Winter Quarters

Brought to you by the weather.

In the olden days, war in inhospitable climes saw a hiatus while armies marched to their winter quarters somewhere warmer. Winter has finally arrived in Minnesota — and I'd be displaying a chilly photo if the stupid MMS network weren't down again — so I've taken a hint from those great military minds and established winter quarters of my own. Alas, I have not moved to the Bahamas; I've only set up an auxiliary office on the second floor of Sensational Acres. Why? Because heat rises, and everybody knows the Media Sensation is hot, or wants to be.

It's long been my habit to do my leisure reading upstairs during the winter, lounging on my bed in light pjs without cranking the furnace. My new laptop computer and wireless network have also made surfing from the Serta possible. However, if I wanted to do any writing with pen and paper, as I did this evening, or watch a movie, I had to do it downstairs at my desk or downstairs in my living room. With the price of heating fuel expected to rise as fast as the temperature falls this winter, I wanted to take better advantage of thermal physics, so I decided to put some effort into my upstairs arrangements.

It was quite an operation. First, I had to build a desk. And by "build," of course I mean "haul scrap lumber and some retired end tables in from the garage and pile them up." The lumber is slabs of ½-inch MDF (multidirectional fiberboard) left over from last year's near-eternal pantry shelf project: two small rectangles and a large rectrapezoid. The end tables are iron-framed nesting tables I bought when I moved to the Twin Cities 12 years ago. These things are all very heavy when you're hauling them up the stairs.

Like all armies, I march on my stomach. I paused here for a strawberry-cream cheese muffin.

Setting up the desk was the easy part. I slipped the small pieces of MDF beneath the shorter of the nesting tables and laid a slim paperback book on top to bring the surface level with that of the larger table. I set the large piece of MDF on top and bam! Instant desk.

The hard part was getting my electronics connected. Like all houses built before 2004, Sensational Acres lacks the number of electrical outlets needed for my high-tech lifestyle. I needed to plug at least three items — reading lamp, computer, and Treo charger — into the single outlet in my office corner. I trotted downstairs for a three-receptacle adapter I knew I had in the junk drawer and trotted back up with it. Oops, it was a three-pronger that needed an adapter of its own to plug into the wall. Trot trot trot back downstairs to the junk drawer; trot trot trot back up with the device. All this activity raised my temperature a bit, but I knew the glow wouldn't last. So I crawled under/behind the papasan chair to do all the plugging — in the dark, since I had to unplug the lamp to rearrange everything.

But it all came together in a moment, and now I'm good to go. My bedroom has become a fully functional multimedia work and entertainment center. The iBook shoulders most of the load: web surfing, DVD playing, music playing. With the flat surface of the desk available, I can now also work on a freelance project without shivering in my first-floor office. And the best part is, I can do it all in a t-shirt and lounging pants with the thermostat set at "don't break the bank." Winter quarters! Worth the effort.

Today around the world: November 15 is Peace Day in Ivory Coast — and elsewhere, I hope.