Thread by @AlexandraErin

Today I decided to swap chairs with Tommy, as my computer chair was getting old and busted and her chair is another exact copy of the chair except it's much more rarely had anyone heavier than a cat sitting in it for the past ten years or so.

I'd put off doing this even after I noticed how little support my chair was giving me because we have a well-established routine and I don't have to fight her for my chair, since she has her own.

But a while ago I put a cushion on hers that I'd put in an attempt to fix the sagging seat problem (didn't really work) and she's gotten used to lounging on that, so I don't anticipate a problem.

And I've got to say, the ergonomic improvement from not having a broken, sagging chair that pitches itself way forward if I'm not reclining it? Huge. I hadn't realized how tiring it was to sit at my computer desk when I had to keep myself propped up all day.

I should mention in my defense that it wasn't just fear of losing an argument with a ten pound house cat that put this off. The logistics of switching the two chairs (which are big metal-framed rocking chairs, not wheeled office chairs) in a tight space were not simple or easy.

I had to lift one over the other and then shift them both down, and that took a lot of my physical oomph for the day. But I'm hopeful that not wasting energy by balancing myself in a broken chair all day will lead to gains on future days.

So this is a reminder especially with so many of us with desk jobs working from home: if something in your setup is causing you stress or strain, even if it seems like a little manageable thing, please consider the cost of managing it all day long, every day.

And shoutout to @brainwane for getting me to think about ergonomic obstacles yesterday, which helped prompt me to actually do this.

I should also mention that Tommy has been out of the office all day (it's an unusually sunny day today, I assume she's lounging somewhere the sun hits) so I have no idea what she thinks of the chair swap.

I just called her in and the broken chair pitched forward steeply under her weight. I think I'll need to jam something into the rocking mechanism to keep it level for her.

Since she doesn't need it to rock or recline at all, I just fixed it by using a pair of double-sided neodymium magnets (that I have for mounting my phone to metal surfaces) to connect the frame of the chair to the radiator directly behind it, and now it's perfectly stable for her

She's still a little mistrustful of it since it dumped her off the first time, but she'll get used to it again.

I will now have to get replacements for those magnetic mounts by and by, but as I'm not traveling or taking my work to bars/restaurants right now, that can wait.

I think I can safely say that Tommy understands I did switch the chairs and am sitting in hers, because she's being very insistent about sitting on my lap in a way she hasn't been since I moved the other chair in her for her. :P