Preamble
First off, I want to say that I was the first person in Rockfish to get a standing desk. There has been some conjecture, but I’m the clear winner. No more discussion on that. Anyway, it’s definitely been interesting. There seems to be a big difference between standing for 8 hours a day vs sitting for 8 hours a day. Weird, huh?
How I did it
How I actually constructed the standing desk is almost comically easy. I bought two LACK tables from Ikea (7.99/ea), a shelf (1 dollar), and two brackets (like 49 cents each?). For total of really effing cheap. I just set them up on my desk and that’s it. I am now better than everyone.
I drilled the brackets into the legs of one of the tables, the leftmost one, and put the shelf on it. I also duck-taped the brackets to the leg because they are hollow and I knew that one ill-placed elbow was going to send my forehead straight to the corner of the desk. That would suck.
John, how has it been?
Thanks for asking! It’s actually been very good. The first week or two are the most noticeable. You don’t get as tired after lunch. You don’t find yourself being lazy or closing your eyes early in the morning. You focus more. I get more excited and exclamatory as I’m coding... I wave my arms and stomp my feet and generally irritate my deskmates much more than I did when I was slumped in my chair pretending to be awake. (Just kidding, Rockfish, I was always awake)
Secondly, it makes you a hell of a lot more sociable. You walk around more. You talk to your neighbors more. You’re generally more likely to walk around to see someone else’s screen. I don’t know about every work place, but here we often IM when we could talk. That’s often because we’re complaining about some bug we can’t fix and our diatribe is laced with profanity, but still. Now I can curse from a standing position vocally. It feels better.
Overall, it’s just been a great experience. I’d recommend it to anyone. I also got a tall stool that I can sit on if my knees get tired, which they do sometimes. I also walk to work about a mile so sometimes my feet are hurting. I do need one of those anti-fatigue pads. But I’m too lazy after standing around all day to get my ass in the car and buy one.
Anyway, let me know what you think about standing desks!
Edit: People are saying the image of the desk is too small. So, here is the largest one I have. You'll also notice I bought a 'TALLASS" chair from Ikea, it was 4.99 or some such nonsense.
Edit: People are saying the image of the desk is too small. So, here is the largest one I have. You'll also notice I bought a 'TALLASS" chair from Ikea, it was 4.99 or some such nonsense.
I will say I've noticed the "more social" part. It makes it easier to just go talk to a person rather than shooting them another email they probably won't read.
ReplyDeleteThe anti-fatigue mat is the way to go though. My knees and lower back feel a lot better (again I'm only a few weeks in).
The only real negative I have; sometimes I want to sit and think about a task before executing it. So in that sense, a standing desk has proved troublesome.
Nice post, thanks.
Ben
I think perhaps I'm spoiled in the sense that they installed new desks behind me and no one has claimed them yet. So sometimes I can plop down at a desk and put my feet up. Which when you stand all day, ... is pure gold.
Delete