Standing Up for Computing

Yesterday I got inspired. I had read a Lifehacker article about a standing desk you could make for around 25$. But, cheapskate - oops, I mean thrifty person - that I am, even that was too much, particularly for something I wasn't exactly sure I'd like. And so I got creative. 

The photo shows my result. All made with things I had hanging around, yet all pretty much according to specifications. The monitor (on a wooden footstool turned endwise) was adjusted so my gaze was in its top third, the keyboard/mouse shelf (set on a cardboard box) was just slightly below my elbow height, and I was standing on a gel mat borrowed from the kitchen. 

Everything was just as it should be ... except for me. I didn't like it. In fact, I can't imagine spending more than a short time at it. I know all the facts about how it is infinitely better for your health, but it certainly wouldn't do much for my mood! I might not get the neck pain I'm so often subject to when I over-compute, but I think I'd still have the shoulder pain from mousing. And I'd have leg pain added to it.  I don't sit still a whole lot during the day, so computer time (which isn't even a daily occurrence, and is very seldom more than 60-90 minutes at a stretch - if that) is actually rest time for me in a way. I go for at least two and often three walks daily and do almost all the housework. Maybe that's enough. 

It isn't like I really have the ideal solution currently, of course. The quest for comfortable computing is unending. I've tried a wide variety of chairs and keyboard/mouse arrangements. What I use now is a dining room chair (a tad low, but functional) with the keyboard and monitor (unfortunately a tad high) on the desk, and my mouse on a mousepad tucked in my drawer (surprisingly, just about ideal). It's still a work in progress and I still have to avoid over-computing or I'll pay for it physically, but it does the job. (And if I'm using the laptop on its own, the dining room table and chairs aren't bad at all.)

So, in the end it seems I won't be building my own standing desk. I wouldn't really like it, and it's somewhat dubious if I really need it. I did have fun being creative without spending a penny though. It's nice to have a house full of odds and ends that you can experiment with (and no supplies were harmed in the making of my project, except possibly for the cardboard box which sustained a small hole!) And ultimately, like most people - and like I recently wrote - I'll be using my iPad more anyway. I love the way you look down at the screen; it's so comfortable. I can't type as fast - or as accurately - but I'm getting better all the time and, just as importantly, I generally enjoy it. So I think I'll just keep on sitting to compute and leave the standing for other times and places in my life.