Taxi

My space saver came really fast - arrived today. I had it shipped to work brilliantly. It wasn't heavy but it was bulky meaning another taxi ride was in my future. There was a Home Depot in walking distance of work, so I ran there post-worktime for the additional closet shelf I wanted. Yes, they do have Home Depots in NYC (and kudos to that).

I looked around for the lumber section but didn't find it. Instead, I stumbled across a pre-fabbed shelving section! Perfect, since all of my closet hardware was painted white. I found a piece long enough - a bit too long actually. I found a clerk and asked them to cut it down only to find out that they can't cut it down in New York City. What?!? Methinks I got lied to. But I decided to be resourceful. I went to the saws section and picked out the only one under $200 - a $35 jigsaw. With the shelf I spent just over $50. Not too bad. I forgot my change of address coupon but I knew I'd be back for a shelf to add to my kitchen - a brilliant plan I'll expand on in a future post.

I grabbed a taxi, a Ford Escape hybrid SUV. My driver was hysterical. He had a son just starting high school. He was worried because his son wanted to get a job. How funny! The driver asked me funny questions about my first job and I found out his son goes to Brooklyn Tech, which is where my Dad went. A neat coincidence. We talked about the pressure to get into a good college. When we got to my building, he helped me unload my stuff. I tipped him well.

Inside, I set up two boxes as my sawhorse and read the operating instructions for the saw. Okay, I read the box. Okay, I looked at the pictures on the box. I put on my hiking boots to protect my feet and carefully inserted the saw blade. I turned it on briefly to test it and then measured twice on the shelf. I marked the proper length and prepared to cut.

Man, the saw was hard to control. There was a lot of vibration and I had a hard time keeping the saw on the line. Sawdust flew everywhere. When the cut was done, I reviewed my work and laughed. I'd gone horribly off-course on the second half of the shelf. I fixed my cut. The cut side had jagged edges from the saw, but I didn't care. Time to put the shelf in.

There was already support wood in the closet for the shelf. It was hard to maneuver the shelf in. I had to finagle it in diagonally and then flip it so it laid horizontally as it should. I did this only to find out the shelf was too long. Oy. I pulled the shelf back out, measured again and cut the board down by an inch. I finagled it back into the closet. Still too long. Rinse, repeat. Still too long. By this time it was 9:30 and too late to politely try again. I'll go to bed without the shelf installed.