In its most basic form, a physical table is made from a horizontal slab and usually has four vertical legs to support it. A lot of my time is spent sitting on a chair and using my hands to read, write and draw using a mouse and keyboard placed on a table. I even have my dinner (occasionally) on it. It’s probably one of the most made and designed items in the world as it is essentially a must-have: be it at home or at work.
It’s also why I wanted to redesign my wooden IKEA desk into a concrete one but before I show you how I do that, I want to talk about digital tables. In my wealth of experience, everything stems from them: the kind of tables with well defined headers and then rows and rows of carefully chosen data.
History & Examples
Take this table of contents for example, it’s a list of topics that will be covered in this post and in chronological order starting from the top to the bottom. The numbers have also been nested to represent a child topic from its parent. The final version and what you will see is always made at the end but I use it as an outline for brainstorming ideas at the start.
| Section Number | Title |
|---|---|
| #0 | Intro |
| #1 | History & Examples |
| #1.1 | Database |
| #1.2 | Around The World |
| #1.3 | F1 Statistics |
| #1.4 | Bike Upgrades |
| #2 | Concrete Desk |
Database
My earliest memory of seeing the magnificence of tables at work (other than using Excel for homework) was with websites and specifically the backend of them using the MySQL database with PHP. Webpages are made up from gazillions of tables all accessing specific data such as text and numbers when you want them. My world changed when I could retrieve the order status of a product using code like this:
SELECT column_name(s) FROM table_nameThis simple query allowed for selecting a column, in my case, the order status and its row which would have read purchased and then completed once the product was sent. This data was taken advantage of by creating a visual tracker in the style of a traffic light.
Around The World
Last year, I attempted to visit and photograph architecture in every continent.
This required a lot of planning and what came to my rescue? Tables!
The first thing was to decide on the locations which determined the flight schedule, after which hotels were booked and then my favourite part, figuring out how to get around, which usually meant renting a car. In places where that was not possible, public transport was put to the test. I planned for a lot of things such as spots to visit and ticket prices for various attractions but unfortunately I had to cut the trip short for personal reasons. If you want to know if it’s possible to travel the world on a budget, it certainly is.
A few pictures taken on my phone from the trip. For the architectural shots, visit my Flickr album.
I really did put in the kilometres in this workhorse of a car around Eastern Europe. Some of the most stunning roads I have ever driven on!
Even the best plan and roads can’t stop a puncture from happening though. Expect the unexpected.
Where would I be without Google Maps? Lost, that’s for sure. It’s saved me countless times and is probably my favourite app of all time when travelling. Just try not to modify the route while moving. Always park in a safe location before fiddling with it.
And remember, keep the racing on the track. The Yas Marina circuit in Abu Dhabi was breath-taking and I will, one day, drive around it. Typing it into existence. I didn’t time my visit to coincide with the final event on the F1 calendar but I did get to see some 911s whizzing around.
Not sure why the second car was braking on the straight? Maybe they were following the 2 second rule <3
F1 Statistics
There isn’t another sport where numbers are analysed to this extent. Every detail is probably logged in a table of some kind and everything boils down to the position on it. From the rankings to the fastest lap, lower numbers are better. When you see your favourite team at the lower end of the table though, just hope it’s a lucky number because there can only be one number 1.
Bike Upgrades
My grandma got me this bike while I was at university but I stopped using it after I crashed into a tree after speeding down a forest trail at insane speeds. I literally flew off it but thankfully, my helmet saved me. Fast forward a few years later and it was sitting in the garage in need of some Tender Loving Care.
I fired up a spreadsheet and inspected the components currently present. I decided the main thing that would need upgrading is the brakes but also bought a few other parts while I was at it. It really is a good way of extending the life of a product when you can give it a good service. However, I also bought a new bike.
This is the bike now and like any table, it really is the sum of its parts. Blue suits the bike but the mountain tyres make it. The larger disc brakes work really well and I know I won’t be crashing into anything from now on.
Concrete Table
As promised, here is my visual guide in a table of photos on how I added a concrete layer to the wooden surface of my work desk. I bought the concrete mix from a reputable site online but did initially test out some floor leveller that I bought from a local DIY store. This just didn’t have the texture I was going for. The main ingredients being the primer, the concrete mix, the grey coloured dye and resin. I bought enough to cover 1m2 which was just about enough to cover two tables at a depth of about 1mm. It was a really sunny day so that helped the drying time in between the coats.
Real happy with the results as it was just the aesthetic feel I wanted. You may ask why do this to a perfectly good table when it was working just fine but I feel the cost and time needed to, in my opinion, improve it, is time well spent for that high quality finish. Just like the time spent organising and formatting a digital table.
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