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I agree that it is hard to balance work and home. Sometimes my husband thinks I enjoy my job more than I enjoy being at home...and sometimes I do...
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It is a convenient out, the more problems I was having the more I dove into my work. I guess I did it so I didn't have to deal with my ex. Since the 20+ years we've been divorced we have been sociable but I look back and think how much happier I would have been if I would have ended it a lot sooner. Sorry TMI!
Along with Antimatter and Dark Matter they've discovered the existence of Doesn't Matter which appears to have no effect on the universe whatsoever!
Rich Tennant 5th Wave
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In 30 odd years I have not had a single problem that I could relate to my work or the use of a computer.
The even years, however...
"If you think it's expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur." Red Adair.
Those who seek perfection will only find imperfection
nils illegitimus carborundum
me, me, me
me, in pictures
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My right wrist has been messed up and has been since 2002. I wasn't given a mouse pad at a job I had back then, but after complaining, it is strange that all of a sudden they gave me a pad. To this day, I cannot use a mouse without a mouse pad.
A new problem has arisen, that being my eyes. Some days in the summer, I'll leave work nearly blind, with it coming back about 5 minutes later. Dimming the lights in my room has helped, but still have a definite problem.
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Don't know if this was mentioned before (I didn't scan through all of the thread), but to do yours eyes a favor, you can follow some of these simple tips...
Give them a break from the screen for five minutes, at least every hour. Close them for a while and/or just look around the room, out of the window etc. in random directions - eyes really get easily tired from being constantly open and focused at one thing (the monitor) for a longer period of time, so moving them a little bit is like a massage for their muscles.
During work, try to turn away your eyes from the screen in regular intervals for some seconds, and don't forget to open and close your lids so that your eyes don't run dry.
When it's dark, don't let the monitor be the only source of light in the room because it kind of "blinds" your eyes. The best is to put some indirect source of light in the back of the screen. It should be enough light in the room that you don't get tired, but try to avoid illuminating it too much. Many offices I've seen are equipped with way too much of neon light kept on, which kind of can put another "pressure" on your eyes.
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You pretty much explained my problems. I am in a little office, with no windows, and with way too much lighting; lighting that makes the office hot. I am pretty busy so I'll go hours at a time just staring at the monitor that is 18 inches in front of me. Thanks, I'll definitely try your tips!
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Or install Workrave to remind you to do these.
I did. Physical problems might decrease, but I'm sure mental ones will increase as a result of constant distraction. It's a good exercise for working in a busy office though.
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I would of thought with all the talk about GIN in the community that drinking problems would be on the list, or are their other causes of this?
Simon Lee Shugar (Software Developer)
www.simonshugar.co.uk
"If something goes by a false name, would it mean that thing is fake? False by nature?" By Gilbert Durandil
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Yes never really understood why there's so much ego in putting in long hours!
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Start your own company and sell it to google or facebook.
Move to Colorado, get a job where you can say 'dude' all day.
Write a lottery application for investment( contact me if your serious )
Start a brewery
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Move to London and you can say 'mate' all day, but you get bored doing that after a week or two.
Make it simple, as simple as possible, but not simpler.
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But that's strictly due to the mouse. Before having to work with Windows, when only using a keyboard on a dumb terminus, I was fine.
You'll never get very far if all you do is follow instructions.
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I had a really bad run a few years ago - got a wrist wrap, changed keyboards and mice multiple times, nothing seemed to work.
I determined that the most likely cause was due to any combination of the following:
- Larger monitor(s) - more monitors at higher resolution means more scrolling. Even with a trackball this still means wrist movement.
- Trackball - while I LOVE my Logitech trackball, I had thought for a while, at least, that the numerous smaller micro-movements were causing more stress on my wrist than the use of a mouse which would involve larger movements.
- New Keyboard - I had recently purchased a newer "ergonomic" MS keyboard. The catch with these keyboards is that they tend to be a bit wider than the typical keyboard. This leads to pronation - I was reaching farther to the right of the keyboard to reach my trackball. Our arms (or mine at least) are meant to face forward or inwards toward our body, but not naturally outwards away from the body so this was creating extra strain on my entire arm.
- Recent volume of UI work - I work largely on the keyboard whenever I can and prefer it as it's faster. However, when doing UI work it's difficult to avoid the need for the mouse. The projects I was working on at the time involved a lot of UI work so I was attributing some of my problem to the type of work I was doing.
I didn't want to give up my monitors or high screen resolution. I swapped up for different mice, but no difference. I eventually determined that the pronation due to the keyboard was the leading cause. Our keyboard designs are HORRIBLE - we always place the numpad to the right of the keyboard (obviously for right-handed people), but then as a right-handed person I also put my mouse to the right of this. So the natural keyboard position already has my arm going to the right to get to the numpad and then further right to my mouse/trackball. This became worse, ironically, with the new ergonomic keyboard that was even wider. So I started looking for keyboards without numpads - surprisingly difficult to find one that is still standard keyboard size (most are designed for multimedia/HTPC use) or they are custom ergo keyboards that need to be special ordered and cost hundreds of dollars. I don't mind paying that for something that I need, but I did find an iogear keyboard that I tried out and it seemed to do the trick (also ended up getting a second one for my HTPC).
Long story short - haven't had the problem now for the last couple of years. Sorry for the long note, but on the off chance that any of those ideas can help you I figure it's worth it. I know it was painful for me and I'm sure that I was only experiencing a fraction of the pain that some people have with carpal tunnel.
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Except we're talking about a 15" CRT, and a PC keyboard is narrower than a VT220 keyboard.
You'll never get very far if all you do is follow instructions.
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Depends on the computer. When I used to have a home and a job, I've had a proper setup. Decent chair, proper keyboard, mouse. Screens set up at the right height. No problems.
It's working on laptops that kills me. Small keyboard, (I'm currently using the surface pro crappy thing), smaller screen. Have an external mouse, so that's OK. Hotel desk - crappy chair, wrong height causes me to hunch my shoulders over the thing. (At least this hotel has a desk - I've been working on a bed in some places)
End up with sore back and neck.
That is also made worse by riding a motorbike around Patagonia for the last few weeks (and the next few too). It is so windy, that I feel the strain on my shoulders and neck from constantly leaning the bike into the wind.
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NeverJustHere wrote: That is also made worse by riding a motorbike around Patagonia
I'd like to make things worse too, by riding a motorbike in Patagonia...
I wouldn't even complain about the winds...
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If processes are not followed up to protocol on a system that was specifically designed for them to work, with very few to no bugs, then yes, I can blame my clients on the constant leaning forward on my laptop to do my work.
Plain and simple: Follow process = happy provider
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It may well be a reasonable assumption in most cases, but we don't know for sure that the health issues we have are caused by working on computers. As we know, correlation does not imply causation.
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Quote: correlation does not imply causation. I hear that so often that I think people use it as a "cop out" instead of using common sense.
There are only 10 types of people in the world, those who understand binary and those who don't.
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But I have gout[^] that sometime make me hard to sit, but not because of the computer...
I'm not questioning your powers of observation; I'm merely remarking upon the paradox of asking a masked man who he is. (V)
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There are lots of things wrong with me, but I don't think I can blame any of them on the computer.
And my Tourette's is down to working with users, not computers.
Some men are born mediocre, some men achieve mediocrity, and some men have mediocrity thrust upon them.
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...for me anyway. I have a medical condition where sitting at a computer for hours at a time is ideal. Any other job would have me writhing in pain by days end.
It's how I earn my living and I must ensure I can continue to do so by doing things in a manner that is not destructive to my body. There are ways to deal with issues such as eye strain, don't be so vain, wear glasses and don't be embarrassed to have your monitor set to a lower resolution. And there are recommended ways to set your keyboard and monitor heights to reduce strain on your body. And get up and walk around once in a while.
It was broke, so I fixed it.
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