Picks of the month – June 2015

Posted by Gjermund Bjaanes on June 28, 2015

Welcome to Picks of the month, where I share a few things I have found useful the last month.

It can be anything from blog posts and software tools to books and techniques.

New month, new picks! I have a couple of things I have really enjoyed the last month. Things that really stood out to me. Take a look!

 

#1 Ergonomic Standing desk

I have had some troubles with my shoulder recently, and have also struggled with somewhat mild problems in arms, shoulders, neck and back. They are of course related to what I do. I sit all day. I code every single day. It takes a toll on your body.

I have done several things to better this. I exercise, I walk as much as possible, I stand up more often (taking short breaks) and I have tried to set up my workspace to help me stay ergonomic.

However, there was one kind of big thing that I always wanted to do with the workspace, and that was to get a standing desk. Not so that I would have to stand all of the time, but so that I *could* stand more often (and still work).

So I recently bought myself an electric standing desk which is rounded in the front for my stomach (so that my arms can rest more naturally). So far it feels really great to be able to stand more. I don’t feel as bad physically, and I even feel a bit better mentally from not stopping circulation in the same way. A more clear head if you will.

I haven’t used it too long, but I am sure it will help me towards being more healthy while still working as much as I want. I am also told that Ill get one really soon at work too, which will help even more!

I wrote a little post about why should be standing more, take a read if you are interested in the benefits from standing more often:

Why it’s so important to stand up

 

#2 Blogpost: “We have a problem with promises” by Nolan Lawson

I have used promises quite a lot for a while now, but I didn’t use their true potential (I didn’t even know). From this blog post I learned how to write cleaner and more powerful promise based code in Angular (and really everywhere else too).

The blog post about really helped me understand how to properly promises them.

If you deal with promises at all, I really recommend that you read this great article:

“We have a problem with promises” by Nolan Lawson

 


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