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Making Your Bedroom a Sanctum from Technology?

Posted by Cliff on from the tips-for-relieving-your-tension dept.

millisa asks: "With the tightening economy, technology workers are finding themselves picking up extra tasks in the workplace which in turn can raise stress and detract from the ability to relax. Many of us are strapping an assortment of gadgets that beep, vibrate, and blink at us (and most of them aren't the fun kind) with the purpose of on-call response at any and all hours. Where does the restful bedroom exist? What I'm looking for are ways other nerds in the community have made their bedrooms into a place where they can release tension of the day and improve their overall quality of life? What measure have others taken to be considerate towards that signifigant other (in order to keep them being the signifigant other)? Hidden receivers and speakers for mood music? Ambient lighting? Walled windows and soundproofing? What's in your de-teched sanctuary that keeps the minimum for you to fulfill your job obligations? Economical suggestions are quite welcome!"

"The lucky few of us who've managed to not remain single can have one recalcitrant database or webserver strain a relationship to the extreme when it misbehaves multiple nights in a row. I personally have developed severe sleep disorders over the past half decade due to the little issues that always seem to happen just after that much needed REM sleep kicks in. I certainly can't fathom the patience my signifigant other has for sharing the disturbances.

I woke a few months back with a laptop near the pillow, flat screen still powered on the tv tray and an equal distribution of cats and wireless devices at my feet. I had a headache from various system fans, drives spinning, and the 'dings' of incoming mail. Enough was enough. I decided I wanted to make the bedroom as much of a sanctum as possible. The other 85% of the house can have wires, TiVos in various states, and homemade networked kitchen appliances; the place of rest should be geared to that purpose if I'm to be an efficient geek."

12 of 148 comments (clear)

  1. Sounds obvious, but by orthogonal · · Score: 5, Funny

    What I'm looking for are ways other nerds in the community have made their bedrooms into a place where they can release tension of the day and improve their overall quality of life?

    Well, I'd suggest getting a girlfriend. They can be very helpful about the "release tension" thing, and a significant minority can even improve your "overall quality of life."

    Oh wait, this is /., so maybe I should suggest a hooker.

    Oh wait. This is /. I mean a hooker who works the Renaissance Festival as a "tavern harlot".

    And comes equiped with a WiFi port, and runs linux, speaks awk, looks like Natalie Portman with a a pantsuit full of hot grits, and who and will do anything for a buck --

    unless it's with Bill Gates --

    in Soviet Russia.

    --
    Opinions on the Twiddler2 hand-held keyboard?
  2. Fix problem while you sleep by SuperGlue · · Score: 3, Funny

    Move to my old neighborhood If you want to get away from all anything Electronic, Hitech or basically anything that uses electricity.
    All you have to do is unlock your doors when you go to sleep.

    Then when you wake up in the morning, you won't have any of those pesky electronic devices in your house anymore....(As well as cash, credit cards or food)

    SuperGlueBooger

  3. Great relaxation device... by E1v!$ · · Score: 5, Funny

    Fuzzy handcuffs and a 4 poster bed! A girl came into my room the other day... She's becoming a geek but the first thing she noticed when she walked into my room wasn't the awsome computer setup I have, it was the 4 post bed. She laid down and said, "You could have some fun with this." and then went on to ask about hand-cuffs.

  4. Tips to keep the chicks by hswerdfe · · Score: 4, Funny

    Kinda on topic ....Kinda not...but what the Hey

    1. when you invite them over and promise to make dinner...don't fall asleep and then complain when they wake you up

    2. don't invite them over, and then ditch them to go Play Games in the Computer labs.

    3. buy a bed. Girls don't like sleeping on the floor.

    4. when they sit at your computer DON'T Grab the mouse and keyboard.

    5. when they say "come to bed honney"... that means its time to stop playing video games.

    note: these all come from personal experiance.. :)

    ohhh...p.s. Tell them you love them a lot

    I Love you Darling!

    --
    --meh--
    1. Re:Tips to keep the chicks by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      1. That's what caffiene is for. Just have lots of mouthwash. Coffee breath isn't good, unless she really REALLY likes coffee.

      2. Hmmm...a girl is coming over, and you want me to go play Quake III with you and 9 other guys? Call me back when Quake XXXIV is released.

      3. Hell man, if you don't have even a little tiny kiddie twin bed by now, I feel sad. No wait...not sad, but superior. Buy a freakin bed, you geeky assclown. Jeez...

      4. What??? You're a geek, but you don't have retinal scanners and biometric ass-print scanners built into your desk and chair?

      5. This isn't 1984, playing Pitfall on your old non-pausing non-saving Atari 2600. Games now have save-game features for just such occasions. Set down the controller, and put those fingers you've been working out for the last 20 years to good use.

  5. hmmm by pizza_milkshake · · Score: 3, Funny

    i can't help you there (http://www.parseerror.com/images/room6.jpg)

  6. The ambient hum of 26 case fans... by Lord+Bitman · · Score: 5, Funny

    is the only way I can get to sleep at night.

    --
    -- 'The' Lord and Master Bitman On High, Master Of All
  7. Yes! by Datoyminaytah · · Score: 2, Funny
    Yes! Yes! Yes!

    Oh...I thought you said a Sanctum FOR Technology...nevermind.

    --
    assert(birth_date<time-86400)
  8. Two words: by mbstone · · Score: 4, Funny

    Tinfoil Wallpaper.

  9. Re:stupid. by PD · · Score: 5, Funny

    If you let your employer call you at home when he feels like it,

    I know it's offtopic, but once a sales person once half-jokingly said that he thought I wasn't as dedicated to the job as he thought I should be. He wasn't my boss, and that comment was uncalled for.

    So, a couple weeks later I was flying back from somewhere and he told me to call him when I got back to town. I took great pleasure in waking him up at 3 in the morning to tell him that I was back in town. The next day in the office he complained to me and I responded that I am devoted to my job 24 hours a day, and I assumed that he was too.

    Got him!

    --
    If tits were wings it'd be flying around.
  10. Re:Focus on the bed by sql*kitten · · Score: 5, Funny

    We spend most of our lives either at work or laying in bed, so why not put a littl effort into having a nice bed?

    Absolutely. You should spend your money on your bed and your boots because if you're not in one you'll be in the other. And the rest on beer.

  11. Re:stupid. by Yottabyte84 · · Score: 2, Funny

    got kicked out of high school after the 12th grade.

    Don't they always do that?