I was trying to solve the wrong problem. Carlton told me that he would pay for what ever “workstation” I wanted. Seemed fair to him since he has a whole room and balcony with a view of DC all his own.
Also, note the term “workstation”. That is surely a management term. Anyhow, I hunted, searched, measured and finally settled on a way too expensive wooden cube thing from Crate and Barrel. I was having a really hard time spending Carlton’s thousand dollars on a wood box.
And why do I need a one thousand dollar wood box. That is what I asked myself while walking to the farm market this morning. I need a one thousand dollar wood box to hide all my computer crap was the answer. So, the problem is not the $1,000 wood box. The problem is all the computer crap.
What I need is something to put the printer on. Somewhere to store some paper, the DVD drive and a couple of USB disk drives. I don’t need the big ass Dell computer that I bought used last year when the HP Vista Whore machine melted. I don’t need keyboard and mice. I DO need something to run Windows because I do my taxes in Windows and Windows is a lot better if you have a mind to make a copy of a DVD. A cheap laptop from the Dell or Fujitsu outlet should do the trick. Or maybe, the old Fujitsu which is too small to be really serviceable – maybe it will do the job.
So, I was trying to solve the wrong problem. The problem is not finding something to hide the gear in. The problem is the gear. And, it will be cheaper to get new gear. And not a new $1,000 wood box.
I don’t want a “workstation”. I NEVER wanted a “workstation”.