Thanks to bpgreen and Raven, I am now sitting here with my beautiful laptop dream machine! Yep! I am up and running fine now. My server must have been working on their end or the weather caused me to get knocked off so much when I first tried being on the net with that external modem. I thought it was the modem but it is working fine! "LUV" ya all for help making my dream come true. Seeing I am not getting knocked off, I DL'd some programs which only got half done before when getting knocked off. Audacity for one. Got my spyware and virus programs from my flashdrive. Now for the goodies, huh? Bless you all. I have to get to bed now. This is the latest being up on the puter for me! Can't blame me for basking in no disconnects. "LOL" Good night. Hugs, Urlee PS: Sorry you all can't see this beautiful laptop. LOVE the fact I can ZOOM to make the fonts larger for reading and typing just by using the % drop down on the bottom right on Windows 7 here.

A network switch really isn't much different than one of these: Yes, it's grossly oversimplified but the concept pretty much holds true. You're just splitting the signal just likes one of these adapters splits the power. It probably don't much matter which switch you buy and frankly you might be do better with a router. A router is basically an advanced switch but you can use it as a switch too. They're far more common and therefore generally cheaper. You might look a eBay or Craigslist for used ones. As for cables, buy the cheapest you can find. Local brick and mortar stores are generally the most expensive places to buy cables. Online at Monoprice or Amazon is far more economical. As for more places to plug things in. One of these are any of the numerous variations are available at your local home center:

It could have been new in 1915 I suppose! They were based on an old design but like my antique Duncan Phyfe dining set (and almost everyone else's), few are the real deal. They probably peaked during the great depression when a lot of furniture companies kept the lights on making inexpensive "novelty" furniture that people could afford. (Not to say there aren't good quality ones as well--and even the low end ones were probably decent by today's furniture standards.)

Thank you for the additional photo/ideas @simplynatural! We would love to add the porch, but can't prioritize that right now, @Lantern Visual. But def looking at what to do with color and with style of columns, lights and other touches, as you have suggested. Thank you for taking the time to give your thoughts! @Woody Vaughan or Shaun Fogarty- thank you for that excellent pointer about the beam as well. Very thankful for all the input.