Balcony computing, redux

I temporarily have a foster dog, now named Mason.

Mason napping on the balcony while I iPad.

He’s awesome, but my senior street stray mutt isn’t having any part of it, and my Labrador loves him so much, my home won’t long survive their hours of excited play. (Imagine zoomies on meth, with a dose of Sunday Night Football.) So I’ve been working on the balcony at night (it’s pleasantly cool, for now...) while Mason chills with me, my Lab looks out at us longingly, and my senior mutt curls up in the bedroom, ignoring all the commotion.

 I’ve had this Best Choice Products Folding Zero Gravity Outdoor Recliner ($70) for a couple of years and it’s comfortable, but not perfect. The elastics on the “pillow” are toast, so it wants to sit around where my waist hits. And the side tray is junk, it doesn’t attach securely and I’m super leery of putting anything of value, or containing liquids, on it. In fact, I don’t even have it attached.

Instead, I picked up this Mr.Power Mic Stand Cup Holder with Phone Holder ($18, though from appearances this $10 SKU would probably be just as good). It doesn’t hold a coffee mug, but it holds my 16 oz. Contigo travel mug or a pint glass, and the phone holder slots my iPhone 14 Pro with room to spare. Sold. The rotating “claw” means I can hang it off one of the angled legs of the chair and have it be level.

Meanwhile, I’ve become so enamored of monitor lights (this one’s my favorite) on my big workstations, I added this Laptop Monitor Light Bar ($20) to my laptop for night use. (It comes with a USB A to USB C adapter, FYI.) Fits a MacBook Air perfectly and I much prefer having the controls built into the light itself, vs. in a module danging in the cord.

Still using a Logitech Pebble i345 Bluetooth Optical Mouse ($20, renewed) mouse with the laptop.

All of that balances on a LAPGEAR MyDesk ($20).