At work, I had a big desk. As messy as I can be, I love my desk to be tidy and empty. I hardly use any paper, so the items on my desk are limited to the tech gadgets: monitor, keyboard, mouse, speakers, headphones, microphone, StreamDeck, charging station for my iPhone and Apple Watch. But I just like being able to set something aside and still have a clean space in front of me.

Joy ensued; the desk fit perfectly in the room, and my then-new 34-inch 21:9 monitor was a perfect match. My girlfriend was a bit overwhelmed by the size but immediately saw her opportunity. With a desk that big, two monitors could surely fit. Of course, that was my plan too—for myself. But she meant a second monitor for her. And as we men are, we can’t say no to our women. Since then, I’ve only had half a desk and just one monitor. My girlfriend sits to my left and needs books, paper, and pens. So the desk is no longer as clear as I like it. And instead of upgrading from 120cm to 200cm in width, I’ve now downsized to 100cm.

Two years later, two weeks ago, I’d had enough. One monitor just isn’t enough. There’s no space to the side, but there’s still room to go up. So I bought a desk mount for two monitors on Amazon. That wasn’t so easy. Most aren’t designed for stacking monitors on top of each other. Of course, I no longer had the right cables for my old monitor, so I had to order those as well. Now everything is up and running, and it doesn’t even look that bad. I’d prefer them side-by-side, but the main thing is having a second screen.

As Team Rocket so beautifully puts it, “Looks like we’re blasting off again.”