Past Perfect

Isn't it funny how we can buy something, something perfect, something that took weeks or even years to find, something that suits our every need, something we'll treasure forever . . . and then we sell it in our garage sale three months later?

I tend to do this with storage solutions (organizers, boxes, drawer units, etc.) and of course electronics (Need a used PocketPC, anyone? I have three.) not to mention clothing and CDs.

The 'excess storage stuff'' issue is so bad I had to develop rules:

• buy a generic solution (no sock organizers, no Yur-Gi-Oh card tackle boxes, no Christmas ornament boxes)
• get the most boring color possible (in case you re-paint the room)
• insist on a durable, scratch-proof, non-yellowing material (no rigid crystal-clear plastics)
• try to find something with a hinged lid that can't be misplaced
• buy twice what you think you need
• buy it all at once before it's discontinued or sold out

Now all I need to do is actually stick to the rules.

But I can live with excess storage stuff. I can even live with excess electronics. What I'm struggling with right now are excess desks. At one time I had five. Now I'm down to four, but two are all I really need.

Desk #1 is standing in my hallway, a lime green desk from the 1970s. It's about eight feet long, three feet high, and eighteen inches wide. And SOLID. I bought it, thinking it would be THE desk, but it wouldn't accomodate all my gear so I eventually bought a Christopher Lowell (Desk #2) from Office Depot.

Then there's this stunner . . . .

Desk #3, the Helsinki, made by Amisco, who mysteriously quit making desks. I don't get it. They had beautiful, highly functional desks. I looked at desks for months before purchasing, and every desk I seriously considered was an Amisco -- nothing else came close.

Look at all that open storage, above and below. Look at that HUGE 36" keyboard tray. It could hold a full-sized keyboard, my Wacom tablet, and a trackball. That generously-sized return. The cool file cart. The line also included a bookcase. (Excuse me -- étarge)

If I sound like I'm a little in love you have to visualize my PC setup before this desk. The CPU and monitor were perched on a night stand 4" below eye level, the scanner was on another non-matching night stand, my keyboard was on a TV tray, the Wacom tablet on another TV tray, the printer on the floor, and the trackball usually rested on my thigh. My speakers were on mismatched fern stands. Cameras and PDAs and other smaller goodies were stored in the night stand drawers requiring me to plug them in each time I needed one. And my chair didn't roll.

I bought this desk and suddenly I was in techno-storage bliss. There was room for everything, and once I invested in some black plastic drawers I could actually FIND everything. It was all so . . . perfect.

This desk is so cool even my parents realized it. They each bought one, and suddenly our dining room became a computer room full of cool matching furniture.

When I decided to buy my house my parents very quickly evicted my desk. They were about to replace the ceiling in the computer room, and my stuff was in the way. At that time R's house was a mess, so the desk ended up in my office at work. Eventually I decided it didn't belong in my new home, so I bought a different desk instead. (#4, the now-departed Cheap Intrim Desk I used while searching for the desk.)

The Helsinki is still sitting in my office, taking up valuable space. I'm not even using it. (Using Desk #5 instead.) I should sell it, but as soon as I do I'm sure to need it.

Have plans for all that space, too. Decided my office would be the perfect place to stick my Heywood-Wakefield sofa (another piece of much-loved but unused furniture).

Something has got to go. No single person needs this much excess furniture!!

Desk . . . . sofa . . . . desk . . . . sofa . . . .

Anyone have a quarter I can borrow?