Some Assembly Required

In an effort to make our spare bedroom a little nicer, Katharine and I went out and bought a new bookshelf unit from Crate and Barrel this afternoon. Originally I was going to order it online, but a Crate and Barrel store nearby actually had it in stock (which is more than I can say for Best Buy and TiVO). I wouldn't have to pay the ridiculous $50 in shipping costs. We went and picked up this Puzzle Bookcase ourselves. OK...really...Katharine picked it up and I did what I've been doing ever since I injured whatever abdominal muscle, tendon, or joint that I injured several months ago...which was feel utterly useless as she loaded the car. Anyway...back to the story.

So, we're making our spare bedroom nicer...well...again...it's not much of a spare BEDROOM, because there's no spare bed. It's more of a home office with a futon frame. We won't discuss what happened to the mattress. We bring home the puzzle bookcase, which says that some assemby is required. It comes in 3 boxes which contain the left side, the right side, and the two connector sides, which are actually not sides, but middles. SOME assembly required. Here's the assembly:

Does that look like SOME assemby required? The bag of parts alone was about 5 pounds...that doesn't sound like a lot, but when I say parts...I mean screws, plastic caps and dowel thingys. Oh...and cams, which are the most annoying pieces of hardward to date. Those tiny metal things that actually lock themselves to other screw heads. Hate them. There's always one that doesn't lock on quite right. So this took pretty much all afternoon...into the evening...and then we had to put all the books back. There are a lot...even though I don't read. Well...I CAN read...just slow. The result of all my bitching and Katharine's lifting: