37 karma · joined September 11, 2009
I do a lot of Dev work as well as design. When I'm coding, standing isnt too much of an issue. Having the option of moving around helps me when I'm stuck debugging issues. When designing though, especially with a wacom tablet, I notice that I tend to slouch or lean too much on the desk, so I sit.
Having a motor makes it very convenient for lazy people like me, especially if it has presets. Setting up the height to make it ergonomically correct is key.
I have a friend that has a DIY setup who uses monitors which adds to the weight and makes adjusting the height on demand very inconvenient–leading to the fact that he doesnt use it to stand anymore. If you go the DIY route, make sure its setup correctly. I've seen some creative setups before including putting a height adjustable chair on their desk. I was too short for that to work for me.
In regards to long-term work, that all depends on you. Like most people on HN, my days run 8~12 hours too. When I first got my desk, I split my day up until I got used to it. One of the things that helped was the use of a GelPro mat (check the clearance section) which cushions your feet.
There are days I've stood all day and felt fine. When I'm sitting I tend to get myself into "Stuck to the chair" mode and even if all it takes is to stand up to walk around to get your blood flowing, I dont or I dont even realize I've been glued to the chair for hours on end.
Hope that helps.
1. Turn off the TV. 2. Turn on some white noise, there are apps, mp3s, etc. Nature sounds work too. 3. Stretch. This doesnt have to be any hardcore yoga regimen. My back tends to be tense by the time I'm done working so its a good time to listen to your body and work on areas so your body is relaxed. Do this until you do feel relaxed. Sometimes its 10 minutes, other times its 30 minutes. Whichever way, it beats tossing and turning in bed for hours on end. 4. Follow up with a meditation session. Again, no need to follow any regimen here. Just sit, in the dark, collect your thoughts and at a certain point, your mind will be cleared. Its amazing what sitting in a dark, quiet environment for 5~10 minutes will do.
There are a ton of resources about relaxation techniques, find one that works for you. And if you dont want to worry about meditation styles, just sit in the dark and relax your mind or just let it wander. You'll want to learn about meditation as you get comfortable with it.
I know this may sound like some "hippie crap" to some but you'll see how important meditation is. Especially if you've been following HN for a while.
Whichever way, cut the caffeine intake, stop the late night tv sessions (I'm always guilty of this one), and relax.
Good luck.
I was at a little sandwich shop called Ike's Place in San Francisco today and saw your business card!!
It really depends on what you're trying to accomplish too. I've helped customize Drupal for a lot of applications, such as using it as a data aggregation server thats paired with a mobile app, video broadcast platform and yes even a groupon-esque site as well.
If you dont mind sharing what you're trying to build, I think there are a lot of people here who can chime in on your architecture/approach.
If you're a foodie, check out off the grid SF (http://offthegridsf.com/calendar). Its a gathering of food trucks which is pretty fun to do. They'll be around fort mason that Friday.
I think the Union Street Fair is that weekend too.
Other Touristy Things: - Go to the Golden Gate park, you can check out The Academy of Science and/or The Exploratorium
- Rent a bike and cross the golden gate bridge or take the Ferry over to Alcatraz (from pier 41).
- Go shopping at Downtown, Haight, Metreon(?) etc
- Theres always some good music stuff going on too. Just pick up a free copy of the Guardian or any of the other weeklies.
After digging around, I have decided to go with the Steelcase Leap. http://www.steelcase.com/en/products/category/seating/task/l... I liked this because it is just as configurable as the Aeron (I'm short so these things matter a lot). I liked the fact that i can choose the fabric so it matches my home office. They have a ton of color swatches and fabric types. They have a 10 yr warranty and has good customer service so far. Its all personal preference, but make sure it fits your body. For example, can you clear at least 3 fingers between the edge of the seat and behind your knees. When I sat down on this chair, i just knew this one would be good for me.
Unless you're trying to really do something super high performance, or have a real good reason why it absolutely needs to be in rails, as we always hear with startup advice, JFDI!
FYI, I know Drupal 7 was just released and its real pretty and shiny but make sure you look into all the compatible contributed modules. Many of them havent been ported over or fully tested for D7.
I actually tried chantix first and took it for a week and started getting depressed which lead to suicidal thoughts. I should have looked up the side effects first (duh! i know). Anyway after that crazy little mind f*, i just told myself that im going to quit cold turkey. Quitting cold turkey is rough, it sucks, its not easy but you gotta go through it. There are no shortcuts, no easy way out and no excuses. Just realize that once you truly commit, it gets easier as time passes. Its hard to believe that it gets easier when you're going through it but its true. For me (as well as other HNers), being stubborn I think was a key factor in getting over it.
Things that helped me cope: - Drink juice, real 100% not from concentrate pineapple juice helped me "cleanse my palette". - Stop over eating / eating greasy foods. It was a HUGE trigger for my smoking craving. Find your triggers and try to avoid them. One thing that really sucked was I had to stop attending my daily starbux sessions. Change is sometimes good. =) - Be in the right mind set. It helps if there is someone to support you. There are support groups and sites out there. Let your pride/ego go and ask for help. At least you can be somewhat anonymous online. - I hear running/ working out helps but I'm not much of a workout guy. Yoga and breathing exercises do help. Look up "breathing Yoga" to learn some techniques.
Again, there are a lot of resources out there to help. I hope that you got some good insight in this thread. Good luck!
Also take a look at cappuccino.org. They have an interesting approach in web app development.
Good luck!
Additional Bonus points: I also have them linked to my mamps server at home so i can access them online (Password protected of course).
A new idea i need to try out is to store them into dropbox so i can access my links on my ipad and on my droid.
I would try posting your job description to design centric sites. there are a bunch out there. At least you can target your audience. Spend a little money on it if you have to.
Ive posted on CL and other free sites and i'll get back too many resumes with a bunch of overhyped nonsense buzzwords.
Have someone who knows design/ui help you look through portfolios. Ive scoured through hundreds of designer's sites and portfolios over time and i can see their trends, styles, methods. If they do dev, ask them what theyve actually developed, theming, js/jquery, etc.
Things to pay attention to: - the person's education/background in design. if they're not designers by nature... would you hire them? - Avoid an engineering centric person too. Engineers are typically not designers. (please dont get mad for that statement) - take a detailed look at their portfolio. Do you like what you see? do they have a certain "look" that you like? or do their sites look sloppy, too much like some template, etc. - if you care about ux, does their site provide good experience? is it at least usable, logical and consistent? - Avoid flash designers. Most flash guys know little about seo. Content management will be difficult too.
I think you'll have a hard time finding a designer who can design, code and do seo. There are smaller web shops out there that can help. Make sure you know what you're buying into and ask for references.
One thing i warn you is to becareful with eye candy. There are a lot of tutorial mongers out there who will run through psdtuts, create some variation and add it to their portfolio.
i agree with andres, use a cms. im a fan of drupal.
k. hope that help. -jay
San Jose. SJ Downtown and SJSU is right next door so theres still some fun activity there too. You'll for sure drive everywhere if you live here.
Penninsula... Pretty much sucks if you want to do anything night life wise. Palo Alto / Stanford stuff is all there but if you're not part of "the click" it might be hard to mingle at first. PA is also expensive unless you go to East Palo Alto which is ghetto and quite unsafe. Make sure you look up where you move into before you commit.
SF. Awesome except for the parking part. Sell your cars and move up here! Lots to do, bikes, scooters and public transports will take you everywhere you need. Probably the best place to be in the bay. I think from everyone who posted in this thread who's ever lived here will agree.
I think for what it can do and the price points, its a really well thought out device. I had a dell mini 9 maxed out (2GB/64GB SSD) with 10.5 to supplement a portable mac and i sold it in less than 2 weeks! It was too cluncky, crappy keyboard (even with the upgraded int'l one), tiny trackpad... it couldnt stream netflix.
This device on the other hand will be an ebook reader. Better than the kindle or the nook. I think its similar to many of the android based tablets that were announced at CES.
Portable surfer, already has iphone app support. Can give presentations with a vga out too? I think its pretty spot on. Congrats to apple for yet another well thought out gadget. And no, im not an apple fanboy but I do appreciate a well thought out product.
Another tool ive tinkered around with was mindmapping tools. There are a few out there where you can share and collaborate mindmaps. I really liked the UX www.mindmeister.com. Check it out!
Open Flash Charts is slick. i dig it. http://teethgrinder.co.uk/open-flash-chart/ I switched from pCharts to OFC for a project i was using. I like it much better.
I tried google charts but i find it lacking. It is real hard to control and just not quite polished for what i was looking for. That and (i think) it requires an internet connection to dial out to google. Its potentially a problem if you're actually building thats not a webapp.
Also someone announced a js based charting engine here on ycombinator about a few weeks back. I thought it was real slick... i wish i had it book marked.
And yes, there are a lot of good things to do in SF more so than the Silicon Valley. Let me know what your interests are, i can point you to a few good things. If you know people (maybe you can meet them here), visiting the google campus and/or yahoo campus is always a treat. Not sure if Facebook has anything exciting to offer, but i know their office space looks nice.
If you want to visit something techie/educational, the exploatorium is fun, academy of science is great. There are more good eats in sf than sv (imho).