Computer Desk

By: John Glick

Ever since we got our new computer, my wife has been nagging me to obtain a fitting computer desk for it. Just now, the computer lies precariously perched on the dining table that serves as yet an ad-hoc desk of sorts. Candidly, it is not a very suitable arrangement. When it is just the two of us at home, we eat wherever we want to, most often in front of the television. However when guests arrive, it becomes a mammoth problem. The computer has to be moved from the ad hoc dining table come computer desk to a less unsuitable location. Similarly, the tangle of wires that lead from the socket to the computer, the computer to the keyboard and mouse and from the computer to the printer have to be moved as well. Finally, after one particularly disquieting weekend, when the computer moved not once or twice but a grand total of five times, I had had enough. I resolved then and there to go shopping for a proper computer desk. So then with wife in tow, I made my way to one of the reputed furniture dealers in town to select a good, yet affordable computer desk. Believe me when I tell you, shopping for a house could be much easier!

The annoyance with choosing a good computer desk is that there are so sundry varieties to pick from. There is the normal, plain Jane computer desk that comes with a table, a chair and nothing else; there is likewise the drawer kind of computer desk that comes with, you guessed it, a drawer! Then of course there is the ergonomically designed computer desk that comes with an adjustable table height and optimal positioning of the computer for reading and working convenience. And finally there is the deep space epoch computer desk that makes you feel like Captain Kirk atop the control and command terminal on the spaceship Enterprise! The wife and I looked at all these kinds of computer desks and more until we were totally flabbergasted. It was then that we spotted the do it yourself section which had an exceptional offer on custom built computer desks. We were thrilled. Finally, there was a choice that would permit us to create the computer desk of our dreams at a fraction of the price of a pre-built one! We happily entered the section and soon spotted a computer desk in the catalogue. We selected an antique finish and happily carted our would-be computer desk home. There it lay for the remainder of the week as I resolved to set it up over the weekend.

The weekend came and I happily set to work on the computer desk. With the self explanatory diagram laid out in front of me, I hammered away at all the various pieces of wood that were supposed to come together as . . as the computer desk of our dreams. Fourteen hours later, I stood looking at what appeared to be a mangled, gnarled specimen of modern art. I don’t know how or where, but the construct it yourself scheme had gone horribly wrong. Today, my computer stands perched proudly atop the dining table and ad-hoc computer desk. While the dream computer desk (or what remains of it) lies in the garage, never to see the light of day again!