most nights and weekends, plus the media center will need a new home….
Some of the things I expect to happen as a result of doing this:
- I expect to have more time to do stuff I want to do – experiment with new tech, exercise, read, talk to the Mrs etc. It’s too easy to just blob out infront of the TV when I get home.
- I expect to have a little more money in the bank (ok, cable is only $30 a month, but still, for that I can up the internet connection to 10meg/2meg and 40GB of traffic)
- I expect to listen to more music, and with any luck, find more stuff I like – like Syntax (just as an example).
- I’m hoping to get more time to do some “creative” stuff, which may be art-type stuff in Photoshop, take photos, code, and, well, anything else I feel like :)
We’ll see how it goes :) Leonie has also posted about this, from her perspective.
