Hood-Rich Home Office Evolution
Alright, so back in January, Cakes’ boy homeboy Yi sent him a free 20″ monitor which, at the time, was a huge improvement to the tiny 17″ single monitor setup he’d been using for years. Here’s the state of Nickycakes’ home office back in Jan:
You’ll notice a few key parts in this pic. First, the awesome notepad for a mousepad and the sweet plastic fold-up-table desk.
Fast forward to today. Since then, Nickycakes’ has converted the small bedroom in his apt to a home office which is a lot better and less distracting. Here’s how it looks now:
Still pretty ugly, but it gets the job done. The major upgrade really is the 24″ widescreen + 20″ normal screen dual monitor setup which gives a ton of room to work with. Being able to read notes on the smaller monitor while designing something on the right is great, especially for php projects where php.net reference pages are constantly being read from. There are now 2 pc’s in the mix. The one under the desk is the old one, which is now used for reading email and runs apache/php/mysql for designing sites and scrapers and stuff. Anyway, here’s a rundown of the hilighted parts:
1. Ze Whiteboard
In theory, this thing was supposed to make the Cakes very productive, however, the same project has been sketched up there, unfinished for a couple months. In the lower left there are ideas for new posts for nickycakes.com, most of which will probably never be written. Ever have an idea that sounds awesome when you first think of it and then the next day you think to yourself, “Am I really so stupid that I thought that would be a good idea?” Yeah, that’s mostly what goes on the board. Also please note the awesome lamp that someone in the apartment building was throwing away.
2. Ghetto Fab Office Chair
Listen….it’s mad comfortable, alright?
3. Dual Monitor Setup
This is where the work gets done. 20″ on the left @ 1600 x 1200, and 24″widescreen on the right @ 1920 x 1200 combine for 4224000 pixels of awesome. Notice Steam open in the background of the right monitor from a recent session of Team Fortress 2 pwnage.
4. The Old Monitor
This thing really needs to be retired soon. It’s currently being used for Cakes’ old PC which contains his email and webserver testbed thing. In theory, if Nickycakes were interested in sending out lots of linkspam, this is the machine that would probably do it. Not that he does anything like that. The actual PC the monitor is connected to is below the desk and not in this pic.
5. The Xbox 360
This is where the magic happens. Gamertag: nickycakes. Come get some, bitches.
6. Monet Calendar
Cakes grew up around lots of art.
7. The Crackberry
Designed to make you more productive, this fcking thing has actually resulted in a much less productive lifestyle for Nickycakes. Highly recommended though. Handles business stuff a million times better than the iphone, and has a real tactile keyboard which blows that smudgy pos touchscreen typing out of the water. Great phone.
8. New PC
A big pile of win. E8400 Wolfdale 3.0ghz dual core, big fat video card, ram with cooling pipes, and a sweet Lian Li see through tower. You should see how fast Cakes can ssh into his VPS to work on coding projects, yo. In all seriousness, though, it runs games pretty quick and can actually handle making campaigns on MSN Adcenter which has higher pc requirements than Crysis apparently.
Keep it real.
Nice home office setup. I like that case.
Need to get me one of those whiteboards
Love the ghetto fab chair.
What 3rd party apps you got installed on the curve?
wow! that ghetto fab chair looks really comfy. I know parting with it would be like giving away your first born…nice monitor..BTW
We must shop at the same place. I have one of them cozy chairs as well.
@MC: I have google maps, opera mini, jmirc, twitterberry, viigo
Yi gonna send you a Hermann Miller Aeron to replace your comfy chair too?
@wee yeah i hope so haha
Well I have Google Maps standard on The iPhone.
Lmao @ MSN’s performance requirements being tougher than Crysis.
It’s funny because it’s true… 
Nice 24-incher. And this post was a good reminder for me to get apache installed on a local box in my office for quick testing.
P.S. I sent you an Xbox Live friend invite a while ago – gamertag EskilDude
That work area makes me feel claustrophobic.
“and were moving on up”!
Nice home sweet home
So where do you spend all that AM $$$ you get? Please tell me you have a nice car or something.
Holy fuck…dude…I’m gonna start a donation drive on my blog to buy you a new desk chair.
@coglethorpe: Mostly goes to the savings accts =)
I am about to hit you up on xbox, my tag is majorbta. We’ll see if you’re any good at halo or COD. Get some, please
No one can beat me in halo 3! Add me:
“ownd u sikways”
COD4, H3 anything goes
Very nice setup.
I had the whole whiteboard thing for a while too… Hadn’t been used since 2007 and so it’s now taken down.
Love the ghetto fab office chair.
~Jony
Yes nice improvement change, it sort of evolves gradually doesn’t it. With me, the cables on the floor are there too, makes it hard to clean under them with vacuum cleaner-> it’s an electrical appliance that cleans surfaces using its suction to protect our computers from the dust and for anything else otherwise
Good machines you got there!
I thought you were pulling down big cheese!? Its time to step your game up!
Do work son!
So, can anyone name the train station depicted in the Monet? And why is the train in the station like Nick’s new monitor? I’ll send a prize to anyone who comes up with the correct answer to BOTH questions.
Nick’s Dad
Gare Saint-Lazare
Steam on the monitor, steam trains in the station (and depicted in the painting).
No prize needed.
@guerilla: Nice try. Close but no cigar. And by the way, its a really good cigar!
Anyone else? Try as many times as you like.
Nick’s Dad
Nick’s Dad,
Windows?
I quit smoking.
Saint-Lazare Train Station
new monitor = Vanilla Sky (Monet) background
I’ll take a crack at it, Dad:
Monet’s painting depicts a steam train station shortly after the industrial revolution. Steam trains dominated and forever changed industry and trade.
My new monitor, which was acquired in the years following the online gaming revolution, helps me dominate and forever change the way Call of Duty 4 is played, and allows me to utterly obliterate my opponents.
You know my address, so feel free to send the prize at your leisure.
Nick
Where’s the treadmill?
lol @ Treadmill.
Nick, ain’t it time your Dad did some guest blogging here? He certainly knows the comment pandas will dance for prizes…
Beats the hell out of my VAIO and the couch. Although, I can take my office with me anywhere…but is that really a good thing?
wow… judging by your office set-up, it seems you should be cracking the $100/day mark pretty soon!
lol @ Jelf. Cakes is just showing he’s ‘keepin it real yo’.
Gotta save up for that platinum grill with the diamonds in the canines yo.
love the Adcenter > Crysis comment. Sad but so true.
That chair has taken a pounding.
The whiteboard is something I contemplated but I tried post-it notes on the wall but they get boring after 6 months of seeing the same old post-its, now I reverted back to disorganisation on the PC where it’s not so visible.
@nickycakes
Very good son, I can see that those long hours dragging you through art museums had some benefit. But your keen young mind was corrupted by the computer and video games, so your answer though very close is unfortunately incorrect.
Alas, when you were young, your mother and I tried our hardest to prevent you from spending too much time at the computer. But when we tried to limit your access to the family computer you instead installed a shell program that locked out everyone but yourself. Clever lad. That little stunt cost us.
In those days you weren’t exactly a black hat, more of a black beanie.
Come on you comment pandas, lets see a little dancing for this prize. Should I post a picture to entice more responses?
Nick’s Dad
Excellent set up you got there. I would say the chair could use an upgrade, maybe something that is ergonomically more pleasing. However if that is working for you, might as well run it into the ground.
The monitor set up is much improved, consider stepping it up to 24″ screens – they are so money.
You could consolidate those two keyboards and mice into one of each with Synergy. It makes working on multiple machines so much easier.
What have you been eating to make the chair like that? – Love the multi screens – you can’t have too many.
livin large.. that office chair must be worth some serious coin
I think that chair’s twin brother is in my office! Want to trade for that 17″ monitor?
Trains and LCDs, impressionism and pixelation … radically transforming the landscapes of their respective centuries.
Where’s the AKMG skate deck in the office?
@ Dad of Cakes
I’ll give it a go: 1) Saint-Lazare Train Station, France. 2) The monitor and the train each represent the technology of their time. Like the larger LCD monitor (#2 of 3), Monet’s painting depicted the train station #2 of 3 (I think it was also painting #2 of 12?). The separate Steam window on the desktop is similar to that of the boxed frame of the train in a window-like foreground. The Steam window mixes & blends with the background clouds of the desktop image similar Monet’s blending of the smoke and steam of the train with the clouds and sky in the background.
@ Dancing Panda and mommadukes
Though not exactly right I must declare you both winners.
Mommadukes I must say your impressionism pixelation comparison was inspired. Dancing Panda had the wording that was closest to what I was looking for.
The train at the Saint-Lazare station and Nick’s new monitor both represent the latest in high technology for their respective times. Both seemed startlingly futuristic when they first appeared.
Monet was being fairly radical in setting up his easel in the train station to paint it.
Nick’s Dad
Would both of you please send me your addresses so I can send your prizes.
write me at: leonard at lkart dot com.
@leonardatlkart
Why thank you professor. You know my address, and I’m sure I’ll be able to put that cigar to good use!
btw: one of the Monet Saint-Lazare paintings usually hangs at the Fogg Museum at Harvard, but it just closed for five years of rennovations.
Oh man… that’s awkward.
Just came across this post… You’ll be getting a friend request later on XBL