A Stable Platform

Sometimes I write on my laptop. I lay it on a table if I can, but will settle for the floor or my actual lap. The key is to have a steady, sturdy platform. I have to be careful, of course. Typing too hard is not good for the keyboard, which cannot be separated from the rest of the computer for replacement. The Qwerty layout is supposed to have been designed to make people ease up on the old typewriters, but that doesn't seem to be enough for me.

At least as susceptible is the keyboard for my other computer- a desktop model. I have a computer desk with a roll-out tray for the keyboard. I don't think I assembled it properly to begin with, and this was some ten years ago. It has since been disassembled and moved more than once. It's a questionable set-up at this point. One end of that tray is held into its mounting by entirely the wrong sort of screw. I don't know if it's from the original set or not.

Most of the time the tray holds, but I'm always aware of its chronic infirmity. It's like a rope bridge Indiana Jones might have to cross. It works, but you know it won't every time. It will fail, and catastrophically so. It always happens when I'm unwary. There's a bang noise, and out pops the screw. The tray sags, and I start swearing. I'm angry that my train of thought has been interrupted and that I have been scared by the noise.

I get out my keychain and find the screwdriver part. I spend some time canvassing for the screw. Once I find it, I slide it back into the hole and start screwing it in. Each time, I figure I must be screwing it in deeper to bite into the wood. I imagine that some time or another I will see the tip appear at the top of the table. It probably will then come up further with each incident. I'll probably need to get a nut to tighten it from the top end as well. Nothing can stop this except a wife or girlfriend to insist I get a new desk.