Adventures in online shopping

Because I spend so much time lying on my back but still in some pain, I've been struggling to find a comfortable position in which to use my laptop, especially to type. My friend Diane sent me a link she found to a product called the Laptop Laidback Ergonomic Laptop Table, for sale on a site called ActiveForever.com, where you can get a wide variety of medical support products.

I took a look, but wanting to be a discerning shopper, Googled "laptop table" and came up with not much except another product that I thought looked a bit more versatile, called a LapDawg. So I ordered that one. I believe it's a Canadian product. It arrived promptly; I opened the box, tried to assemble it and within 90 seconds had sliced open my thumb on the edge of a metal slot that the legs kept falling out of. I immediately packed it up, blood stains and all, and returned it. I did get a refund, except for the shipping costs to send it back.

I went back to ActiveForever.com, and tried to order the Laidback. The company is based in Arizona and would not ship to Canada. No problem -- I called a friend in Chicago, who said I could have it shipped to her, so she could in turn ship it to me. But the online payment form would not even accept payment from a credit card with a Canadian address. At their suggestion, I ended up using a third-party shopping service called MyUS.com, which, for a fee, will provide you with a U.S. address to ship to, and then forward your purchase. For another fee, I had to use their "personal shopper" service to have them actually buy it, pay for it, and rebill me. It was quite a process, and all in U.S. dollars, so I ended up paying about double the price of the item.

When it arrived, I noticed a label on the back that said it was made in China -- and designed in Nova Scotia. Suddenly I realized that I had never actually Googled the name Laptop Laidback Ergonomic Laptop Table (although I did Google "laptop table," and the Laidback, I'm sure, only came up at ActiveForever.com). As it turns it, you can order it directly from its Nova Scotia maker. In Canadian dollars. Or from Amazon. For all I know, it's for sale at a medical-supply store in Toronto. Sigh. Lesson learned.

The good news: It's a wonderful product. It took a couple of friends 15 minutes to figure out how to assemble it, but it's sturdy and does exactly what it should do, which is provide a way to use a laptop on one's back, at virtually any angle. If you're forced to lie completely flat and not lift your head at all, you can attach little Velcro pads to the bottom of your computer and stick it to the table so it doesn't fall on your face.

If I use it while lying on an incline, I can't type for very long without considerable pain, but that's not the fault of the table. In any case, I highly recommend it. Oh, and MyUS.com does work.