Is anyone as frightened as me that January is already over? Time really should not pass THIS quickly. There is something so wrong about it.
Did you know February is National Letter Writing Month? Okay, it isn’t really an official thing. I guess April is the month for that according to the United States Postal Service. However, it is a movement started by some of my favorite people to bring back old-fashioned communication in all its beautiful glory. Granted, it isn’t all that exciting, but for anyone who loves stationary as much as I do, it is a perfect excuse opportunity to pull out some of that pretty paper and reach out to friends. I have lots of paper. Who wants a letter?
I don’t know about you but I sit in front of a computer All. Day. Long. I can go and have gone almost six hours without getting out of my seat. That’s bad. Very bad. Last week, I was reading a post by someone whom I have now totally forgotten and found this little website that reminds you to get up and out of your seat regularly. Entitled Take a Break!, there is no set-up or any installation required. You open the page, set your timer to one of the preset timer options and forget about it. Once the timer hits zero, it pops up a notice that blocks you from doing anything else on the Internet until you click a button and restart the timer. If you have a browser open in the background, like I do at work, I get a visual and audio notice telling me it is time to get up and move around. As long as you have the page open, it will continue to tell you to take a break. I started using it over the weekend and really thought I was much more productive. Then I started using it at work. I’m not an expert, but I do feel better after work. I am less exhausted. My eyes are not dry or strained. My back and shoulders hurt less. I did try other break timers, but I didn’t like the break reminders. I found them too easy to ignore. So, I went back to Take a Break! and have discovered that I appear to be accomplishing more in those 30-minute increments than I would just sitting there. I’m calmer and happier at work too – and in an environment where everyone tends to overreact, that has made a huge difference in my ability to cope with such behavior. Again, I’m not an expert and have only been using this helpful tool for a week, but I was astonished by how much better I feel just in getting up and walking to the bathroom or to the break room every 30 minutes. Have you used something like this? Do you find it helpful? If you try it, let me know how it works for you!
For those of you who may have missed things the first time, I shared my list of extremely varied reading for the last week. If ever you needed proof that I am firmly an eclectic reader, this is it. As for reviews, I shared my less-than-mind-blown thoughts on the very popular Paula Hawkins’ novel, The Girl on the Train. Given that it is Super Bowl Sunday, there was no better timing for my thoughts on Jim Gaffigan’s Food: A Love Story because nothing says the Super Bowl like an entire book devoted to food. From there I went to Hans Christian Andersen’s The Snow Queen. I know it’s supposed to be the inspiration for the movie Frozen. I don’t see it. I ended the week with the disappointing memoir by Kate Mayfield, The Undertaker’s Daughter. It is never a good sign when you finish something like that and have to ask yourself what the point of the book was.
I hear there is a big sporting event today. I won’t be watching it. I’m going to be reading instead because BOO. I did make snacks though because according to Jim Gaffigan I live in Super Bowl Foodland, therefore I must represent like every good Super Bowl Foodlander.
I hope everyone has a wonderful Sunday and a great week. On to February!
My co-workers and I actually have a standing meeting on our calendars at work to walk on our morning and afternoon breaks. But then the reminder pops up and we click done, and we never go. Obviously, we need that website. 🙂
You get breaks? Shit. I am working in the wrong place. I can’t remember the last time I got a break or even a worthwhile lunch!
I meant: “take a walk (typo up above)
🙂
February seems to be going by even faster. I think standing and taking a break is a must if you can. I tell this to my Hub all the time. You cant sit there for endless hours. Talk a walk and clear your mind once in awhile. I was once at a newspaper and did 8 hrs a day in front of the box (computer); it can be deadly. I wasnt too healthy drinking endless d.cokes. But now I’m away from that. The SB was good & close but boy did Seattle sure get the same kind of payback that they gave to GB. What goes around apparently comes back around. Have a good week.
I slipped back into old habits of not taking a break this week and felt every miserable hour of sitting at the computer. I definitely want to be better about it this week.
You did have an eclectic reading week!
Always!
It is crazy that it’s February already!
I’m going to check out that Take a Break site. I have a stand up desk and try to stand for most of my day. I’m finding that I feel so much better since I do that now. It would help to also just walk away from my desk a few times a day. I get so focused on what I’m doing and sometimes before I know it, hours have gone by!
I hope you have a great week!
I wasn’t quite as diligent about following the Take A Break! mantra this week, and I certainly noticed a difference. I might try to play with the length of time between breaks. Sometimes, the 30 minutes seems a bit too frequent.
Have a good one!
Thanks for sharing Take a Break! That website looks wonderful. I definitely need reminders to get up from my desk once in awhile and stretch — I tend to take breaks at my desk, which isn’t great either.
You are welcome! It is such a simple site, but it has really helped me. In fact, I forgot to open up the page one day, and I felt like crap that night. I hope it works for you!
So what snacks are you making? 🙂
I’m not really into Super Bowl either, but going to watch it with some neighbors to spend time with them. Hoping commercials are at least good. Not holding out hope for half-time with Katy Perry.
I made some dips and a nachos platter for “dinner”.
What did you think of the commercials and halftime?
I thought the commercials for the most part were horrible, especially that one. The game actually was a good game and half-time, surprisingly, I liked, maybe because of the visuals: Perry coming in on the mechanical lion was pretty neat and Missy Elliott was a nice surprise.
It was a horrible night for the commercials. I loved seeing Misdemeanor! My kids thought I was crazy when I started repeating the lines.
I’m not into football either. The Superbowl seems like a good reading opportunity to me. 🙂
I ended up reading my Twitter feed more than anything during the game. I forgot how amusing it gets when everyone gets their snark on. I wish I would have read more than I did, or at least gotten more than one review written. Oh well!
January flew by!! I talked about snack foods today on my blog too. I’m writing…main goal for the day. I want to read some too, but I’d like to go into this week with some posts written. I try to do this, and often fail.
Have a good week, hope your reading is lovely!! No interest in football game either!
I didn’t get nearly enough reading or writing done as I had planned. I was too busy reading my hilarious Twitter feed and watching the white-outs down the street. Oh well. At least the laundry is done, right?