First off, let me say… I adore my job and I adore my company. I plan on working here another 17 years and retiring from this awesome company. I tell everyone I meet that if they are looking, they should check out my company, because it’s AWESOME to work for.
SO while this is a complainy post… It’s not like I’m trying to slam my employer.
That said.
As I have mentioned, I started to stand up to work at my desk for 4 hours out of each day.
I guess I started that, hmmmm… over a month ago? 5? 6 weeks maybe?
It’s an ingrained habit now. I sit from 8 to 10, then I stand from 10 to noon. I sit down for lunch and a little while, then I stand from 2 to 4 or 4:30, then site down for the balance of the day.
So I split the day fairly evenly, with 4 1/2 ish hours of sitting and 4 1/2 ish hours of standing, depending on the day.
How has this benefited me? Well, for one thing, no more back pain. And OK, I’ve also been doing core work and dead lifts and stuff, but I really think the fact that I now only spend 4.5 instead of 9 hours slumped in my chair each day has done wonders for my back and posture.
For two… hey, standing burns more calories than sitting. It’s a small difference, but it adds up over the hours and any time I burn off an extra cookie’s worth of cals means one more cookie I get to eat!
But all this sitting and standing requires me to raise and lower my keyboard and monitor.
They do, of course, make fancy ergonomic desk features for this.
I cannot, of course get one, because I am not doing this for any reason other than I want to and for my health.
No Dr. note, no special furniture. (which, as mentioned, I understand, otherwise EVERYONE would want special furniture).
So each time I switch from sitting to standing, I lift my monitor up onto a box, and I take another box out from under my desk and put my keyboard and mouse on them. The boxes are 12.5 inches high, which is just about perfect, although the monitor one could probably stand another inch or two.
I wanted to share a picture of my fancy ergonomic setup…
It’s pretty hilarious when people come into my office who have never seen this. They always ask if I am moving or something, at which point, I have to go through the whole sit/stand explanation.
So, yeah, the boxes look pretty crappy. And I got to thinking… well… I can’t have a coll ergonomic riser dealy, but I guess these could look a little more professional, and not like I am furnished by yard sales R us.
So I started thinking that this sort of thing might be just the kind of alternative I could use:
http://www.target.com/Large-Shelf-Cube-Honey/dp/B000O1CNH8/ref=sc_pd_gwvub_3_title
Which is about the same size as my boxes and at least then it would kinda match the office.
Because I like to fix things. And I like them to look nice and professional.
And then I thought… hey, wait just a minute.. F&$K THAT!
My company won’t spring for me to have a piece of equipment that can improve my health. No one seems particularly concerned about the hideousness of the boxes, or at least I haven’t been told to stop using them. Why am I even CONSIDERING spending my own personal money on this? The company wants my office to look like crap so I can have a proper ergonomic work environment? Well that’s exactly what’s going to happen.
So the boxes stay.
And I will keep raising and lowering my workstation manually.
And I will NOT stop my sit/stand work habits, because they are helping me to feel good.
So I am embracing the boxes. And I will explain to anyone who questions them exactly why “boxes” are part of my “office furniture suite”. And anyone who has a problem with the ugly can take it up with facilities!
So there!
