Woodworking as a hobby really seems to touch upon something for those of us who work on a computer all day long. The physical aspect is rewarding; whatever you

Woodworking as a hobby really seems to touch upon something for those of us who work on a computer all day long. The physical aspect is rewarding; whatever you create is real instead of the ephemeral virtuality of software. Moving from an apartment to a house with room for a (small) workshop was liberating in that respect. Ikea furniture truly is well engineered though, and I agree with the environmental benefit of Ikea flat-pack furniture — although I am critical of the mindset it fosters where furniture is now a consumable rather than a long term investment. Whenever people dump broken and worn down Ikea furniture by the road side for collection by the municipal garbage service, I forage a bit for the clever Ikea hardware (like those handy demountable nuts and bolts used in the Billy) for use in my own projects.