Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Random cheap crap comes to those who wait

I have been idly longing, for the past few months, for some way to fix up my office room into something I would like to hang out in. It only has the desk chair I bought and which I never figured out how to make it less tilty, so that it would not threaten to dump me out at any moment. So while I have this lovely place and lots of surfaces for piling stuff and printing, I would never hang out there and read. What I needed, was a comfy chair for my torment:



But when I looked online I could never find something I liked that matched my budget and that had a nifty color or pattern. And then as I thought about it more, I realized with sorrow that my budget was actually zero. So I went and looked at shoes online instead.

However, all was not lost!!! The semester ended and some of the postdocs are leaving --- one is moving out of the country as a way of getting some sort of job (I am somewhat dubious about this, but wish the Angry Anarchist well) and one just flat-out gave up and will not come back for a second year (man, that third slot in our office just scares people away, I guess). Since this is the same person who first drove students to mass plagiarism and then dropping courses, and who constantly complained about how much zie hated it here, I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that perhaps it is better that this person leaves academia for something else. Zie is probably being smarter about it than me, anyway.

As part of this exodus, postdocs have given me various free things. So many free things I have rejected quite a few of them (I do not need any more microwaves or toasters, nor do I want those particle-board self-assembled bookcases that look like they will not survive the trip to my place). I was thrilled, however, to be offered a Comfy Chair. It is now ensconced in my office. I am also taking someone's coffeetable and a cushion and will be storing another postdoc's pile of boxes while this person goes back home to the partner for the summer, so I might wait on pictures until I have the place all fancied up. I am quite excited though. It is not an Ikea Poang chair, I was told, but the next price level down. However I have too much fun shouting the word Poang (which I pronounce midway between Po-ang and Poing and I add a bunch of exclamation points) so I am going to call it that anyway. And at "free if you can haul it away," it fits very nicely in my price point!

The cats were afraid of going near it for a couple days, but then after I sat and read on it for a while, they slowly came to accept its presence. They will now sit on it and look out the window. Of course, they are far too clever to be stopped by any anti-cat hair schemes --- the chair cushion is black, but because they have that white belly, they leave white fur all over the chair. I am thwarted in everything I do. Alas.

But I do have my comfy chair! I can't wait to sit and read in it when the rain is pattering down on the roof.

4 comments:

Dr. Koshary said...

Comfy chairs, I find, are essential to pleasant work spaces. I have consistently spent more on cushy desk chairs for my home office than I have for beds.

Sisyphus said...

The true bastion of comfiness is, of course, a couch. But I like the idea of working in that other room as well as my living room, and there is no way I could afford (or lift!) putting a second couch in upstairs.

Flavia said...

It had never occurred to me how inconvenient the black & white cat is! You're thwarted no matter what color furniture/clothing you buy!

My sympathies. Except they're so cute that you really don't deserve any sympathy.

anthea said...

Yay for your new comfy chair! I'm a fan of the sofa in an office since it means that the afternoon doze that I like/need take to burn the midnight oil is possible.