Videos hosted by Michael Erlewine

I have been in this tiny office since 1980. It seems that it has always been this way. Even when I had an incredible (and large) office in Ann Arbor, Michigan at my company AMG (All-Music Guide, All-Movie Guide, All-Game Guide, etc.), where 150 full-time people worked (and then add an additional 700 freelancers) I preferred to be in a cubbyhole at home away from all the endless meetings that had to go on.

If there is one thing I really am not cut out for, it is business meetings. I find that there are people who only excel at meetings, and the rest of the time they are not good for much. I always want to get through a meeting as fast as possible, to just escape. Anyway, enough of that.

In this tiny office I have three computers running, one just for email, and the other two for different kinds of applications, including a very fast one for video work. The high temperatures from the computers alone almost heat my office in winter, and in summer, I roast.

I should have moved to a larger office years ago, but where? There are no other rooms (where I live) that would work and I am not about to leave my house and have an office elsewhere, so here I sit. Wedged in with me are my desk, shelves, a couch large enough to nap on, and a flat screen TV hanging on the wall. Even though I have the same size screen in the living room, we tend to watch movies here in my tiny office. You can fit four people on the couch and one in my office chair, not to mention at least one dog, and sometimes another dog visiting. Of course the dogs want to be right in here with us and whine if we lock them out. It is very cozy.

I am not really complaining and this office is almost doable. It is all the cords that have me in my current tizzy just now. They are literally everywhere, especially back there behind things where they collect dust. And they barely all work. This system has reached a point where something has to be done and I am thinking just how to do it.

For one, I have to get some new circuits in here, ones with banks of plugs to replace the octopus of plugs I have now. And I am going to do it, but how? I have a friend who is an electrician. That is how.

For starters, one plan I have is to temporarily get almost everything out of my office and go from there. I will add the new electrical circuits with large banks of three-prong plugs and everything will be neat (at least for a while). Then I will move my stuff back in.

I wish I had a new layout plan, but over the years I have kind of tried them all, with the end result being that any plan ends up with stuff just being packed in here with me. As I said earlier, here I sit.

Many years ago, my father had a desk in this same small office with me. Now that was bumper to bumper. The only reason I put up with it was because Dad was never interested in what I did because for the most part it did not make any money. My father was a comptroller, so he was all about money and I didn't have any. My lack of interest in ordinary business caused my dad and myself to be distant. We seldom talked about anything of importance.

Then, toward the end of his life, when I was actually making a little money from the software company I started, we bridged that long-term gap. Dad came and, as I said, had a desk in my office. I don't know that we said all that much more, but there was a sense of peace to came between us. For me, getting my father's blessing was very difficult, but that short time that we shared this very tiny office was a meeting of the minds, a softening of the spirit between us. I am grateful for that opportunity.

Anyway, I will do something with this office.

[Photo taken recently]