Tuesday, 08/19/03

Two years ago in a fit of Churchill envy, I bought a couple of configurable steel shelving units from Costco and a small mahogany door from Home Depot and built myself a standing desk. I believed that standing at my primary writing environment would be a subtle physical constraint on wasting time at the computer. Having noticed that I'm more likely to solve problems and think useful thoughts while on a walk, or washing dishes, or in the shower than I am when at the desk confronted with all the details, it seemed reasonable to expect that my thinking-to-typing ratio would improve at a standing desk as well.

I failed to count on a few factors. One of them was television. When I got tired of standing, I frequently found myself walking into the room with the television, which was also equipped with a couch. It proved easier to sit there, and arrange to be distracted by Tivo's gentle ministrations, than to go and take walks or do other things likely to result in the generation of useful thoughts.

The other factor I failed to consider was heat. In the summer months, Seattle's reputation as a paradise of gloom is put to the lie, and I seem to have a knack for picking places to live that magnify the temperature outside. At a standing desk, one tends to shift one's weight around, so it's consequently more difficult to get anything done when one's whole ability to maintain a consistent train of thought depends on keeping the brain-pan in line with the portable fan. Also: the television again.

Last year I solved the television problem by limiting my non-news programming to the hours before 9AM, which proved wildly successful, at least through late May when most shows ended and the incentive system broke down. The standing desk, however, proved unequal to the summer months in this south-facing Queen Anne apartment, so with invaluable assistance from the little woman I reconfigured everything to allow for a regular sit-down desk, at least where the primary computer is concerned. I feel there's little shame in admitting I'm not the man that Winston was.

Below you'll find the mockups I made beforehand, pretty much to scale. The new version is on the right.

The final configuration was a direct result of the tools at hand. Last month an Omni employee with a streak of benevolent whimsy gave me an OmniGraffle 3 (Pro!) license in a donut shop, and this was the first real use to which I put it. What the designs lack in artistic merit they more than made up in utility.

The desk has a lot of depth to it, so here's a picture:

01:58PM «

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