I’m not sure what snapped in my head recently, but since I moved from my last rented townhouse to this new one I’ve been wanting to just ‘do’ things to the place. Being a rental property, I can’t (and don’t really want to) do anything too permanent, but I’ve got a couple DIY projects that I’m pretty excited about.
The first little project I gave myself is to install some outdoor speakers on the patio. I’m going to run the wiring through the same hole the satellite cable is running through (so I don’t have to drill any holes). I’ve already ordered the wire and speakers, researched the ‘Zone 2’ feature of my receiver and measured everything out. Just waiting on the UPS truck to bring the stuff I ordered so I can get started.
In the process of getting some supplies for this project, I found myself at Home Depot for the first time under my own volition. And it was probably the first time I enjoyed being there. I used to get dragged there by my dad whenever he needed something. It is a completely different experience when you actually WANT to be there. I found myself actually caring where stuff was, and I started trying to memorize the aisles. I think once I actually own a place I’ll find myself making weekly trips there just for fun to find something (or anything) to do to add to the place.
The second project I have is to revive my Asterisk server and Linksys SPA3102 VOIP Gateway. We never had a home phone setup in the last place, since we’ve all got cell phones so I never had much use for it. But this new place has a door and garage intercom with activating servos connected to the phone line. So instead of having to install phones in the wall all around the house to answer the door, I’m going to get Asterisk to ring my cell phone whenever someone is at the door! I’m particularly excited about this one, and I’m actually only writing this post right now because I’m babysitting a Linux install on my old G4 Mac Mini (that I’ve been holding onto in hopes it would one day come in handy again). Since its a PowerPC machine I’m installing Yellow Dog Linux 6.2 It looks like its not being maintained much anymore (last version was released June 2009), and I’m struggling to find some decent instructions on how to actually install Asterisk on it. So I may have an uphill battle on my hands here.
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