Blog

Short blog posts, journal entries, and random thoughts. Topics include a mix of personal and the world at large. 

Ergonomics and amortization

In my search to perfect (as much as possible) the ergonomic situation with my desk, the best thing I bought for that purpose actually costs very little. It’s a footrest, to elevate your feet for a better posture. With my chair set at the proper height (arms at 90 degree angle when typing), my feet are a bit dangly in relation to the floor. This $40 piece of memory foam solves that problem. It’s been an absolutely revelation since it arrived. I should have bought one way sooner.

A two-hour photo editing session with no discomfort whatsoever. What a joy.

I’m still debating whether or not to get a standing desk. I’ve got one of those at work and I try to stand as much as possible while there. So I figured that once I come home, it’s quite okay to sit the rest the time. But what about on weekends? It would be nice to alternate between sit and stand every now and then. However, I just spend nearly $9,000 on a monitor and a laptop, so I’m not in the mood to drop another thousand on the standing desk that I want.

That said, I’ve been using my current desk - the long discontinued IKEA Fredrik - for well over a decade. I fully expect any new desk I purchase will be used for at least that long. A thousand dollar amortized over that length of time isn’t all that much money from that perspective. That’s the same rationale I used for spending $5,000 on an Apple Pro Display XDR: I plan to keep and use it for at least 10 years.

Perhaps a standing desk will be coming soon. But first I need to get my piano situation sorted. I’ve been unable to practice because I gave my iPad to my father. The tablet is where I load lessons from Piano Marvel. Due to circumstances, my father needed an iPad quickly, so I let him have mine, thinking it would be easy enough to buy a plain iPad (not Air, not Pro, not anything) from the Apple Store. Unfortunately, the crazy supply chain is at it again: the cheapest iPad you can buy is backordered into the middle of January.

No (new) practicing until that time, which isn’t ideal for my progression, honestly.

Late night snack.