‘Obviously A Major Malfunction’: 28 years ago today. 20140128

[LeRoy]

I vividly remember this day way back when! I was in the 9th grade and my woodshop teacher brought the TV in the classroom. Watching the news was so surreal.

[Greenguy]

Originally Posted by Simon

Quick update on the first 5 weeks of using my custom-built standup desk (mentioned here), I'd going to say that I like working standing up most of the time. The first 2-3 weeks were rough since my feet and legs were used to taking it easy when I sat down all day. But eventually they came around and I was able to stand for longer periods of time without having to sit for awhile. I still do alternate between sitting and standing, but now I'm not sitting down because I have to sit down.

I HAVE A QUESTION!
Do your forearms rest on anything when you type? I ask because it's always been advised to me - both by my primary & my chiropractor - that your arms should rest on something when you're typing. Mine rest on the arms of my chair - and so far so good <knock on wood>

Originally Posted by JustRobert

Good Day
Just a bunch of work planned waiting for the dealer to tell me how much more it's going to cost to get my car back. Warranty ends next month so I need them to find anything wrong now because we've decided not to spend the four grand to extend it further.

Your dealer takes collateral?! DAMN! Mine always wants up front!

[Simon]

Originally Posted by Greenguy

I HAVE A QUESTION!
Do your forearms rest on anything when you type? I ask because it's always been advised to me - both by my primary & my chiropractor - that your arms should rest on something when you're typing. Mine rest on the arms of my chair - and so far so good <knock on wood>

I CAN ANSWER THAT QUESTION!
Actually that was one of the reasons I made some of the changes I mentioned to the "custom design" I'm using. You can see what I mean in these pics...



On the left is version 1.0 from when I first threw something together to give this a test. In that version there was absolutely no support for my hands, palms or forearms. And you're right, that's not good.

On the right you can see how it's configured today. I spun the old roll-around desk so the other side was facing me. Then I put a big empty box on the main desk surface, which serves to raise the keyboard and mouse surface so it's just below the height of my elbows when I'm standing there. Monitor is still on a stack of thin art books (added two more to raise it a little). Notebook sits on another box.

Now regarding the support for my arms, I do tend to rest my forearms on the surface to the left and right of the keyboard if I'm just reading. When typing, the keyboard is at the back edge of the surface and the palms of my hands rest on the surface, very much like how they do when I'm using my notebook on the couch

When I sat down most of the day, my arms were always fully-supported by the top of my desk. They rarely did more than reach a few inches to get something, or did very little as I typed. Now that I'm standing up most of the day, I find that my arms are in motion a lot more. Rarely do they get to just rest on a desk doing nothing.

If this keeps up (weight loss, feeling better in general), I'll be looking into a more permanent version. But this modular "boxes and books" approach let's me get the specs down so I can order or have made exactly works best for me.

Any other questions, just shout through your megaphone.

[jason@verotel]

Originally Posted by Simon

I see one problem with your photos... On v1.0 I see a place for what appears to be coffee. On v1.5/2.0 I see no room for said coffee...? To me this seems like a flawed design. Please correct me if I am wrong. Perhaps the camera angle is not showing a newly added cup holder?

[Greenguy]

Originally Posted by Simon

I CAN ANSWER THAT QUESTION!

BASED ON YOUR REPLY, NO, YOU CAN'T

As I type this, both of my elbows are resting on the arms of my chair Same goes for when I'm using my mouse

YOU ---><---ME

And no, I have NO FUCKING IDEA why I'm so angry at you about this!

[Simon]

Originally Posted by jason@verotel

I see one problem with your photos... On v1.0 I see a place for what appears to be coffee. On v1.5/2.0 I see no room for said coffee...? To me this seems like a flawed design. Please correct me if I am wrong. Perhaps the camera angle is not showing a newly added cup holder?

Nice catch.Well, it's only maybe v1.3.2 so far, but you're right about the camera angle. There's about a 9 inch height difference between the keyboard/mouse surface and the monitor riser portion of the original desk. There's a part of that riser surface that's now used for a coffee mug and a few other things, as you can see in this other camera angle.

Originally Posted by Greenguy

BASED ON YOUR REPLY, NO, YOU CAN'T
As I type this, both of my elbows are resting on the arms of my chair Same goes for when I'm using my mouse

Well...your original question was:

Originally Posted by Greenguy

Do your forearms rest on anything when you type?

I'm not sure when the elbows arrived, but hello, welcome, have a seat, we're just finishing up a talk about forearms and such.

Now I did say that only my palms rest on anything when I type, and I did say that my forearms only rest on something when I'm just reading things. I guess I could apologize for not finishing the deductive path for you, but...

Originally Posted by Greenguy

And no, I have NO FUCKING IDEA why I'm so angry at you about this!

Me neither...and to you too.

[jason@verotel]

Originally Posted by Simon

Nice catch.Well, it's only maybe v1.3.2 so far, but you're right about the camera angle. There's about a 9 inch height difference between the keyboard/mouse surface and the monitor riser portion of the original desk. There's a part of that riser surface that's now used for a coffee mug and a few other things, as you can see in this other camera angle.

That is better! I couldn't imagine a desk that did not support coffee among other things. That is the single most important beverage that I must have when sitting at my desk.