Powered by Bri

Welcome to this week's Reno News & Review.

I remember when the prospect of getting laid that night was pretty much the only thing that could get me out of bed in the morning. Not these days. I'm pretty much excited about everything, all the time, and I can't wait to get my day started.

This weekend, I'm eager to work on my stand-up desk. Long story short: I built a desk out of PVC so I can stand up at work, as sitting at a desk all these years has irritated my guts, causing heartburn and other discomforts. After yet another expensive yet inconclusive medical test, my doctor suggested I get a standup desk. Well, you know me.

What would the perfect standup desk look like? Inexpensive, strong, tailored to my 6-feet-2-and-a-half-inch frame, modular (so that other people could build one even more cheaply, since almost everyone I know who sits at a desk for a living has the same issues). And since the whole idea was to make my work environment healthier, a manual treadmill. Don't you dare scoff.

Finally, because things never get weird enough in my world, my friend Ky Plaskon suggested I figure out a way to generate electricity from the treadmill. Actually, it was Ky's dad, a former NASA rocket scientist, who suggested the idea. So I came up with a design, and I'm going to run my music, charge my cell phone, and maybe power my monitor off it.

The desk works great. Right now, while I figure final dimensions, I'm standing on a platform, and I have my keyboard elevated on a couple reams of paper, but I stood here all week and worked and shook my ass. My treadmill arrives today. I'll bet I'm out of bed before the sun rises tomorrow.

After the weekend: Everything works as I hoped. I still might have to adjust the desktop surface up one inch (for a sit-down desk you adjust the chair, for a stand-up desk you adjust the desk), but I burned 46.2 calories on my treadmill while I copy-edited A&C. Here’s a photo: http://tinyurl.com/cwhz879