Month: November 2020

I Got a New Office Chair

Since the whole “lockdown” thing, I’ve been spending a lot more time in my home office, just like everyone else. I’m taking four classes this semester, two totally online where we don’t see the instructor in person and two in Zoom meetings where we do see the instructor. I’m sitting in the office pretty much all day, especially when my wife is working from home. I began to grow tired of my cheap Ikea office chair I bought several years ago over the summer, and I decided to look for a replacement.

I’ve had a new chair on the way back burner of my mind for a while now, and I occasionally check Slickdeals to see if there’s anything out there for a decent price. Most everything that pops up there is a Staples or similar house brand, which is fine with me, but comments always indicate the chair is falling apart after a few years of light use. My $60-ish Ikea chair has held up great, even with two cats in the house. I’d be disappointed if a nicer $150-$250 chair couldn’t do the same.

I figured it might be a good idea to look into actually office chairs. You know, like you’d have in an office. The two top brands there are Herman Miller and Steelcase. I discovered that while the chairs are very expensive new (sometimes over $1000), they can be had for only a couple hundred used or refurbished. I googled around and found several online retailers dealing in refurbished office equipment, but going on reviews of the places on Reddit and other sites, I just didn’t feel confident ordering from any of them. Everyone on the internet said there are used office furniture dealers in every city and that would be the best place to look, so I did. The first place I went to was closed, and the second had mostly no-name brand stuff that was overpriced. I was really hoping to find a Steelcase Leap or Herman Miller Mirra or Aeron there, but no luck.

In a happy coincidence, a writer over at Ars Technica was facing the same trouble as me. He wrote an article on using a gaming chair in the office. I gave it a read, and decided to look into gaming chairs. I’m pretty sure that gaming chair companies have nowhere near the R&D budget of Herman Miller, but people must buy their chairs for a reason. They look neat, but if they were uncomfortable, would people keep buying them? After all, pretty much every streaming personality out there has one.

After a little research, I settled on the Secretlab Titan. It looks good, has the features I want and the price isn’t terrible. I bought one, and it finally showed up last week. I wish I could have tried it out before buying it, but I still really like it. It’s miles better than the old Ikea chair, and probably better value than a used Herman Miller or Steelcase. The packaging was excellent and assembly was no trouble. The chair itself appears to be very high quality, with lots of metal parts where you might expect to find plastic. It took me a little while to get every adjustment set up properly for myself, but now that I’m used to the chair it would be hard to go back to the Ikea chair.

I only have three small complaints: first, it took a while to get the chair. I guess Secretlab does a pre-order system where people place orders, then they make a run of chairs. I ordered the chair on October 17, but it didn’t get delivered until November 20. Secondly, I’m not sure if it’s the shape of the butt cushion or the height of the chair, but my feet don’t quite sit flat on the floor with this chair. That’s not a big problem, and I have a foot rest coming today that should fix this problem. Finally, the racing seat style of the chair is a little bit much for me. I have a light-up keyboard, and while my computer doesn’t have any RGB, I don’t mind it, but the racing chair might just be a little shark-jumping for a gamer. But no matter the looks, it’s comfortable, even though I’m sure Secretlab spends a small fraction of what Herman Miller does on research to make the chairs ergonomically correct. The Titan is expensive, but so are “real” office chairs, and if you’re sitting in the office for most of the day, I think it’s easy to justify spending some money on comfort.

A Flurry of Lego Activity

Over the past couple weeks, I got around to assembling a few Lego sets I’ve had around the house for quite a while.

First up was the Mini, set number 10242. This was a really enjoyable build, with some super cute details like a picnic basket complete with tiny bread and cheese. Like the reviewer above, I think the steering wheel is kind of too big for the rest of the car, but overall, it’s a great set.

Next up, I repaired the VW Bus, set number 10220. This set was a birthday present from my wife, then girlfriend, three years ago. I put it together on my birthday weekend, and set it on the sideboard in the dining room for the night. I woke up to discover our three-month-old kittens knocked it over during the night, shattering it all over the floor. I gathered up all the pieces and put them in a box, which sat on a shelf in my office until about a week ago when I decided to put it back together. I took apart almost everything that was still together and built it back up. When I finished, I discovered I was missing a piece. Luckily it wasn’t a set-specific piece and I ordered a few on eBay. This is a great set, with a ton of fun little details inside the van. Totally worth whatever the asking price is these days.

Most recently, I put together the Ferrari F40, set number 10248. My wife’s parents got this for me as a Christmas or birthday present a few years ago. Like pretty much all the Creator Expert sets, this one was a fun build. I was especially impressed with how the set created the angled section of the car behind the doors. The actual F40 is pretty angular, so it lends itself well to a Lego set I think.

The yellow truck is set number 4404, also known as Land Busters. I’ve had this set assembled for a while, but brought it to my house from my parent’s recently. This set came out in 2003, but I’m not sure when it was retired. I got it when I was a kid and I remember my mom being annoyed that my dad bought it for me. At close to 800 pieces, it was beyond my ability as an eight year old. I finally got around to finishing it like 10 years later. It’s apparently considered a decent, but maybe underwhelming set, mainly due to a non-functional steering wheel.

I finally got around to using a Lego gift card my parents got me last year. I a month or so ago that Lego was re-releasing the Apollo Saturn V, identical to the original set, but with a new set number. I regretted not getting this during the original run, especially after I saw the completed set at my uncle’s house. To say it’s enormous is an understatement. It looks just like the real thing, and the building techniques are very interesting. 10/10, absolutely worth the price.

During this storm of Lego, I’ve learned that retired sets are often worth multiples of their original price, even in used condition. It makes me feel a bit more at ease about buying Lego sets, because there isn’t really such a thing as a cheap Lego set. Not that I ever plan to sell any, knowing they increase in value over time makes me feel a little better.