Wednesday 21 September 2011

I just could not sit it anymore

Len Weincier opened my eyes to the possibility of a standing desk a couple of months ago and I've been pondering it ever since.
Recently I found myself in much pain when having to sit and work for extended periods of time (Since my baby son started sleeping in his own room about a month back I can't work in his room lying on my back any more).
It is so distracting that I'd rather stop working and go to bed.

Well tonight I could not sit it any more and I decided to try it out. I was thinking about all the things I'll need to move around if I want space in front of a wall in my study and how much work it will be, then it dawned on me I have everything I need to build a prototype and try it out.
My standing desk version 1.0 (to my wife's dismay I'm sure when she sees this in the morning):



Long-running preparations:
  • Learned to touch type (with the help of learning to type using the Colemak keyboard layout)
  • Got a proper usb keyboard to try this out.

Next steps:
  • I'm still googling to find out if its a good idea in the long term, but for now this seems much nicer.
  • Get some stickers to put on the index finger home keys. I saw Gary van der Merwe had them and I think it will help me a lot because this new keyboard has really tiny dots for feeling the where your index fingers should go.
  • See if I can come up with a better design with a higher spouse approval factor. It would be cool to have something that can easily convert between standing and sitting to avoid over-standing it.
  • Get a LCD screen so I don't have to balance my laptop so tenderly.
  • I can already see that my touchtyping skills will go to a next level with this because my hands are now under my laptop and thus it is much harder to steel a quick glimps (especially for seldomly used keys)