Networking Over Power Lines

We have a wireless router in the house. Most of our computers and electronic devices communicate wirelessly with this router. The connection is broadcast over the airwaves. So in general, there is no need to be connected to the box. However we have some computers that cannot communicate wirelessly. For example, Little Kat has an old Macintosh that has no wireless capability. And I have a work computer from my customer. They don't trust wireless communications for security purposes. Every day I run a network cable from this work computer to the router. Very tedious.

I wanted to move my work computer to the basement. The problem is that I need that physical network connection. I thought I could hire my handyman to somehow install some ports in the wall that would connect the two floors. That way I could connect my router to the wall, and my work computer to the wall on another level of the house, and still have them communicate. My handyman said he could do it for a couple hundred bucks. But he needed me to go buy the materials.

I went to Radio Shack as my handyman suggested. They did not have the ports for the walls. They referred me to Best Buy. After waiting in line to speak with the experts for a while, I once again explained my goals and asked if they had materials for my solution. Instead they sold me some devices that make a connection through the existing power lines in the house. Once little box connects to the router and a plug in the wall. Another box connects to a plug in the wall on another level of the house, then connects to my work computer. Bamm. This setup actually works.

To make the connection diagram even more complicated, Best Buy sold me an extra hub. That is a box that will sit in the basement and be connected to the little box which plugs into the wall. The hub can have many devices connected to it. They all get an effective connection to my router, and thus the Internet. Life is about to get real good in our house (at least for Internet connectivity). Little Kat has been waiting such a long time to get his old Mac on the Internet.

Keeping Dishes Clean

Our dishwasher seems to not be cleaning the dishes very well. I bought some Jet Dry to see if it would help. Momoko thinks not. The solution is to buy a new dishwasher.

We have a weird setup in the kitchen. The new floor drops off under the dishwasher. The counters above the dishwasher are particle board which are falling apart. Therefore installation has been a problem in the past. Uneven floor plus no good way to secure the dishwasher equals trouble.

Momoko, Little Kat, and I went to a local appliance store. The salesperson wanted to talk our ear off. When we got a chance, I told her that we needed to study the dishwashers in private. We wanted a standard dishwasher handle to open the thing. The tricky latch on our current model broke down twice. We also need a front panel display.

It turns out we chose a model that is recommended by Consumer Reports. The thing was on sale 30% less than retail price. I decided to go pick the thing up from the warehouse, and hire our handyman to do the tricky install.