When you're going to have a baby, it's traditional to "get ready" for its arrival by doing a bunch of unnecessary painting and re-arranging that you probably should have done anyway, but now can actually persuade yourself to do because "the baby is coming!".

I decided that not only did the baby require my office to be cleaned up and painted, it also needed a baby junk shelf. So, having invented, and subsequently resigned myself to this parental duty, I began by obtaining the cheapest wood I could find. This is an important first step in the construction of a quality product. Note that down. The 12" boards came from the store varying in width by as much as a quarter inch, thus much hilarity ensued. I also enjoyed several bouts of mis-measurement, most often followed immediately by frenzied drilling/cutting, cut short by a rare moment of rationality in which I realized my error, and frantic and fruitless attempts to obscure the evidence of my ineptitude. Surprisingly enough, the project did actually get completed.

Behold, with wonder and amazement, the intricate bookshelf of my personal design and construction. I call it "El cheapo Maximus":