March 17, 2005
Dear Everyone:
This Monday was our first day in the new “space standard” environment. The first thing I noticed was how warm it was in our part of the building. Luckily I had an electric fan that I had marked with a moving label in our “Pleasant Hill” office. Sure enough, it was on the table in my new cubicle.
And right under it was a handwritten note from our “move coordinator” informing me that I would “have to take it home” as heaters and fans are not allowed in the new “space standard” environment. My first thought was: “Do the words ‘a snowball’s chance in hell of enforcing that rule’ mean anything to you?” My second thought was that I was glad I had packed the other two fans in boxes.
I dutifully set the offending fan aside and later moved it to the back seat of my car. I intended to take it down to “Livermore”, where we will be working part of the time on the downstream property files. I remembered last Friday, when I worked in “Livermore”, that it gets very stuffy and warm there. And the people in “Livermore” are not nearly so anal about these things.
As for the cubicle itself, it’s 8 feet by 8 feet, with an opening at one end. Our supervisor assigned the cubicles that are up against the wall of windows according to length of service. With 32 years, I was guaranteed a window cube.
Downside: That’s where the wall would be that I could hang something like a painting on. Upside: A lovely view of the bus stop and the smokers who go outside to have their cigarettes. And the window sill. It’s like having an extra horizontal area to place things. At least until someone comes around and issues an edict forbidding anything on the window sills.
Most people were given the opportunity to choose the actual configuration of their cubicle. (Most contractors were not allowed to choose, thus ensuring that they would remember that they are second class citizens.) My configuration was for an overhead bin with a table beneath it and a storage tower. All cubes come with the famous “sit-stand” desk and the “pedestal” filing drawer on wheels. On paper, the pedestal fits exactly between the storage tower and the table. On paper.
And in most people’s cubicles as this was the most popular configuration. However, I discovered that, quite by coincidence, there is a large conduit (flexible pipe) for electrical wiring that comes out of the wall under the window in my cube. This means the storage tower can’t fit right next to the wall. It stands about six inches in. So the pedestal can’t fit. So I put it next to the “sit-stand” and that seems to work fine. Right now my folding luggage rack, which I use for transporting training materials, fits in the smaller space between the tower and the table.
And as for the famous “sit-stand” desk: If it is possible to fall in love with a piece of furniture… I can lower it to about two feet above the ground, too low even for me. I can raise it to almost shoulder-height (on me). Or anything in between.
The ergonomic expert came by and helped me find the ideal height for when I’m sitting in my chair (with my feet flat on the floor!!!). This became programmed setting 1. Then we did the same thing for standing and that became programmed setting 2. There is a third setting if I want it for something else.
I especially like the programmed setting for working standing up because it raises the desk high enough to allow me to comfortably turn on the fan that I have under the desk. The third fan is on loan to a co-worker (“Would you like to borrow this piece of contraband for a while?”)
And, if absolutely necessary, I still have the battery-powered fan that I keep in the trunk of my car for emergencies. I was sure glad I had it last Friday in “Livermore”!
Love, as always,
Pete
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