I work from home a few days a week. Unfortunately, my office, which transitions to a guest room when the grandparents visit, is cramped. My desk was way too large for the space, and my chair kept bumping into the bed. I was on the lookout for a new desk.
In the back of my mind was another issue. I have terrible posture when working. I slouch. I can almost always be found working with my laptop in my lap and my feet kicked up, resting on my desk. It's just not good, in general, for my over 6-foot frame.
So I performed an experiment -- I killed my desk.
Well, I didn't take a saw to it, but I did disassemble it and shove it into a storage closet.
I did a little hunting around and found out a few interesting things about office ergonomics. A popular recent item is Dr. James Levine's NEAT concept. No, it's not about teaching me to keep a tidy workspace. (Now that would be a discovery!) Levine runs an office at the Mayo clinic where the people are not bound by the confines of chairs and desks. Check out his site here. Google him and you'll find a range of interviews on the subject. I guess you burn extra calories, too, when you're not on your rear end all day.
I already had a standing-height adjustable keyboard/mouse cart from Costco. I fixed my LCD monitor with a mounting arm (cheap, thanks to monoprice.com!) to a narrow-depth but huge (IKEA Expedit) wall storage unit that was lying around the house. The storage unit contains has all my stuff, too. Just shove the power cables and network components into wicker boxes on the shelves -- a lot easier than hiding a bunch of cables by mounting them under your desk -- and you've got a clean computer workspace.
When visiting guests need to use the room, I guess I'll just roll the cart out of the room. Maybe I'll unhook the LCD monitor, too.
Let the experiment begin!
Day one: Stood most of the day. Occasionally used mini-stepper. A little ankle and back pain towards the evening. Took an advil.
Day two: I didn't expect it, but I woke up without being sore. So I spent another day going vertical. Unexpected result => I want a bit more background music than usual, but I seem to do less web surfing!
Day three: sat down in a *gasp* desk chair for an hour, with the keyboard tray in desk mode, to do some extended typing sessions. Went back to standing up afterwards.
I feel like I'm slouching less. Dang! I should have investigated if it is possible to measure posture objectively.
More later...
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