Kindle Once Again - this time for Walk, Hike, Saunter

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 Last time I did this was Dec 2017. At the moment, memory of how to do it is pretty foggy, but luckily I have my earlier blog posts on this to refresh my memory so printing them out to review. (look for Kindle label in this blog to find).  This book is a little easier than the others - text and inline photos, a table of contents, but no index. Susan has promised it will be out in two and a half weeks, so will try to do that. My immediate issue is that I remember that I have to make some changes to the Indesign file before putting out the epub file that I will update for Kindle, but don't remember quite what they were. Pausing to read my prior posts, and to review Kindle code for Healing Miles . From my 2012 notes I saw that to get reliable chapter breaks, each chapter had to be a separate xhtml file. The default of Indesign is to put out one big xhtml file, but it will break on a style, so I need to be sure the current Indesign document (for Walk, Hike, Saunter ) has an appro...
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experiences with a stand up desk, or a reasonable facsimile

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Standing Desk
I was doing some mundane household task the other day, stomping, bending over, repeating the process. Suddenly this acute pain at the base of my spine told me that I shouldn't have done that. Multidays with vitamin I (ibuprofen) have vastly improved the situation. Fortunately, walking only makes things better so my hiking days are not a problem. What does not help is sitting at the computer all day.

I've sometimes thought about the health aspects of a desk where I stood, rather than sat, but never acted on it. Once more those thoughts came up. This time I decided I had materials on hand that would allow me to do a test. Boxes of books got the monitor and keyboard up to standing height, and a multi level in-out basket got the mouse up. I was good to go. 

After a couple of days of use, my back was normal enough to resume sitting, and I had learned a couple of things about using a standing desk.

1. You need more than just the monitor, keyboard, etc. raised. I found that I also required a working surface at that height. So in a real installation, the footprint would have to include a large hard surface suitable for writing, placing books, documents, a light and so on.

2. It's hard to stand and think. I know that now you are wondering how I manage to walk about without getting run over, but that is more of an instinctual awareness. The problem is contemplative thought. I find that requires sitting or repetitive motion. The relaxation that lets thoughts flow freely isn't compatible with standing in one place. If you Google for "stand and meditate" the first hit says "you cannot stand and meditate..."

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  1. AnonymousMay 24, 2012 at 4:53 PM

    Here's something to try. Grant Sible at Gossamer Gear turned me onto it: working on a laptop and walking on a treadmill. I'm up to about 3 hours at 1.6 mph with a 5% grade. I can't do higher order writing when I'm walking on the treadmill, but I can do some of the mundane lower order stuff I need to do without any concentration problems. Then I take a break and go for a real hike!

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Kindle Once Again - this time for Walk, Hike, Saunter

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 Last time I did this was Dec 2017. At the moment, memory of how to do it is pretty foggy, but luckily I have my earlier blog posts on this to refresh my memory so printing them out to review. (look for Kindle label in this blog to find).  This book is a little easier than the others - text and inline photos, a table of contents, but no index. Susan has promised it will be out in two and a half weeks, so will try to do that. My immediate issue is that I remember that I have to make some changes to the Indesign file before putting out the epub file that I will update for Kindle, but don't remember quite what they were. Pausing to read my prior posts, and to review Kindle code for Healing Miles . From my 2012 notes I saw that to get reliable chapter breaks, each chapter had to be a separate xhtml file. The default of Indesign is to put out one big xhtml file, but it will break on a style, so I need to be sure the current Indesign document (for Walk, Hike, Saunter ) has an appro...
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