We Really Didn’t Need Any Desk Lamps.
Years ago, I had desk lamps all over my apartment. I’d picked them up from people who didn’t need them, probably mostly from my parents, and used them as table lamps because I was too poor to get table lamps of my own.
Then I got married. Bill had at least one desk lamp, too, which he used – surprisingly – on his desk. Bill also had some table lamps, and then my sister gave me some table lamps, and my parents gave me some more table lamps. And we furnished our house with all the lamps we could need!
But we really didn’t need any desk lamps. Our desks were well-lit by sunshine, and computers need less light than typewriters do, so I got rid of all of our desk lamps. I freecycled most of them, meaning – I gave them away.
Then Dylan had his college orientation, and we visited a sample room in his dorm. His bed is going to be lofted, and his desk will be under his bed.
It’s dark under his bed. Not pitch black, by any stretch, but dark enough that it might be nice if he had – you guessed it – a desk lamp.
So I started shopping online for desk lamps. This is not an easy task, since they now come with USB ports and clip-on devices. They have extra long cords, for those who have few electrical outlets, and battery-operated desk lamps for those who have no electrical outlets at all. Some of the reviews of the desk lamps imply that the USB chargers stop working after a month or two of use. Other reviews claim having four USB chargers is the best thing.
Desk lamps range in price from about $5 to around $200.
I was losing my mind. I spent a whole day shopping online before whining to Facebook friends. I kept searching, after friends gave me tips. And then – after a long Friday – I decided to order a bunch of new sandals for my summer wardrobe instead.
Saturday morning, I took the dog out to a yard sale that I found online. It was a 20-minute drive, and turned out to be in a townhome development. The “multi-family” sale actually encompassed only two families, and there were only two tables of sale items.
I went all the way to the other side of town for THIS?!?
I parked anyway, since I had the dog, and walked about half a mile to the yard sale. I didn’t expect to find anything I needed but there – right in the center of one of the two tables – sat a desk lamp.
It was silver, no USB cords, and no light bulb. And amidst all of the $20 pottery and $10 wall hangings, the desk lamp was marked with a little post-it note that said, FREE.
“Does this work?” I asked the yard sale guy.
“It works fine,” he said. “My wife just doesn’t like it.”
“Does it use regular light bulbs?”
“Yep, LED or any kind of regular-sized light bulb.”
“And it’s free?”
“Sure,” he said. “Enjoy.”
So I walked the desk lamp – and my dog – half a mile back to my car.
Two weeks later, Bill needed a lamp to work on something, so he turned on Dylan’s desk lamp and used it for light. It’s July, but five minutes later, I started checking to see if we’d inadvertently turned on the heat. The “free” lamp was putting out so much heat, I thought it might catch on fire before Bill finished his work.
We threw away the free desk lamp, and I bought him one online.
Sigh.