Posts

Silly? Justified? Maybe worth it?

 Good morning, I recently got a Denon receiver so I can have two things in my home office: a) surround sound and b) hdmi switching and pass-through.   I have a receiver and two tower speakers hooked up right now, but I have bookshelf and center channel speakers just hanging around, and there's already a smart board/tv.  So it seems like a reasonable thing, sort of.  This means, for a house of 1 occupant, I'll have two surround sound setups.  The downstairs one is driven by: a) chromecast (the new one, with the remote, which WON'T JOIN A SPEAKER GROUP BECAUSE GOOGLE LOST A SUIT TO SONOS).  This seems kind of laggy/underpowered, compared with the xbox at least. b) chromecast, the old one, so I can still make a speaker group.  Annoying.   c) xbox (out of service until I get a new controller - I dropped mine and it won't stop scrolling now.  Annoying). It is all sent to a pioneer receiver, which drives b&w speakers - two towers, a center, and two rear/bookshelf speakers

Home Office setup

 Hi all, As many of you probably do, I spend a good deal of time in my spare bedroom/home office now.  For me, probably 20 hours a week.  Certainly more if you count the time I spend setting up for my class and doing personal business as well.  In preparation for that, I bought a viewsonic touchscreen board, wacom tablet, and have saved up some machines as well.  Here's what I actually use, and how it works for me in a home tutoring environment (math mostly, but also physics, chemistry, global studies, english). Viewsonic touchscreen board - works ok, but I haven't been using it as much as I thought I would.  It's easier and more accurate to use a good mouse (MX master 2s, logitech) or my wacom tablet (the cheapest one) to write math problems on the jamboard.  I do tap on it from time to time, and since I got a good deal on it it's fine, but you can definitely do without it and just use a cheap hdmi tv instead. Tablets - I now have a samsung and an ipad with an apple pe

Decorations

 Hi all, As I think about what makes my space nicer/makes me in a better mood, and as I think about what my favorite classrooms have had, I decided to decorate a bit in my home "classroom."  Here are my favorite pieces so far: a) Klutz juggling balls (for demonstrating parabolas but also entertaining myself when my students are doing stuff and I have to wait for them) b) Back scratcher in a tetrahedron shape - useful for visualizing chemical bonds c) Picture of a calculus book taken by one of my students years ago for an art class d) Black and white portrait of a student, again from years ago at my first school e) Gnome - weighted bottom makes it stand up wherever and it's a good conversation piece f) Bar stool(s) - high enough for a seated break from my standing desk, foot rests, and it encourages good posture g) guitar - martin, inspires me to play sometimes while I'm waiting h) Google lava lamp (thanks Chris L)

The Journey

 Good morning all, I've been a math teacher for 17 years.  This year, during the pandemic and due to some family health issues, I've become remote, and I mostly tutor online for a school district.  So I decided to make my home office as good as it can be, and thought some of you might want to replicate/modify my setup. a) The desk - two ikea kitchen carts with a door on top.  This gives me more height than a regular desk, so I can sit comfortably underneath it in any chair.  Then, two adjustable height varidesk standing desks, with a laptop each. b) The monitor - Viewsonic touchscreen.  Not a SMART board or what I really want, the google Jamboard, but it is effective and, though a little laggy, capable of writing in Jamboard with a tablet.  It is wall mounted (thanks @daviddurocher) and stable, and sits across from my two laptops. c) The printer is an all in one brother.  It is wonky with wifi setup but works fine as long as you put the usb in it.  I would order a different mod