By Mark O’Neill

I live in a pretty neat place. My girlfriend and I live in a small apartment which is connected to her parents house. Our apartment and their house is completely connected by a network that runs our internet, telephones and satellite TV.

When I first moved here years ago, I thought that it was amazing – how everything can be run out of one little room using a computer, server and network, how nearly every room in the house had a computer with internet connection. Every room that is, except the kitchen and the bathroom.

Well, two years back, we finally got a computer and internet access in the kitchen. Only the bathroom remains internet-free, although I suspect that may not last for long. I want to be able to instantly IM my girlfriend that we are out of toilet rolls and I can’t let the toilet get in the way of digging that all-important GAS article.

As MSN Tech points out in a post, there are definate advantages to having internet access in the kitchen. Here’s my advantages.

• You can ask when dinner is by sending an instant message to your partner. Useful if you’re in another room with the door shut and you don’t want to shout. You can also email or IM additions to the shopping list.
• Get instant access to recipes. I like to bake cakes as a stress-buster and I often need to look up cake recipes online. So it’s very handy to have online access in the kitchen to look up measurements.
• Keep an eye on email or IM. Sometimes I want to start making dinner but I need to wait for a client to get back to me on an important matter. By having my email and IM open in the kitchen, I can start chopping vegetables and still keep my ears open for that important “ping!”
• Play music. I have iTunes installed on the kitchen PC and while I am browsing recipes, I am sometimes playing something to get me energised to start burning the place down (my cooking leaves a lot to be desired). A little Marvin Gaye always gets me in the mood to start burning the beef or overcook the pasta.

But I have to admit my main motivation for getting a PC in the kitchen is to IM my girlfriend – when all is said and done, I am a lazy geek and I like to fire up Google Talk and send instant messages asking when dinner is ready. I know, all the feminist geeks will be outraged with me. Go burn your bra’s girls.

Do you have a PC in the kitchen? If so, what’s your primary reason for having it there? What other strange places do you have a PC? In the bathroom? The garage? Come on, shock us.