Tales of Extraordinary Interest

Oh yeh, speaking of video...

I'm turning my Basement into a lab of sorts. I'm putting a bunch of junk down there, but one of the main purposes I want the junk to serve is the purpose of "Dirt-Cheap Video Lab." I have an idea to build a video lab for next to nothing or free from hand-me-downs and repurposed junk. So, if anyone has any contributions they'd like to send my way, feel free =).

I'll be collecting video equipment (VCRs, CRTs, anything I can get really), computers, shelving, racks, desks, speakers, stereo equipment, TVs, Keyboards, Mice, Disc Drives, etc. I'm going to try to get as much or the equipment as possible for free either through donations or through stuff I already have or even dumpster diving (yay! excuse to go dumpster diving!). Other stuff I may buy second hand from CraigsList, Garage Sales, or Goodwill. But, I've set a pretty hard limit on what I want to spend ($0), and I'm not willing to spend more than $100 for any single component in the joint. At least not yet. I also plan on doing some stuff for $ in the lab once it's built to contribute to the lab's upgrades. I want to start a video service web site and start with offering cheap conversions of VHS->DVD, CDs->electronic music, etc. and then move up from there. Any money made in the Video Lab will go back into the Video Lab. I'll probably use one of my domains for the site, and I'll be sure to let readers of my blog know when and if it goes up. It'll also give me a chance to sling some java web programming for fun and practice for some other java projects I have going on. Overall, I'm really excited and looking forward to it. Who knows? If it picks up, maybe I can quit my day job and go back to school for my PhD for a while

I'm going to pick up some equipment that I have in storage today, and I'll probably be cleaning up and setting things up for much of the day today. My goal is to at least get one work/general computer area set up today. I've already got a couch and an area rug down there, and I did a lot of cleaning last weekend. It's very chillin and very quiet down there. Part of me wants to move my main systems from upstairs to down in the basement because of the environment. It's a lot cooler down there, too. It's bloody hot in my room because of our shitty house A/C.