OBJECTIVE:
As an author, comedy writer and stand-up comic my objective was to create an office space that would truly inspire my creativity while also being colorful, fun and above all else functional.

I had always been a fan of Superman comics and I knew the term ‘Superman’ was originally ‘Ubermensch’. The German philosopher Friedrich Niettzsche coined this word in 1833 and the definition was to suggest an individual whose creativity transcended ordinary human limitations. Since I make my living by being creative, it was the combination of my love for Superman along with the very definition regarding creativity that made choosing “Superman” for my office theme pretty much perfect. Plus what could possibly be more fitting for a stand-up comic than a comic book office?

As a writer I require a desk that is a bit larger than most. I spend 8-10 hours a day in my office and work on several books and articles at the same time so I needed space to spread out. I also wanted hidden storage areas so I wouldn’t have annoying computer cables all across my desktop along with a clunky printer taking up space. Bookshelves were also a priority in order to hold the many books I use for research. After designing my office on paper I then set up a personal goal of spending only one thousand dollars for the cost of the entire room including furniture, paint, desk, bookshelves and carpet. I’m proud to say that we achieved my goal and actually had money left over. But it sure wasn’t easy. Thankfully my best friend and roommate Robert Browning, is a skilled electrician and carpenter who helped me make the super office of my dreams.

TOTAL COST OF OFFICE:
$976.62 (Including Batman TV, Computer monitor, desk materials, bookshelves, wood flooring, paint, artwork, lighting, and furniture.) We saved a little over $1,700 by using coupons, purchasing only damaged wood, and decorating with items found on clearance. Plus we did all the work ourselves and saved even more.

MOST INNOVATIVE IDEAS:
• Building a comic book epoxy desk.
• Turning the closet into a second desk space.
• Housing two large file holders inside of a hinged leather trunk. This allows it to function as a file cabinet while also doubling as extra seating.
• Hiding the unsightly office paper shredder inside of a hinged leather ottoman.
• Designing one side of the desk base to hold the printer and computer. This keeps them out of sight and away from cluttering my desktop.
• Building additional built in bookshelves UNDER both desks out of scrap lumber.
• Creating floating bookshelves that mimic the shape of the desk and incorporating them into the theme of the room by crafting comic book back splashes.
• Displaying the comedy books that I’ve written by framing them and featuring them as artwork.
• Using inexpensive comic books, postcards and magazine covers as additional artwork.

HOW WE MADE A SUPER OFFICE:

Step One:
Locating the desk materials: I measured my printer and knew that I wanted it to be housed in a bottom cabinet of my soon to be built desk. Taking my measurements I visited a local cabinetmaker and purchased some unfinished kitchen cabinetry that would work perfectly. I then cut of the bases so they would be the proper desk height.

Step Two:
I went to Lowe’s and priced some sheets of oak for the top of my desk. I noticed two oak boards that were damaged and I was able to purchase them at 50% off. Realizing that damaged wood could easily be used for my floating bookshelves and desk back splash as well, I immediately drove to four other Lowes and Home Depot stores in search of more damaged oak. After checking back at each store on every Monday over a six week period I eventually purchased all of the oak that I would need for my entire project and saved a LOT of money in the process.

Rob and I split the responsibilities for the office design. I did all of the shopping and purchasing at a discount as well as the travel to retrieve everything. He executed the cutting of the bookcases and desktop. We then worked together to sand and stain the pieces as well as glue them together.

Since the room I was turning into an office used to be a bedroom, I decided I didn’t need the closet. Rob and I then discussed putting an additional built in desk in the closet by removing the closet doors. We then decided to build additional shelving and bookcases for the closet as well. Now it makes for a great second workspace

Note: Most wood is purchased on the weekends at these stores. Damaged pieces are set aside. By going in first thing on Monday mornings I got first dibs on any damaged wood left over by weekend browsers. I saved a total of $220.00 by purchasing damaged pieces. (And they say only women know how to shop!)

Step Three:
While waiting to purchase all of the damaged oak I would need, I decided to go ahead and lay wood flooring and paint the office. I checked the paint section regularly at my local Lowe’s and found some paint that had been returned and was greatly marked down. It was a bronze/orange mix that I thought would be perfect. (Saved $62.00 by purchasing returned paint) I then bought some damaged crown molding pieces (saving $28.00) and went ahead and stained them the same color that I had stained the desk cabinet bottoms so they would all match.

Step Four:
I was browsing a “Foozles Discount Books” store and found some books that had the art work from the covers of the first twenty-five years of Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman comic books. I purchased two copies of each book and they were $1.99 each. (Regularly they were $11.95 so I bought 6 books for the price of one and saved $68.00) I then invited some friends over to help cut out the two thousand different miniature comic book covers and we made a party out of it. We had a lot of fun cutting out comics and showing the different artwork to each other while we did it.

Step Five:
Once Rob had the shape of my massive 7 ½’ x 7 ½’ desktop cut out of the oak twice, we glued the two pieces together for extra strength and thickness. Then we stained the desk top to match the crown molding and the cabinet bottoms.

Step Six:
Creating the desktop artwork. Gluing the comic books covers down was probably the most time consuming part but it was also the most fun. Rob staggered the comic covers in a herring bone pattern at the place where the desktop curves so the comic pattern wouldn’t be interrupted. It looked beautiful when it was done. We were now ready for the epoxy pour to protect my comic artwork and to also give my desk a shiny and smooth surface.

Step Seven:
Once the desk was finished and installed I got started on the bookshelves. Using the extra damaged oak pieces that I had made it a breeze. I also decided to create additional “floating” bookshelves for above my desk that I could then utilize for displaying my Comic Book knick-knacks. Rob mimicked the pattern of my desktop for the shelves to go above it and also mimicked the desktop for the built in bookshelves that I would place underneath it. I had extra comic book covers left over from my desk top and decided to glue them to boards and create a back splash of comics for every floating shelf. These were sealed with decoupage however and not epoxy. The final results looked great.
NOTE: The bookshelves and back splashes work great for running all of the power cords behind to keep them hidden from sight and the bookshelves themselves have flannel on the bottom base so they can slide in and out as needed in case I need to reach the wiring.

Step Eight:
I found some picture frames that some of my regular sized comics would fit into and decided to use them as artwork for my walls. I stained the frames the same color as the desk. Then I bought some picture mats and placed the comics in them so they would fit the frames. (The frames were $2.50 each.) I then purchased three superhero posters and Rob built the frames out of the scrap oak left over from the bookshelves and desk. I also found some superhero postcards and greeting cards and framed them for artwork as well. The total cost for all artwork including frames was $92.00.

Step Nine:
I bought a beautiful armchair for $5.00 at a yard sale. (Easily my best buy!) I then recovered it with some discount faux leather material I had purchased at JoAnn Fabrics using a 50% off coupon. (Saving $32). I went back the next week and used a different 50% off coupon for the curtain material, which I then sent to my Mom in Washington State so she could make the curtains for me. (Mom’s are GREAT!)

Step Ten:
I went to a Hobby Lobby store and saw a large leather trunk that matched my now reupholstered chair. I decided that I could put my entire filing cabinet into the leather trunk if I ran the rails right inside of it. After making measurements I realized that they would work perfectly. I waited until Hobby Lobby put out its monthly 50% off any one-item coupon and then purchased the trunk saving $100.00. I brought it home and installed the rails for a hanging file holder inside. Now I have all of my files and paperwork safely hidden from view and also have a beautiful trunk for sitting in front of my window on. I then realized that I could get the ottomans that matched the trunk and use it for storing my paper shredder from sight. The next month I went back with an additional 50% of any one-item coupon and purchased the hinged ottoman box saving $50.00. I drilled a hole in the bottom of the trunk for the electrical cord from my shredder to fit through. The shredder is now out of sight and the ottoman looks beautiful.

Step Eleven:
I wanted a wall where I could showcase the books that I’ve written. We decided to frame my books as well as a few newspaper articles that I’ve been featured in. By using different colored picture mats to outline the books we were able to mimic the multi-colored comic book theme. The crowning touch was to frame the Superman poster that was issued in New York to honor the fallen heroes from the 9/11 tragedy. We placed it on the back of the office door so I can always see it. We also framed the Superman poster from the “Got Milk?” campaign below it.

CLOSING STATEMENT:

We are both very proud of the completed office and I think it’s safe to say that we are indeed both “Supermen.” (At least as far as living up to the definition of Ubermensch as the original term.) We’re two “individuals whose creativity transcends ordinary human limitations.” I believe we show that in our creative office design.

HOW TO MAKE AN EPOXY DESK

Here is a list of all the steps to make your own epoxy desk along with the materials that will be needed. I’m going to write this section as if I am personally teaching you to make your own epoxy desk.

Materials:
J roller – used for laminating countertops. Lowes or Home Depot.
Rags (use old T-shirts, as they will leave less lint)
Paint mixing pails (for mixing epoxy)
Paint mixing stick (for mixing epoxy)
Brushes (for spreading glue adhesive)
Glue (Use a craft glue that dries clear and strong)
Acetone/Denatured alcohol (for cleaning brushes)
Epoxy (Non-blushing)
Floor covering (to protect the floor from any epoxy spill)

Where to get epoxy:
For doing a small project you can get epoxy at a home hardware store. For larger objects such as a desk, or counter top I highly recommend going to the John Greer website at www.jgreer.com to order it. You will need The Green System for countertops. John Greer is a great Internet resource for epoxy and related products. I called the toll free company phone number at (877) 342-8860 and they were ready to receive my calls and provided answers to any questions I had. They were REALLY friendly and extremely helpful.

Note:
Amount of epoxy needed depends on the size of your project. My desk used two gallons of epoxy.

Preparation:
Prepare the surface by lightly sanding it. This will help pictures you glue down to adhere better. Squeeze glue out and then brush it smooth with a sponge brush before carefully laying down your picture to be glued. Press picture down smoothly by rolling over it repeatedly with the J-roller to remove any air pockets underneath. Wipe excess glue from outer edges of picture with a wet T-shirt rag. Wipe J-roller clean with another damp T-shirt rag before moving on to rolling over another picture. (This keeps the J-roller clean and keeps unwanted lint or dust from accidentally adhering to the top of the next picture to be glued.) Once you have glued all of your pictures down allow them to dry completely overnight.

Setting up for Epoxy Pour
Set your desk top up in a garage or room with a controlled environment. Make sure your desktop is completely level. (Dust and pet hair can adversely affect your project so make sure both are minimized by your location for pouring.

Pouring Epoxy:
Mix appropriate quantity of epoxy using recommended mixing ratios. Depending on the size of the surface and your desired epoxy thickness level, you may want to do additional epoxy pours every 4-12 hours until you are satisfied with the thickness of covering. Allow 24 hours for a total dry and cure time depending on the temperature of the room. It will take a few weeks for it to become totally hardened.

This is the table in the Alaska coffee shop that inspired my office.

Warning!
Understanding that epoxy is a liquid that turns solid, whatever it soaks into will harden and be affected. Keeping that in mind, prepare and protect flooring with a ground covering to catch excess epoxy spill over. Wear safety goggles while pouring. You DO NOT want any of the epoxy to get in your eyes. Extremely dangerous. Wear gloves while pouring. Temperature of room has a great effect on the curing time.

So I drive to Mt. Juliet to and walk into Pay Less Shoes for the BOGO sale- (Cuz I loves me a deal and gotta get my shop on,) and while I innocently browse the aisle, a salesgirl approaches me all perky and says “Hi!!!” Now for some reason she looks very familiar to me but I can’t really place her. I’m thinking “Did I speak at your church? Do I know your parents?” but I don’t ask questions because it’s embarrassing to forget someone’s name. I also don’t want to act like I don’t know her so I just return her greeting with a great big “Hi!” (I say it with a LOT of enthusiasm to compensate for forgetting her name.) She then innocently asks with a big, big smile. “Are you shopping for a friend?” And in my mind I’m thinking “What? Who buys shoes for friends? How would they know they’d fit? ” But all I say out loud while still smiling and still being overly enthusiasticis, “No, I’m just here for me!” Then the girl leans in and whispers to me- “I’m sorry sir, but we don’t carry anything in your size.” I am stunned and look at her questioningly. “You don’t carry size 12 shoes?” I ask. She pauses and looks at me and then she looks at the shelf of shoes as if she is remembering for the first time that she is working at a shoe store and she then turns back to me while wearing a “deer in the headlights” expression. “Oh! Of course we do! Sorry about all that. I just started here. I worked at Old Navy until yesterday.” No other words are exchanged. “Well THAT explains everything,” I sarcastically think to myself. And that is when it suddenly dawns on me that in December I was Christmas shopping at Old Navy- and THAT is where I knew her from. I sigh and follow her to the size 12’s while quietly mumbling to myself-“I thought I recognized you.”

Secret Confessions of a Super Nerd
EPISODE 1
“From Geek to Freak”
By Torry Martin

In high school I was known as the nerdy red-headed chubby guy who always read comic books on the school bus. Needless to say, I was never in the “it-must-be- so- cool-to-be-you” clique. In fact I wasn’t in any clique at all. Most of my peers didn’t even know my name much less what my face looked like as I usually had it hidden behind the latest issue of “Superman,” “Batman,” or “The New Teen Titans”.

I can still remember an incident on the bus when one of the football players called me a “comic book-geek,” then grabbed my brand new copy of the 200th issue of “The Amazing Spider-Man” and engaged the other kids in a big game of “Keep Away from Fatso”. My prized comic book got tossed back and forth from one seat to another until it was eventually nothing more than a torn, crumpled mess on the floorboard of the bus. (By the way, the highest grade of the same issue of that particular comic just sold for $120.00 on Ebay. Can you hear me groaning audibly?) I recall secretly wishing at the time that I could just yell “Flame on!” and activate a full-body flambe’ effect that would transform me into Johnny Storm AKA The Human Torch from The Fantastic Four. There was nothing I would have enjoyed more than to teach my teenage tormentor a lesson in humiliation by roasting him like an acne-covered marshmallow in front of his peers.

Yep, high school was a complete bust for me. Not one day would go by that I wasn’t taunted about my weight, my clumsiness, my social ineptitude or my low I.Q. At times I actually felt like I was attending a school for super villains where retreating into my mental fortress of comic book solitude became my only means of escape. I honestly couldn’t wait for the whole “higher learning” thing to be over so I could be out on my own in the world. I was hoping that receiving my diploma would be like getting the key to another universe– a mirror planet where comic books were on the required reading list, being chubby was “in,” social clumsiness was encouraged and high I.Q.’s were “so last year.”
Little did I know that after graduation I would become a citizen of an even stranger society, where the mocking I’d received earlier was nothing compared to the evil ridicule I’d be subjected to after being transformed from a mild-mannered klutz from a non-metropolitan area into a…(Shazam!)…new creation in Jesus Christ! That’s right. I became a Christian! I was now- “Fatter and growing a mullet! Seeking God with a pure motive! Able to carry a NAS bible that was leather bound! Look, check out that guy! It’s the Word! He’s been changed! It’s…it’s…just a man?

Yup.

Just a man, BUT now I was a man who was serving the God of the universe and trying to love Him with all of his heart, mind and strength. I went from comic geek to Jesus freak and it’s a journey I wouldn’t change for all the super-abilities in the world.

Sure, people still make fun of me. In fact, as believers we get ridiculed and taunted more than ever because Christian bashing is now the “in” thing to do among many in the political or Hollywood elite. It kind of reminds me of high school in a way, except instead of a comic book- it’s the Word of God that the world wants to knock out of our hands and trample underfoot in a big game of “Keep It Out of Public Schools”. But we press on towards the goal because the high price He paid was WAY more costly than anything on eBay. We endure the persecutions for our faith because we don’t want to see anyone go into eternity on full-body flambe’ as a human torch. We love those who hurt us because we are partakers of a heavenly calling and that is how we are to respond. The world is in spiritual darkness but we are to be the light of the world so in the name of Jesus I say “Flame On!”

John 15:19-20 “If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, ‘ A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you.”

(The following information is taken from the Super Hero Manual AKA The Bible.)

MY NOT- SO -SECRET IDENTITY
I am reconciled to God – 2 Cor 5:18
I’m a child of God – He is my Father – 1 Jn 3:1,2
I am a saint – Eph 1:1; 1 Cor 1:2; Phil 1:1
I am Christ’s friend – Jn 15:15
I am a fellow citizen in God’s kingdom – Eph 2:19
I am born of God – 1 Jn 4:7
I have been brought near to Christ – Eph 2:13
I have been adopted by God – Rom 8:15
I’m to be righteous and holy like God – Eph 4:24
I have direct access to God – Eph 2:18

MY INHERITANCE
I am a citizen of heaven – Phil 3:20
I am an heir of God – Rom 8:17
I’ve been rescued from Satan’s domain – Col 1:13
I am a joint heir with Christ – Rom 8:17; Gal 4:7
I am hidden with Christ in God – Col 3:3
I am blessed with every spiritual blessing – Eph 1:3
I am chosen of God – holy, beloved – Col 3:12
I am a child of promise – Rom 9:8; Gal 3:14
I am a child of light, not darkness – 1 Thess 5:5
I’ve been given great promises – 2 Pet 1:4
I am a partaker of Christ – Heb 3:14
I’m one of God’s living stones – 1 Pet 2:5

TRANSFORMATION
I’m a member of a royal priesthood – 1 Pet 2:9
I’m redeemed and forgiven – Eph 1:6-8
I’m to be a stranger to this world – 1 Pet 2:11
I’ve been justified – made righteous – Rom 5:1
I’m an enemy of the devil – 1 Pet 5:8
I have eternal life – Jn 5:24
I died w/Christ to the power of sin – Rom 6:1-6

MY CALLING
I am free from condemnation – Rom 8:1
I am to be salt on the earth – Mt 5:13
I have received the Spirit of God -1 Cor 2:12
I am to be light in the world – Mt 5:14
I have been given the mind of Christ – 1 Cor 2:16
I’m chosen and appointed to bear fruit – Jn 15:16
I have been crucified with Christ – Gal 2:20
I am called to do the works of Christ – Jn 14:12
I am a new creation – 2 Cor 5:17
I am to do what Christ commanded His disciples – Mt 28:20
I have been made alive with Christ – Eph 2:5
I have been given spiritual authority – Lk 10:19
I am God’s workmanship – Eph 2:10
Signs should accompany my work – Mk 16:17-20
I have received fullness in Christ – Col 2:10
I am a minister of a new covenant – 2 Cor 3:6
I am a minister of reconciliation – 2 Cor 5:18,19

MY POSITION
I am to be an expression of life in Christ – Col 3:4
I am connected to the true vine – Jn 15:1,5
I am a partaker of a heavenly calling – Heb 3:1
I’m a willing slave of righeousness – Rom 6:18,22
I am a temple of God – 1 Cor 3:16; 6:19
I am one spirit with the Lord – 1 Cor 6:17