July 26, 2000
Dear Everyone:
We don’t know if it’s just a coincidence, but
barely a week after I replaced the
mouse at
work with the trackball,
because my arm was beginning to bother me, I found myself undergoing an
Ergonomic Review. This
is where an “expert” observes you at your work and notes down if you are
doing anything ergonomically incorrect.
Is your chair too low and your keyboard too high?
Is your keyboard too low and your chair too high?
How close is your phone to whatever it is that you’re doing when
the phone rings? (I’ve got
this one covered; I usually leave the phone set on forward to
Voice Mail, so it
doesn’t ring, period.)
Are you reaching too far?
Are you sitting too much?
How often do you take breaks?
(“Breaks? What are
breaks?”) Is the monitor too
high or too low? Do your
feet reach the floor. (I
told him if he wanted to make my cubicle ergonomically “perfect” he
could either lower the desk or raise the floor.
Neither is really practical.)
All of this wasn’t really because I got the
trackball. We’ve been
undergoing another restructure (when are we not restructuring?) and
there’s a new Safety Committee in place that’s sort of trying to figure
out what they should be doing to keep us all safe.
Since the majority of reportable injuries involve
Repetitive Strain Injuries, they’ve decided that they should make
everyone as ergonomically correct as possible.
And the way to do that is with reviews and follow-ups.
So when the new ergonomic specialist met with our
boss about setting up reviews earlier this week, guess who’s name came
up? Actually, there are
about four of us who got pegged on the first go-around.
And, for the record, the specialist could find little fault with
my ergonomics. I
demonstrated how to use my (very expensive) chair to adjust the height
according to whether I am at the computer (low) or working at the desk
itself (higher, with a footrest in place).
I also showed him the special
glasses that
I got for working at the computer so I’m not constantly tilting my head
back to see the screen clearly.
The best he could do towards recommending improvements was to
suggest a chair mat, so the chair would roll more easily (with my hearty
endorsement – I might even get one or two for home).
He also suggested that I visit the Ergonomic Lab, which is a room
up in Company Park where they have numerous ergonomic devices to try
out. This room is
conveniently open for 90 minutes every Wednesday morning.
I may go up there after I get back from vacation (which is next
week).
In the meantime…
“Jeannie” graciously gave me permission to go and
see a movie without her since she was so busy last weekend, trying to
get as much work done before we leave for
Oregon as possible.
So I walked over to see What Lies
Beneath.
This is a movie about
Alfred Hitchcock.
You may think, from the advertising, that it’s a mystery thriller
about Harrison Ford
and Michelle
Pfeiffer, but it’s not really.
It’s about Alfred Hitchcock.
Or, rather, his movies.
The more Hitchcock movies you’ve seen, the more movies you will
see in this movie.
In fact, it almost becomes a game to see how many
of Hitchcock’s films you can spot.
The plot becomes almost insignificant, not to mention
incredulous, particularly towards the ending climax.
Liked
Rear Window?
How about
Psycho?
Vertigo?
Sorry, I don’t remember spotting any
menacing
birds or
compulsive kleptomaniacs.
But the music, which is substituted for any actual suspense, was
lifted almost bodily out of nearly every Hitchcock thriller I ever
remember.
Ford and Pfeiffer make every effort and they do a
commendable job of it. But
if you’re not into Hitchcock, you might want to wait for something
better to come along.
Summer’s not over quite yet.
Programming Note:
As mention previously, we’re going on vacation, starting this
Friday. So no Letter next
week. Try to hold on.
Love, as always,
Pete
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