The working from home thread: tips and advice

Almost every morning I get told this, only I'm not at work just asleep

I'm doing the sighs as well. It's been remarked upon a number of times in my life. I don't even think about it, but apparently, it makes everyone think that I think everything is shit.

And to be honest, most things are, so they're right

I could tell them I used to be a sniper and I only exhale after a kill shot. Or something.

You'd be inhaling after because you exhale before the shot as it's easier to keep steady with no breath in your lungs

I’ll have you know I graduated top of my class in the Navy Seals.

Does net send still work?

Replaced with MSG.EXE in later versions of Windows apparently, will investigate and then write a suitable script.

We are having Spotfiy wars in our house, after my wife decided to setup shop in our kitchen rather then the lovely hot desk I have in my office.

Was quite happy streaming Spotfiy through my desktop, now the wife's in the kitchen Spotify seems to prioritize playing it through the google hub thingy.

We have Spotify Premium Family to solve that.

You don't need to share it within the same physical houseold, as long as you register it with the same address for all users, if you catch my drift...

Standard (individual) account only allows playback on one device at a time. You need to upgrade to Duo or Family for more than one.

To get around it I download various playlists in Spotify and then put my phone in Airplane mode so I can play them back whilst Mrs GB or MiniGB shout at Alexa to play whatever stuff they want to listen to.

(I don't care about quality audio. I listen to most music through Spotify and some of it out of a mono Amazon Echo Dot. Bite me.)

Just checked and we have premium duo account, to get it to works I've just been using bluetooth from my phone to my speaks, which works fine until I get a call and have to franticly turn off the bluetooth

Going to do something like this to get my laptop off my desk:-

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2012/03/diy-how-to-make-a-laptop-hammock-for-a-dollar/

Don't like the idea of cord running across the desk but my desk has suitable holes in the frame that I can use instead.

Left hand side of the desk is up against a wall so that will mean the hanging laptop is out of harms way.

Should give me easy access to the laptop on the rare occasion I need to open it up (usually once every 6 months to reset it after a crash). It doesn't have a CD/DVD drive and the USB ports are read-only (by company policy) so I don't need to regularly plug/unplug things.

It also means the laptop remains at desk height (which makes the cabling easier on a sit/stand desk) and the two things I need to plug into it are in a suitable place: (a) headphones dealt with using a headphone extension cable, (b) Garmin watch data/charger cable will be over the on left hand side of the desk out of the way.

So I'm on the lookout for some suitable dowels/rods, clips/hooks to clip onto the desk frame and some material (ideally mesh/net to make ventilation a complete non-issue).

Ooh, speaking of 'net' I think I've got a https://www.wiggle.co.uk/topeak-cargo-net?lang=en&curr=GBP&dest=1 somewhere that might just work if it's big enough.

[EDIT] Ordered two of the Topeak Cargo Nets and will give that a go over the weekend. Hopefully the keyboard will turn up today or tomorrow too and then that's the desk pretty much sorted except for the replacement huge monitor (not back in stock until late Dec)

Expected a hammock to lie in while using your laptop. Feel cheated.

https://www.lfgss.com/comments/15657687/

It's an ergodox keyboard.

Thanks. Might look into that at some point because I am slouchy!

my wife and I can sit in the same room

I would really advise against that unless you have no choice. Us working in a one bed flat with no doors had a pretty bad effect on my mental health as other half is constantly on calls and LOUD. It also stopped me from working effectively (I couldn't concentrate) and I really felt that my career was starting to suffer.

I don't think any headphones can really fix the problem unless your wife is very softly spoken.

We kinda solved the problem by moving him into the bedroom (only room with a door) but he's still too loud sometimes, so we have solved the problem by buying a five bedroom house (well, a four bed with a bathroom that needs demolishing) which is probably overkill but means we'll get a study each.

I know this is slightly tongue in cheek

We kinda solved the problem by moving him into the bedroom (only room
with a door) but he's still too loud sometimes, so we have solved the
problem by buying a five bedroom house (well, a four bed with a
bathroom that needs demolishing) which is probably overkill but means
we'll get a study each.

Anyway. Plans are on hold because FUCKING BOILER NEEDS REPLACING.

+1 we are struggling massively, wife is working from bedroom but its very cramped and the light is poor so now its winter we're really struggling rotating who has to go in the bedroom.

Normally ending in one of us working from bed tbh

I use a large book of futurist art as a monitor stand

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Had a go with my existing cargo net and it just about fits. It'll be better with the larger one(s) I've ordered.

When the wireless keyboard finally arrives I can get rid of the last two cables trailing across the desk.

Someone might have already answered, but I have the same setup and I changed by laptop BIOS to enable "wake on power", so when I plug the power cable in it turns on without having to open the lid.

Pretty happy with the current setup state after a bit of work on cable management this week:

Top marks - lovely Talbot, smashing view and tidy workspace. I don’t dare show the squalor of my “office”. Will just say that a Taotronics desk lamp has made a big difference today.

dat view, god damn, what area do you live?!

I’m contemplating a kettle.. one of those bodum ones.

Is this a step too far in home-office stakes, Will I be pissing in a bottle next?