you are alive

"you are alive". lori and i bought a print of a photo with these words spray paint scrawled on an nyc wall. the prints for sale were all gathered, post september 11th, and the sales were a fund raiser for relief efforts. we had only been dating for 4 months, and while we were already pretty in love we couldn't have predicted then what a great future was in store for us.

on the 10 year anniversary of september 11th i have found it hard to decide how the event impacted my life. after all, as close as i was to the tragedy (i could see the second tower fall from my vantage point on 5th avenue and smell them burning for weeks), i was "still alive." we've started a family and i've been able to find success as an architect in new york city. my life couldn't be fuller, busier, or better. so looking back on the last 10 years it is hard to say how september 11th has changed my life.

i've read the commemorative journalism published this week - so many memories, some despite the infamous slogan, i had forgotten. i wonder along with some of the more intellectual musings if we are living in a post ironic state, how was being funny changed by such an event?

and then tonight i listened to a story corps collection, "we remember," recording stories of those lost in the attack on the world trade center. and i cried, which i haven't done too much of in the wake of the tragedy then or now. it's taken ten years passage for the gravity of all those lost and their legacies halted to understand the benefits (privilege?) of being alive.

and it is with that that i feel true sadness for the lost, their families, and the memories they were not able to create these past ten years. i'll be thinking of all of my friends and loved ones tomorrow...nothing like a strong reminder like this anniversary to never take a day of life for granted.

stand in the place where you work

if facebook is good for nothing else it is good for starting a stand up desk revolution. my friends ryan and chris have me thinking sitting is for sloths and they have the reference, and in ryan's case the experience, to prove it. ryan's lost 10lbs.

check out this great article chris posted.

i work in a brand new white laminate lined architect's office. it's not too stodgy but i will be falling out of line if/when i decide to stand. rather than acquire a dedicated standing desk i want to use a desktop converter. that way i can stand or sit and if i catch too much flack i can just stow the thing under my desk until the air clears.

since it is an experiment and i can't commit yet i want to spend a max of $100. this is a much bigger budget than chris and ryan who used bolts of cloth, reams of paper, and assorted plastic boxes. but at the same time ready made standing desks and converters can be hundreds of dollars!

here's my research:

cheapest...
standup desk
$69 black
only 15" deep.


here's a great article: standing desk shootout.

from the article the winner is:
giraffe desk.
$900.
beautiful in a 2003 kind of way but wtf! 900 bucks!
32x27x9" high


the other contenders are all dedicated standing desks.

i also looked at ikea hacker and then realized (since i have the ikea catalog memorized) that the billy bookcase height extender does the trick. $20, and i have one in the bottom of my closet!

***

(currently) the winner is: the billy bookcase top with a close second to the $69 stand maybe with a monitor stand on it to get the monitor a bit higher and let my keyboard live under it to help with the 15" depth.

should probably get an anti-fatigue mat too.

i'm targeting october 1...stay tuned!





photo1: ernest hemingway exemplifying standing desking

photo2: my desk. killer view of times square assuming my standing desk faces out the window.