Notes from the Field: A Little Help from a Friend

By Cheryl Katz

After a DHL truck totaled my Volvo wagon, I called my friend Dave, a lawyer, for a little free legal advice. Recently, when I chipped a tooth, I called Howard, whom I’ve known for years and is, lucky for me, a highly respected dentist. I call my foodie friends for recipes, my theater friends for tickets, and my writer’s group friends for book recommendations.

So when our dear friends Joel and Martha asked for our input on a small addition they were planning for their house on the Cape, we were only to happy to help. At last we could repay others for their kindness. We probably got carried away and Joel and Martha probably got more advice than they had bargained for.

In return for what was supposed to be a little free helpful advice, Joel and Martha repaid the favor with a brand new TV. Now truth be told, before their generous gift Jeffrey and I didn’t watch much TV. Since, when we get home from the studio, we spend most of our time in the kitchen on the first floor, and our old TV was in our bedroom on the fourth floor, by the time we trudged upstairs it was well past eleven and the TV acted like Ambien (but without the side effects, save for the rude bluish-white light that woke us up at about three in the morning when we forgot to shut the thing off).

Fast-forward to Joel and Martha’s gift–a sleek 46†Samsung. It now sits proudly in our library-cum-TV room on the third floor. Dozens of On Demand movies and a complete season of “Boardwalk Empire†later, we’re TV converts with only one issue to resolve:  Where do we put the thing? An old typewriter stand that the new beauty currently totters on (seriously!) doesn’t do our new TV a bit of  justice.

Here are a few of the replacements that we’re considering. We’d love some advice.

CB2, Go Cart Camo Media Cart

USM, Modular System

Blu Dot, Son of a Bench

Richard Woods and Sebastian Wrong, Wrongwoods, Established & Sons