For the last year, I have tried to work standing up. If it was good enough for Donald Rumsfeld, among others, I figured it would be good for me. I also realized that when I was trying to brainstorm, I tended to walk around, and that my best ideas came when standing in the shower. As if this weren’t reason enough, the kicker was the work of a doctor at the Mayo Clinic who had hooked a slow-moving treadmill to his desk. I figured I would build toward that, but wanted to make sure standing up was the way to go.
In the long term, there were lots of solutions. There were some very pretty stand-up desks available, though it seemed Ikea was the way to go. The Ikea Jerker (heh.) is an extremely popular modular computer desk that can be configured as a stander. Ikea also has a cool desk that can be adjusted from sitting to standing height electronically. But before I got too crazy, I decided to just adjust things on the desks I had at home and at work so that they could be used while standing; thus set-ups like the one pictured here. As one colleague noted, he felt like he should be giving me his airline tickets or something.
Little by little pieces emerged. I bought a cheap stool, and put in double layers of padding under the rug. Nonetheless, standing for more than eight hours a day is just too much. Yesterday I fell hard on one knee while out walking, and since that made standing especially difficult, I took it as the last straw. Luckily, I still hadn’t thrown out my old desk chair. I am back sitting on my butt, and never happier. I still wish I could stand up sometimes to work, and I may go back and get that Ikea desk if I win the lottery at some point. But for now, I’ll remain seated.
A year standing
In the long term, there were lots of solutions. There were some very pretty stand-up desks available, though it seemed Ikea was the way to go. The Ikea Jerker (heh.) is an extremely popular modular computer desk that can be configured as a stander. Ikea also has a cool desk that can be adjusted from sitting to standing height electronically. But before I got too crazy, I decided to just adjust things on the desks I had at home and at work so that they could be used while standing; thus set-ups like the one pictured here. As one colleague noted, he felt like he should be giving me his airline tickets or something.
Little by little pieces emerged. I bought a cheap stool, and put in double layers of padding under the rug. Nonetheless, standing for more than eight hours a day is just too much. Yesterday I fell hard on one knee while out walking, and since that made standing especially difficult, I took it as the last straw. Luckily, I still hadn’t thrown out my old desk chair. I am back sitting on my butt, and never happier. I still wish I could stand up sometimes to work, and I may go back and get that Ikea desk if I win the lottery at some point. But for now, I’ll remain seated.
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