Well, after much reluctance, I have had an Ikea experience. Voluntarily and not at the behest of my mom. There was the same walking in circles and getting stuck behind slow-moving people that I remembered, but then I found the Work Area area — and within, the Object of Desire. In this case the Object of Desire was a metal computer desk with a price tag under $40 US. His name is Krister (say hello, Krister). The main selling point: not only is there plenty of room for the monitor, but you can actually tilt it backward so that you’re not craning your neck to look into the screen.
There’s room for my knees underneath, which was an unexpected bonus. Another plus is the fact that my cat doesn’t have enough room to jump up on the keyboard, so when he wants my attention, he just puts his claws in my leg. As though I were a scratching post. He does it as gently as he can, though.
It seemed odd that in the Seattle store there weren’t lots of Swedes wandering around like there were in Palo Alto. Then again, I never made it to the cafeteria :P
I now have 4 pieces of furniture: the desk, the swivel chair, the wide bookshelf, and a piece of the old desk that the movers didn’t break. It’s the side shelf that went under the desktop and is pretty handy. Chances are good that I’ll never put the other desk back together.
