Making Your Bedroom a Sanctum from Technology?

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."

Comments

Sounds obvious, but

[orthogonal]

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.

Great relaxation device...

[E1v!$]

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.

Tips to keep the chicks

[hswerdfe]

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!

The ambient hum of 26 case fans...

[Lord Bitman]

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

Two words:

[mbstone]

Tinfoil Wallpaper.

Re:stupid.

[PD]

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!

Re:Focus on the bed

[sql*kitten]

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.