I am moving out of my office/bedroom, where I have created stuff for the last 10 years, and into another bedroom, in part because I have new/old furniture. My current office will be transforming into a bedroom.
The centerpiece of my new workspace is this fine rolltop computer desk — I think it’s real oak or at least maple, because Red and I struggled to move it by ourselves when we picked it up last weekend. We were saved by two brawny lads who did the heavy lifting for us. There were a couple of tricky lifts required to get it out of the house where the estate auction had been held, but these guys hardly broke a sweat.
We’ve kept the desk in the garage for a few days while we prepare for the big move. Stuff needs to be packed for the big 20-foot transfer from one side of the house to the other, and we also have one other piece of new/old furniture to pick up this weekend: A 10-foot-wide, 79-inch-high entertainment center/bookshelf unit, actually five units that live together.
You may think we’ve splurged on a fancy-schmancy collection of office furniture so I can act like a big-shot author as I head into my old age, but it’s nothing of the sort. We have become fans of a online auction site called CTBIDS.com — C.T. for Caring Transitions — that helps people sell off their belongings when they downsize or otherwise decide they don’t need so much stuff anymore.
At the same time a whole lot of people are not looking for stuff these days. Collectibles and the like see a lot of action. Furniture, not so much.
As a result I got this tremendous desk, which easily will serve for the rest of my life, for $6. Six bucks! And the big wooden bookshelves? I put one dollar down and no one outbid me. We’ve gotten some remarkable deals through CTBIDS, but this is the most amazing pair of acquisitions to date.
I find myself imagining the wonders I will create sitting at the finest desk I’ve ever owned, but I can’t necessarily say that will happen.
One of our local school districts is asking voters for permission to build a new middle school to replace the outdated existing building, which despite hard work to keep it up has become a rambling wreck, parts of it dating to 1917 and most of it dating to 1957. One skeptic asked the superintendent why they’re not pushing the idea that a new school would improve kids’ education.
“I’m not sure that you can necessarily say that because I walk into a room that provides me better lighting, it provides me better aesthetics, I’m not sure that I can look at you and say that automatically going to improve scholastic aptitude or outcomes in students,” the superintendent wisely said. “I will say that it provides more opportunities.”
I wrote my first novel on a Commodore 64 and didn’t complete a second novel with until after the Macintosh, Windows 7 PC and iMac that succeeded it had come and gone, so I know the nifty new desk won’t increase my productivity or spark my imagination. But I will say that it provides a better environment and more opportunities.
CTBIDS is a franchise operation, so you probably will find some local auctions if you check it out. It’s unusual to get deals quite this ridiculous, but I heartily recommend giving it a look. Assuming I survive packing, moving and unpacking all of my stuff, I look forward to reporting back on the new digs.