So, I got these raised beds from Home Depot, cedar, and super attractive. Shockingly, they were only $40 and I was stunned at how easy they were to put together. They are part of the eco-options collection and the cedar is FSC (forest stewardship council) certified wood. So, the wood was grown in a sustainable manner. The item was packaged beautifully, maybe even too good for a green product. They were thoughtfully designed for good looks and easy assembly. The pre-drilled holes were clean, the instructions were easy to follow, they even have cross bracing. I couldn't have asked for more and I couldn't have built them at that price. Great job Home Depot!
The seedlings are putting on their second set of leaves and we will be getting a cold spell this weekend, so I will be able to harvest the compost in cool weather and plant the garden on Sunday. Things are looking up for some very local produce!
Laurl Designs offers curated interior design, DIY inspirations, and great shopping finds, all with an environmental awareness. As an interior designer, I blend styles and approaches to offer a curated design style to suit your needs.
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Cisco's Valet- faster, easier, better
I purchased the Valet from amazon.com on Wednesday evening after giving up on programming my current router and being tired of being the neighborhood free WiFi hot spot. As I was looking one last time on another way of locking out other users of my wireless router, an ad on the Linksys page caught my eye. It was the Valet and it was just what I was looking for, if it was all that the ad promised. I searched for reviews and they all sounded good. So, I bought the Valet with 10% off and free shipping, a better offer than at the Cisco site.
The Valet promised to set up my wireless with names and passwords, something I couldn't do by myself without locking myself out of the system, with the use of a USB "key". It also promised to be ready and working within 5 minutes. I intended to install it on two laptops, a Toshiba Satellite running on XP and newer laptop running on Vista. I started the installation on the XP, which was probably a mistake as it is older. It ran it program for about 2 minutes and told me to call the help number which was picked up quickly by Ed. We reset the Valet and went through the usual unplugging and plugging in of the modem and Valet. After a reload, it worked though the phone call did take 39 minutes. Laoding it onto the Vista laptop was much faster- about 3 minutes. And, the Roku box plugs into the Valet just like it did on my previous router.
So, the long and short if it is:
Pro's- Easy to set up
No need for any technical knowledge
simple, straight-forward options to add computers or visitors
Easy to change passwords
Good customer service
Attractive color choices
Energy Star qualified plug
Con's- Slower setup on older computers
UPDATE from my 4/3/10 post- If you need ot change the set-up information you will need to inset the "key" and access the set-up from that drive. I didn't know this and spent a lot of time on a WebEx with a non-native speaker that was not helpful. I figured it out myself. How did I know the WebEx was not from the US, the sentance structure was really off. I was like I was messaging with Yoda. They did follow up with a phone call and an email. So they are trying, but it doesn't appear they are trying to hire people in the US.
The Valet promised to set up my wireless with names and passwords, something I couldn't do by myself without locking myself out of the system, with the use of a USB "key". It also promised to be ready and working within 5 minutes. I intended to install it on two laptops, a Toshiba Satellite running on XP and newer laptop running on Vista. I started the installation on the XP, which was probably a mistake as it is older. It ran it program for about 2 minutes and told me to call the help number which was picked up quickly by Ed. We reset the Valet and went through the usual unplugging and plugging in of the modem and Valet. After a reload, it worked though the phone call did take 39 minutes. Laoding it onto the Vista laptop was much faster- about 3 minutes. And, the Roku box plugs into the Valet just like it did on my previous router.
So, the long and short if it is:
Pro's- Easy to set up
No need for any technical knowledge
simple, straight-forward options to add computers or visitors
Easy to change passwords
Good customer service
Attractive color choices
Energy Star qualified plug
Con's- Slower setup on older computers
UPDATE from my 4/3/10 post- If you need ot change the set-up information you will need to inset the "key" and access the set-up from that drive. I didn't know this and spent a lot of time on a WebEx with a non-native speaker that was not helpful. I figured it out myself. How did I know the WebEx was not from the US, the sentance structure was really off. I was like I was messaging with Yoda. They did follow up with a phone call and an email. So they are trying, but it doesn't appear they are trying to hire people in the US.
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