As I was preparing to work on another praxis (you will see it when it is done), I realized that a topographical map for my location of focus might be useful. As such, I gathered my supplies, and ventured out into an area that is truly mine, and chose a location that is known for its uneven, highly volatile topography. I knew that I would need to complete this task within a short window of time, because the topography of my area of focus is constantly changing, with frequent deposits of new material, and the unfortunate tendency toward avalanches.

Here it is, ladies and gentlemen: my desk.


At first, I had planned to map out the entire desk surface, but once I began my work, I realized that would be too daunting a task for the time window that was available to me, so I ultimately focused in on one self-contained area of the overall surface: the keyboard shelf. I did not decide that, however, until partway through the task, so all of my earlier planning considers the main surface level of the desk in its entirety.

So. The first step was to plan out my mode of attack, and gather supplies. A t-square for accurate measuring, a dozen pencils, mostly for stakes to hold the following supply: string. Here, I am recycling string from an unfinished project. Masking tape to hold things together without doing any damage. And, of course, some graph paper on which to organize my data.


The first step was to get my tools ready. My original plan was to use something thin and pointy and poke down to the solid surface beneath the shifting piles. Clearly, the T-square was not going to do the trick.


Unfortunately, I had neither chopsticks nor knitting needles, so I had already planned to use one of my pencils. In order for the pencil to actually measure, however, it need to be turned into a ruler.

Not wanted to waste a perfectly good pencil by writing all over it, I covered the pencil with masking tape - note the sushi-like rolling technique.


Then, I used the ruler to add markings to it. I decided to mark every quarter inch.


Of course, before I was willing to hold the pencil in my hand and all around my desk, I had to check that the ink would not rub off.


Success! So I made the inch markers longer, added numbers, and was all set to go.

The next order of business was to make a chart on which to mark my findings. First, I had to obtain the dimensions of the desk. Measuring width? no problem. Depth was much harder due to the furniture up against both sides of the desk, so I measured one of the legs instead.


I wrote down the dimensions, then calculated the square inch-age:


I decided that it would be unreasonable to take a measurement for every square inch - it would take far too long - so I chose, instead, to do what looked like a much more manageable sample: squares of 3 inches.


I then made a chart on graph paper, with each square inch represented by one box on the graph. As it turned out, I miscounted, and had to tape on an extra row of graph paper. I also drew in a dot at every third inch. That was where I would write in my measurements.


Once the chart was ready, I set out to make my grid on the desk itself. I bgan with the keyboard shelf, and taped a pencil to each front corner. Between the pencils, I hung a string.


Then, I marked the string at 3 inch intervals. My first idea was to use paperclips, but the string sagged. Next: pieces of masking tape. Ah, that all-purpose masking tape. Much better!


I used my new pencil ruler to determine where the markers should go.


Then, I measured from floor to shelf to get the lowest elevation measurement. I ended up considering the shelf surface "0', so I never used this information - but I did record it.


And then, the measurements. I began with the front left corner. No problem measuring it. Then, I recorded the info. I decided to use a special notation in which I used a dot higher up than a decimal, and each digit afterward was a quarter of an inch. so 2.2 really meant 2.5 inches.



I took the second measurement, then abandoned my unique system in favor of more standard notation.


When the front edge was done, I measured 3 inches in and reattached the pencils and string.


Suddenly, the measuring was not so easy. For one spot, I tried making my own sort of t-square to determine the measurement from further forward, but ti didn't work so well.


Then, I realized I could measure down and subtract. So I measured the height of the string, then measured down to the surface.


By the third set of measurements, however, the string would no longer hang taut. The pencils kept leaning in the wrong directions.


So it was time for another idea. I decided to make a stiff pole to go across the tops of the pencils. I taped four pencils together, but it wasn't staying straight.


I tried to stabilize it with toothpicks, but the toothpicks were not entirely flat, so it didn't work so well.


So, I cut the heads off some matches and attached those at the joints instead.


Then, I made the same 3 inch markings with tape on the pencils - and with green marker on the ones that fell on the joints. The left side of the tape is the mark.



And I tried my newest bright idea... and it failed.


Enter the next idea: if I could measure down from the string, why not measure down from another reference point? The main surface of the desk? So I measured the distance between the main surface and the shelf.


I laid a string directly across the surface from the 6-inch mark on the left side to the one on the right side and taped it down.


Then, because I needed a way to find the 3 inch increments on the way across, I laid my t--square along the top surface of the desk and taped it down.


I then recruited my shorter T-square to hold my pencil steady at the right spot and measured by taking the difference once again.


The final line across the keyboard shelf was right up against the desk, so I moved the ruler outward and measured behind it.


At long last, hours after I had begun, my measurements for the keyboard shelf were completed. Somewhere along the way, I had made the decision not to take measurements on the main surface of the desk, so I was now ready to figure out my map.


Of course, this is where I hit my next challenge: I had no clue how to make a topographical map. Google to the rescue.


Once I understood how it worked, I decided to color-code the spots on my graph to help me plan it out. I made a key, then put the appropriate color box by each number. In the end, this turned out to be fairly useless to me.


Then, I began to sketch out some lines. I started to get the feel of it, and realized that the space I was working in was both too messy and too small.


So I wrote out the numbers with five boxes in between each point this time, on a fresh page. Yet again, I miscounted, and had to erase and rewrite the numbers so that they would all fit on the page.


And here it is, the entire map.


Then, I decided some color might help, so I assigned each whole inch a different color, with the highest point in yellow and the lowest in violet. I used colored pencils to color it in.


And, voila! Here it is, the finished product. Check out the proof for a few detailed photos.


When I was done, I cleaned everything up and threw away a significant quantity of masking tape. I am pleased to report that no pencils were harmed in the making of this map.

Please note: while I was posting this, the locations of the photos were getting somehow changes around by the website - and the system would not let me fix it. So I hope all the photos matched up in the way that i pasted them in rather than what I am seeing in the preview.