Recumbent computer: 20090404
Working in the garden sometimes makes my back muscles sore. Then sitting at a computer makes those sore muscles ache even more. So to solve that problem, I hung a computer monitor face down over my bed where it is about 1 foot in front of my face when I am flat on my back. I am writing this as I lay there, giving the setup its first real test. Seems pretty good so far. The keyboard is a tenting type, in two parts, hinged at the center. It rests fairly stably on my thighs where the ends of my finger naturally are with arms fully extended toward the feet. The keyboard joint is a pivot so the rows of keys can be aligned to accommodate the geometry of a person's hands - much better than a standard keyboard with rows of keys straight across the length of the keyboard. I am using, for now, a standard mouse with a piece of a broken plastic cutting board as the surface for the mouse's roller ball. The piece of cutting board rests on my abdomen and is pretty handy there except it will take some getting used to. To move the mouse pointer up-screen requires moving the mouse screen-left. (Since I am holding the mouse in my right hand, and that hand is on my abdomen, the mouse is aimed to the left.) Similarily, to move the pointer screen-left, requires moving the mouse toward the top of the monitor. That's like looking in the mirror when your are trying to trim your hair. Using the mouse seemed very awkward and challenging at first but is already getting easier after only a few minutes working with it. The monitor is hung on 3-inch eye hooks screwed into ceiling joists and nylon cord running down to the monitor. Drilled a hole in the monitor's plastic case, one at each side, about 1-inch from the monitor's back side. Put the holes in a plane running through the monitor's center of gravity so it would hang with the screen almost perfectly horizontal. The computer itself is hung from eye hooks screwed into studs in the wall immediately to the side of the bed. A shelf holds the keyboard, mouse, and the cutting board piece within reach as I lie in bed so I can lay down and grab the keyboard and mouse. Maybe I'll invest in a mouse with a trackball on top so I won't have to lay a piece of cutting board on my stomach, one more thing to be manipulated before using the computer. If it turns out that I can stay awake and alert while laying down and using the computer, this may be a good solution to an annoying aching back that sometimes makes working at the computer difficult during the growing season when it seems more often then not, back muscles are sore, and it is especially painful to maintain a motionless, upright posture for hours at a time when using a desktop computer. To keep from smacking my face into the monitor screen when I wake up at night, I'll sleep with my head at the other end of the bed. This might also be a comfortable way to read. Could download ebooks from the local library and read them while laying comfortably on by back. No book to hold up, no tensed up muscles holding up a 100 plus pound torso, arms, and head. Yeh, Alan, you may have something here. Maybe I'll get a picture here, probably won't be very informative, but at least it's an indication that I really did this and am not just making it up. Move your mouse cursor onto this sentence to see a photo of the recumbent computer.
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