A Geek Goes Flying

I have a desk in my bedroom that started out life as a slab of GLASHOLM glass held up by a pair of ARTUR trestles , though each trestle was eventually replaced by a sturdy two drawer vertical filing cabinet (like this ). It’s not my preferred place to work but sometimes the dogs are there and it just fits, y’know? It doesn’t get higher end stuff the living room workstation gets, but it’s more than usable. It’s kind of a Ship of Theseus situation, pieces get constantly changed out - is it the same workspace? How it started (circa 2020)   Intermediate setup, with pole mount and 15.4" MacBook Pro The chair I settled on is the generally very comfortable and supportive Branch Ergonomic Chair ($370 brand new), to which I added a pair of Aloudy Ergonomic Memory Foam Office Chair Armrest Pads (which don’t work nearly as well on the Branch as they do on the Aeron, but, they’re still more comfortable than the stock arm rests, by far). There’s no dedicated computer for this setup, though a...

The Chair Back in May, in the middle of an organization kick, I had a KIA Nero EV rental for a few days, and used it to pick up some closet organization stuff at IKEA ( KALLAX shelving units ; DRÖNA inserts ). I’d been thinking about getting a reading chair that would be more conducive to reading and some work, vs. the IKEA FRIHETEN that provides all my living room seating. Somewhere in my reading, I stumbled across someone raving about the POÄNG chair, which has a bit of a cult following and a strong pedigree: No Shame in the Poäng Chair Architectural Digest Poäng: The Little-Known History Of Ikea’s Most Famous Chair Fast Company The Goddamn POÄNG Chair (“[T]he famously frugal IKEA founder and billionaire Ingvar Kamprad, who died in 2018, owned the same POÄNG chair since 1978.”) I wasn’t sure if it would fit my weird, lengthy proportions, so I decided to try one out during my IKEA visit. And, yep, it fits more or less perfectly. So I picked it up with the matching ottoma...

Today was too hot to sit inside, and I was too fried to bike to the office, so I setup on the balcony. Balcony workstation: MacBook Pro, MOFT Z stand, Q60 keyboard, etc. The setup: MacBook Pro 14" M1 Pro resting atop a MOFT Z Invisible Thin Sit-Stand Desk to bring it up to eye level. Keychron Q60 Max keyboard (the only wireless HHKB layout board I have); Gateron Jupiter Banana switches ( 59±10 gf tactile switches with 2.0±0.6 mm pretravel, 3.4 mm max total travel, with a “crisp bump, tactile bump at top” feel; they’re not my endgame switch, but I quite like them, especially in this keyboard). Logitech M585 Wireless Mouse, Graphite . Desk pad . Sukadar Portable Clip on Fan, 10000mAh Rechargeable Battery Operated (really like this fan!). Zendure SuperTank Pro (which appears to be discontinued; not a fan of how Zendure handled a warranty claim , so, whatever...) Sport-Brella Versa-Brella SPF 50+ Adjustable Umbrella with Universal Clamp . The combination makes for a very cozy, co...

Been meaning to do this for a while, if only to get them up off my flat surfaces. IKEA SKÅDIS pegboard and keybards   SKÅDIS Pegboard combination, white, 14 ¼x22 ($17) Connector , to mount it to the piece of scrap lumber pictured here ($6). Container , to hold switch lube, tools, etc. ($4). Ikea Skadis/Uppspel Keyboard Holder Set from Etsy seller AkosinCreations (4x $13).

Trying to find a smaller chair + ottoman I can kick back in for listening or reading. As much as I’d love an Eames Lounge Chair and Ottoman , it’s a bit out of my budget and takes up a lot of space in my somewhat constrained floorplan (I’m trying to keep some open space for the pups...). Amazon has a slew of ~$75-120 offerings but they’re all kinda sus. (Not to denigrate the good corporate name of the venerable KOMFOTT, but, y’know...) So I stumbled across the IKEA POÄNG chair, which apparently is a long-standing classic , available in a bewildering array of color and cushion combinations.  POÄNG pages from 2002 IKEA catalog The cushions at least have been helpfully summarized by a redditor : Knisa - cheapest and thinnest (“The Knisa is noticeably thinner and less padded than the rest, still comfortable but will wear out faster ...”) Lysed / Vislanda - thicker than knisa, medium durability, kind of a middle ground Hillared - as thick as Lysed, but more durable fabric Glose - leathe...