Headquarters (Part 2)

Continuing from earlier, this post covers early adulthood, pre-kids.

Year: 2000
Machine: Custom built beige box with NewEgg parts
What I was doing: Enjoying early married life; playing Deus Ex; renting movies from Blockbuster and watching them on my computer’s DVD-ROM drive; organizing documents in that green file box (which I still have).

Year: 2001
Machine: Same beige box but with new guts
What I was doing: starting to explore high-end audio and home theater, applying to Ph.D. programs, anticipating The Fellowship of the Ring.

Years: 2002
Machine: Still the same beige box but a new “flat” monitor
What I was doing: trying to understand Topology, skipping graduate school classes to play Diablo II; anticipating The Two Towers (I still remember waiting for this trailer to download… it was was mind-blowing, despite the low quality of the day).

Year: 2003
Machine: You guessed it, a beige box, though I believe I’d upgraded it yet again
What I was doing: starting a blog on Xanga, anticipating The Return of the King (it was on this setup that I created a postcard inviting 40 of my closest friends to a private midnight screening at the Arena Grand).

Year: 2004
Machine: A second beige box filled with scraped together cast-offs from my main computer, complete with double optical drives
What I was doing: embracing my minimalist tendencies by trying to hide boxy components inside closets and running cables through the walls; ripping my entire CD collection to FLAC; preparing for our first kid.