Cockeyed Optimist

These next helpful hints from Kafka he worked out by watching me!

(He spends quite a lot of time resting on a sofa behind my desk as I work.)

No. 4: Sitting properly at your computer

There are a number of points to be made about your working position:

• Heights of seat, keyboard, screen
  • Distance from floor to seat

  People can be tall or short, and have long or short legs, so you should pay attention to how your legs are as you sit. Your feet shouldn’t dangle, and you shouldn’t need to stretch out your legs or splay your knees to get comfortable. You can even use a foot-rest in some situations (or improvise by putting your feet on old telephone books).

  • Distance from seat to desk-top

  Some computer desks or workstations have adjustment for height, but even if they are fixed, you can sometimes make adjustments by putting the keyboard and screen on top of something

  • Keyboard and screen

  It is tempting just to take your computer out of its box and put the keyboard and screen on the desktop as they are. But what may be right for the keyboard isn’t necessarily right for the screen. You may have to lift the screen with a stand (or, again, old telephone books).

  • Distance from eyes to screen

  And it is often said that the centre-height of the screen should be about eye-level, and that the distance from eyes to screen should be at about the length of your forearm.

Many people use gas-lift or other adjustable-height chairs, so it should be easy enough to get the height right. But there are two aspects to this:

• Glasses

If you wear glasses (or contacts) it is worthwhile speaking to your optometrist about different options.

Standard bifocals are designed for reading books and papers, held down low, so if you try and use them at the computer, you might find yourself tilting your head back to get the view in the magnifying region. Not good for the neck!

My owner had triple-focus lenses at one time, the top part for distance, the bottom for books, and the middle for the screen. But these were old-technology, carved out of thick glass, and were so heavy they gave him headaches.

The modern graduated-focus lenses seem to be much better, and are probably the best bet.

• Posture
  • Ergonomic requirements

  There are recommendations and rules of thumb (you can look these up); for instance, that your forearms should be about horizontal as you type, and that you should think about a wrist-rest, too.

  If you work for an organization that has a Health and Safety division, you should be able to get expert advice from them, or from an independent occupational therapist.

  • Type of chair

  A lot of people use an office-type swivel chair, and these are generally pretty good, but it is possible to get chairs with more adjustability, for tilt of the seat, and angle of the back-rest, instead of relying on the average values that most chairs are made to.
  An alternative is the kneeling chair; my owner tried one and liked it until it broke! This sort of chair more or less forces you to have better posture, especially for your lower back.

Much of this depends on personal preference, of course, but think seriously about all this, especially if you spend a lot of time in front of your computer.

Best wishes from Kafka,

No. 3: Parking Tips

First of all, Kafka would like to remind you that you should NOT leave pets (or children) in the car when you park, even for only a few minutes — in many places (including Australia) this is illegal. In hot weather especially, they can become seriously dehydrated and/or overheated very quickly. It is also illegal, as well as a bad idea for the ecology, to leave the motor running when parked, even if you want to keep the air conditioning or heating going.

At the mall or shopping centre, it is tempting to try and find a parking spot close to the entrance of the shops, but the problem is that everyone else is thinking this way, so it can be difficult.

A better approach is to look for a spot close to where the shopping trolleys have to be left (assuming that your mall has a parking bay for them). This way, you can cut down on the time and effort of returning the trolley — after all, on other parts of the trip you are either just strolling along, with nothing but an empty bag, or pushing your purchases happily in the trolley. And it also avoids the temptation to just abandon the trolley in amongst the cars, which will annoy other shoppers.

Another thought: when you park at the health club or fitness centre, do you try to park near the entrance? Why would you want to do that? — Kafka thought that the whole idea of going to a place like that is to get some exercise!

Lastly, if it is raining, park your car in the open, not under trees, even if it means you have to use an umbrella. That way you can get a free car wash and you won’t have to pick leaves and twigs out of the ventilation slots. Of course, if hail is likely, you ought to park under cover, but still not under a tree — in storms trees lose branches and could be hit by lightning.

Best wishes from Kafka,

I have just uploaded Chapter 30 of “Kit and the Beeman”.

Those who have been keeping up with this serial fairy-tale might be interested to find out something about dreaming, especially “Lucid Dreaming”, by which it is said that you can control the course of your dreams.

There are some very interesting posts by Erin Pavlina, on Steve Pavlina’s blog (see my BlogRoll), especially this Podcast.

I hope you find this as interesting as I did.

Dream well — I’m afraid that I can’t promise it will take you as far as Kit and his companions!

Here are some more of Kafka’s helpful hints; he hopes you will like them!

No. 2: Avoiding Toxic Toothpaste and Shampoo

Toothpaste

Now, I should say first of all, that I don’t use toothpaste myself; as long as I have plenty of bones and hard biscuits to chew, my teeth will stay healthy.

But for you humans who use toothpaste, you should check out the ingredients on the packaging. Some toothpastes contain sugar (which sounds foolish to me, since sugar can cause decay), while others specifically state they don’t, which is a good start. Sodium fluoride is a controversial ingredient; if in your area they don’t fluoridate the drinking water, this might be helpful, but there are those who are doubtful about it.

The toothpaste my owner uses claims that it is based on natural herbal substances, such as aloe vera, fennel, non genetically-modifiled gum and stevia (whatever that is). It also doesn’t contain fluoride, aluminium (aluminum), artificial sweeteners or detergents. (It also has a choice of flavours: mint, lemon or aniseed — the last of these is his choice.)

Shampoo

As for shampoo, there is a fairly simple check — avoid any that have sodium lauryl sulphate (sulfate) or sodium laureth sulphate — those are said to be potentially harmful. You would be well advised to avoid parabens, mineral oils and animal fats, as well as benzoyl peroxide and sodium stearate, so they say.

For me, my owner buys a special animal shampoo that doesn’t even contain soap!

Now I’m just a four-month-old beagle, so you should check elsewhere before taking any of my advice!

Best wishes from Kafka,

Here is the first of Kafka’s helpful hints; he hopes you will like them!

No. 1: Keeping Leftovers

When you can’t eat all your spaghetti bolognese, or chilli con carne, don’t just throw it away, and don’t give it to your pet, because the spices might upset its stomach, and anyway it might make it fat.

So you can freeze it, or simply put it in the refrigerator if you are going to use it the next day.

What we use in our house are these rectangular plastic containers:

This one is about 21 by 14 cm (say, 8 by 6 inches) and holds 900 ml (say 30 fl oz), and, as you may be able to see, has a steam vent on the lid, which means you can just put it straight into the microwave. If there is no vent, you have to loosen the lid, of course.

Best wishes from Kafka,

Well, if I’ve been doing nothing else on this blog, I have at least been writing my fairytale!

“Kit” is now up to Chapter 30.

Read and enjoy!