Watch out, world. First I’m cooking. And now I’m building. Now don’t worry. Bob’s job is not in jeopardy. (You know Bob the Builder. I think he’s Joe the Plumber’s cousin, right?) But seriously, I completed two building jobs in one day. I think I had previously done maybe two in my whole life.
First, I tackled the job of setting up a keyboard tray for my desk at work. I’ve been in serious discomfort at work lately, ergonomically speaking. The left knuckle of my left ring finger seems swollen and I have intermittent bouts of aches, soreness and fatigue in my fingers, hands, forearms, etc.
Clearly it’s not a healthy situation. I had similar issues during my time at Erie Insurance. Eventually they had someone do a workstation evaluation. They moved some things around, adjusted my chair and had a keyboard tray installed to lessen the stress on my arms. And it seemed to work. I don’t know if I was ever fully “healed” but it wasn’t much of a distraction anymore.
After a week off between jobs, I entered my new job not thinking about ergonomic things, and then was ignorant and lazy when signs arose that I was having the same issues all over again. I’m too many words into the story to say long story short, but the point is I needed to fix something, so I thought maybe a keyboard tray would do the trick again.
Back to the building. My “desk” at work is essentially a big table, so in order to set up this keyboard tray, I was going to have to drill into the underside of it. Fortunately for me, my boss had no problem with me doing that—even supplying the drill. Clearly he had more faith in my handiness than I did myself.
So, I spent Wednesday morning at work clearing of my desk (table), flipping it over and drilling the sliding mechanism for the tray into place. Success! I then flipped the tray over and put the rest of the tray together. It took a little longer than it probably should have, but it went smoothly and hopefully I’ll reap the benefits in the weeks and months to come. Is it working? It’s hard to tell. I’m still in some discomfort, but I’m typing through the pain, so maybe it’s a little more tolerable than it was pre-tray. Hopefully a mostly computer-free weekend will give my arms and hands a little time to recover.
The other building project was much more time intensive. After returning home from Wal-Mart where I got—among other things—my own set of tools (thanks Dad!), I commenced building my CD tower. At home, I had my rather extensive CD collection spread in all corners of my room, including in racks that had individual slots for discs. That meant whenever I got a new one, I had to go one-by-one moving them to keep my alphabetical order intact. With my new tower, I’m able to fit all my CDs in one square foot of space. So, for me, it’s a worthwhile investment.
Anyway, it took me about 20 minutes just to get the packages (yes, plural) open. This thing is pretty big—not to mention heavy. Once I did have it out of the packaging, it was a real challenge attaching the four sides together. But eventually I did it. By the time I had constructed the sides of the tower, it was approaching 11 o’clock. Some people are probably getting ready for/already in bed at this point. Of course, the next step was the one that required the use of a hammer to pound in the tack glides on the bottom of the tower.
Not thinking of the consequences, I grab my shiny, new metal hammer and pound the tack glides into the board pressed into the floor. Let me just say, IT WAS LOUD! THESE ANNOYING CAPS AND EXCLAMATION POINTS DON’T DO IT JUSTICE! NOT AT ALL!!!
I’m not positive, but I’m pretty sure my apartment floor doubles as someone’s apartment ceiling below me. So, as I finished hammering the third tack glide, I’m pretty sure I felt and heard someone launching something/themselves into their ceiling/my floor, resulting in a resounding thump. Basically, an angry way of saying, “Stop hammering!” Well, I’m sure a few profanities would follow, and I’d be told to shove that hammer someplace extremely uncomfortable. But
You get the idea. I was supposed to stop hammering. Immediately
The thing was, I had just one tack glide left to hammer. And I’m the type of person that once I’m invested in doing something, I like to see it through no matter how long it takes. So, I spent the next 15 minutes debating what to do. Finally, I tried my best to compromise. I took the base board onto my bed, hoping that would dull the noise somewhat and I hammered it there as quickly and quietly (but honestly, what is quiet hammering?) as possible. Voila! Onto the next step.
I attached the swivel base, bottom and top of the tower and then went onto the shelves, which simply meant sliding in some pegs and setting the shelves on them. With that, the tower was built. It was about 11:30. I then spent another two hours or so taking all my CDs (and DVDs too) out of the boxes I had packed them in and placing them on the new tower. The good news is that it’s still standing. Consider me two for two on the day.
Just please don’t call me Matt the Builder.
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