When Making Room For the Next Generation, Don't Abandon Those That Have Served You Well

I was up at my parents' house a few weeks ago. They had just switched from cable to FiOS. The friendly FiOS people installed a new and nifty wireless network. My brother once described my parents' house as a luxury hotel, only with better food and bigger portions. Now, it is a luxury hotel with free WIFI. I am not sure they have a points or rewards program, but each visit comes with a complementary round of The Third Degree, Prairie Home Companion served up at a DEAFENING volume, and if you are lucky enough to be there on a Monday night- popcorn and Dancing with the Stars.

I went down to the basement to read the wireless key, and saw what the FiOS man had cast aside- an old router, tons of network cable, coax, power cords, and a few other things that I couldn't identify, but I KNOW I need.

I had neglected to mention in my previous post regarding The Tech Bucket of Stuff that siblings over the age of 25 that are currently residing in your parents' basement get first dibs on any of their spare bits. Lucky for me, my brother had so much superfluous network cable that he had it strung up across the rafters and was using it to hang his shirts and pre-tied ties.

I thanked my parents by taking out the garbage, cleaning my room, and promising that I wouldn't go out into public wearing that shirt.