The Quest for an “Ergonomic Workstation” for the Location Independent Professional, i.e. Perpetual Nomad.

What do you get when you spend 12-15 hours a day in front of a computer that’s sitting on your lap or in the absolute wrong place for your eyeballs? What do you get when you’re nice orthopedic pillow loses all its firmness? How does it feel when you’ve got one arm at full extension controlling Final Cut Pro on a 15.4 inch laptop and another hand trolling around with a mouse?

You get a sore neck. Ouch. Damn it, this will cost money.

The logical answer would be to buy a proper desk at the right height (I’m currently working on a lovely antique sewing machine table or in an antique rocking chair), purchase a shiny office chair with dreamy lumbar support and divine neck rests, get a large, 24 inch monitor for video editing and make the workstation a solid- ergonomic slice of heaven.

Enter my dilemma- I don’t have a home, per say, nor am I going to be in town long enough to rent office space. Meaning any office supplies I purchase will have to be stored.

Negative Ghost-Rider- the garage is full.

Another obstacle is that I now envision myself living an Airstream (or something equally as cool) when I return from a romp overseas this fall. So, I immediately do a mental check to see if any and all purchases will fit in a space that is 16-24 feet long- maybe.

Option A. Pay for yoga classes, fund weekly massages- only to screw all that hard work up after one morning computer session, pay for some acupuncture and suck it up for a month.

Option B. Try to design a “mobile multimedia workstation” with a little creativity and sacrifice. And buy a new pillow- an expensive one.

Or maybe a little of both?  My solution…

So, I’ve done nothing to fix my situation for two long weeks. Until today. I went there. I was a consumer, in the worst, most militant consumption environment in the East Coast. I hopped in my truck- sans AC- and drove to the belly of the beast- Myrtle Beach’s mall on a Saturday afternoon in July, when the temperature was 95 degrees but felt like 110 because of the 150% humidity. I can not begin to describe the sheer will power it took to even go there. Only pain will drive a person to such madness.

I had a plan of attack- and I discussed my route into and out of the mall with my mom prior to departure, hoping to have minimal exposure to neon, marketing and fat typical American tourists in spandex and aqua socks.
Park by Starbucks. Run to JCPennys. Dash to the pillow section. Purchase the over priced, oddly shaped pillow made of memory foam- which develops amnesia after 3 years. Stop at Starbucks. Purchase double shot of espresso (yep, that’s how I roll) slice of pumpkin cake (comfort food) and head to the office big box and find my cheap chair.

Plan foiled. No pillows. But, I only entered one tiny section of JCP and then ran out after the saleslady failed to find my new bed fellow.

While debating the merits of an actual office chair (and weighing my options against the Aeron chair I see myself working in one day) I decided to turn one of my mother’s dining room chairs into my desk chair with a serious pillow. Juries still out, but my time here is so short that purchasing a chair seems to be a total waste.

God bless my mother- I have taken over one side of her house in my quest for building my location independent professional platform. I’ll return the favor when I’m living in Italy and she can stay as long as she’d like.

After purchasing my ginormus pillow, I debated just building the total mobile “ergonomic” desk.

So, I went there.  And here’s what it looks like.

First issue.  Computer/monitor position.

Three weeks of obsessive Twitter lurking, emailing, writing and editing with the computer too low has left me with a permanent stiff neck. I’m approaching orthopedic doctor visit stage (Dr. Nordt, if you’re reading- you may see me soon!) and I know the problem is ergonomics. And maybe age. Or too much skiing, soccer, wake-boarding and kayaking in my youth. Sigh.

Experts claim that your computer must be above your eyeballs natural path when looking straight ahead. Ok. Desk- well antique table serving as desk. Check.

Read this if ergonomics are an issue for you.  If you are an LIP and working full time on laptops (which sucks, but hey, you get to work in a hut on a tropical beach somewhere or on top of the Himalayans- we can’t have everything) you definitely need to read this and follow the links.

I propped my laptop on a stand and it seems to be better. But, there must be something better out there- all aluminum and shiny to match my Mac accessories. Yes. Such an item exists. And here it is!

Just the right height and not too expensive. Though, not overly portable. So I’m also considering this little guy, which folds down and stows away in a backpack.

For more mobile gear, check this out.

Second issue. Keyboard.

Now, working with the computer on its stand is rather nice. Major glitch is that the keyboard is too far away to really type on- duh. I was hunched over Final Cut for hours last night with my arms way out in front of me.  Odd.  So, I purchased a Bluetooth Mac keyboard.  I have to take a moment to talk about this experience.  Oddly, Best Buy sells Mac. They also sell a ton of other gadgets and shiny bling things and going to that giant gear toy-box just overwhelms me and I get all twitchy. I walked right up to the Mac section, picked up the white box with a picture of the side of the keyboard on it and that’s it. No copy, no pictures, no crap. Just a beautiful white box with a picture of the keyboard and the words on the spine of the box that says, Wireless Keyboard. Brilliant. Simple. I felt so fabulous just picking up this simple elegant package. Now that’s some serious marketing. If only I could get the volume buttons to work on the damn thing I’d be happy. Grrr…

So, now I have the smaller keyboard close to me when I type.   Nice.   I just need a case for her and she’s good to go.

Third Issue.  Seating.

Now, volumes have been written about the pinnacle perfect office chair. Many a website is out there to help solve this dilemma. But, if you plan on living in a travel trailer, picking one of these gems might not be a good idea- particularly when you haven’t bought the travel trailer yet. Conundrum.

Go read this if you have chair questions. I purchased a thick pretty pillow that’s totally portable and will look nice in my Airstream. I chickened out on the office chair. Its a major hole in my ergonomics, but I will be on the road some next month and then overseas, so I can make it another month or so. I hope!

While leaving TJ Max with my shiny pillow I began to have visions of an oriental version of a multimedia workstation. A large, wide coffee-table, dual monitors (yes, you need them for video editing) and huge floor pillows. Or even better, a crazy creek chair. That might work. You could even design the table to fold down and fit in a travel trailer when not in use. Hmmm….

Fourth Issue.   The Mouse.

Now, this is a toughie. I need to evolve into a pen style mousepad for the type of editing I do. Between mice and heavy cameras the wrists of a photographer takes a beating. The mouse matters. Big time. But, the pen style is large and cumbersome for travel. So, I got a cute little wireless mouse from Logitech It rolls and scrolls on its own and has some pretty sweet little features that have made video editing easier.  I like it.  Alot.

That’s the basics!

I’ll test her out for the next month and let you know if it works.  And, most of this is portable for an extended work period overseas- sans pillow.  But that’s an easy solution.

And that compiles my mobile multimedia workstation. For now.  I have enough of the basic elements to get me through my current workload and when I return from my travels, I plan on taking the mobile multimedia workstation to new heights. In an Airstream, of course.

This entry was posted on Sunday, July 25th, 2010 at 11:17 am and is filed under entrepreneurship. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.