My COVID-19 Desk

Like many around the world, the COVID-19 pandemic has pushed my office workspace out of the Manhattan office, out of my Manhattan apartment, and into my parent’s house in suburbia. Today, my workspace is a little different from before.

1. Dining Table —This is where I’m set up. As a visiting guest, I don’t get my own desk. Adding furniture falls under the umbrella of bad house guest etiquette.
2. Seville Classic Standing Desk Converter — I noticed after a couple days working remote that my back would ache at around 4pm. With fewer impulses to walk around and tendency to put more hours into work, I was sitting immobile for much longer stretches than before. I adjusted my setup to make sure I’m not sitting all day. I specifically selected this model because it fit my huge deskmat.
3. NovelKeys Desk Mat —When i escaped the city, I wasn’t sure what kind of work desk setup I would be able to find. I figured if I brought along my spare desk mat I would be able to make any surface a comfortable working surface.
4. Nightfox Mechanical Keyboard —Ever since I got into mechanical keyboards, I’ve found it hard to accept anything other than a 65% layout with split back space. I escaped the city with this keyboard in my backpack.
5. 1.5 ft USB-C cable with Right Angle Connector— The cable the came with the keyboard was way too long (6ft) and I couldn’t set the keyboard up against the computer because the usb connector stuck out. I replaced it with a shorter cable and angled adapter.
6. Lenovo Laptop — Most my coworkers run with the Company issued Macbook Pro. Macbook Pros aren’t great for Mobile development. They throttle like crazy and you really don’t get the performance they advertised. I ended up picking up a really powerful Lenovo with alot of ram.
7. Sennheiser PXC 550 Headphones — For video calls I use a headset with microphone. This model can also connect via bluetooth, or wired usb.
8. Micro USB to USB-C Cable — The headphones support both Bluetooth and wired. I generally find wired connections a bit more predictable.
9. Microsoft Sculpt Mouse — I’ve tried numerous vertical ergonomic mouse and I’ve found them all to be really awkward. This is the best fitting ergonomic mouse I’ve found so far.
10. Mito GMK Pulse Keycap — If you’re going to get into mechanical keyboards, you might as well dive into some neat keycaps. I have this keyboard outfitted with Pulse GMK keycaps designed by Mito.