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	<title>The Spiked Skull Blog</title>
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	<description>Adventures in Chicagoland</description>
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		<title>Tommy Gun&#8217;s Treadmill Desk (component breakdown with prices)</title>
		<link>http://spikedskull.com/blog/2013/05/06/tommy-guns-treadmill-desk-component-breakdown-with-prices/</link>
		<comments>http://spikedskull.com/blog/2013/05/06/tommy-guns-treadmill-desk-component-breakdown-with-prices/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 06 May 2013 23:05:23 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Tommy Gun</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Life]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Photos]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://spikedskull.com/blog/?p=233</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[This is my treadmill desk! As of this writing, I have been using this for five months. This is not a new idea (I&#8217;ve wanted to do this ever since I saw this video five years ago), but I haven&#8217;t seen anyone use these particular parts. If you&#8217;re interested in &#8220;building&#8221; one, this page will give [...]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://spikedskull.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/tommy-gun-treadmill-desk.jpg"><img src="http://spikedskull.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/tommy-gun-treadmill-desk-700x664.jpg" alt="tommy-gun-treadmill-desk" width="700" height="664" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-289 colorbox-233" /></a><br />
<div class="wp-caption alignright" style="width: 410px"><br />
<iframe width="400" height="225" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/6b9XyBb9UvE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
<p class="wp-caption-text">Hate reading? Watch the video! (More info here, though.)</p></div><br />
This is my treadmill desk! As of this writing, I have been using this for five months. This is not a new idea (I&#8217;ve wanted to do this ever since I saw <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTXqeL3f6zw" target="_blank">this video five years ago</a>), but I haven&#8217;t seen anyone use these particular parts. If you&#8217;re interested in &#8220;building&#8221; one, this page will give you Amazon links, prices, and advice (though I&#8217;m certainly no expert). Prices are what I paid on Amazon; they may have changed since then. Links will open in new tabs.<br />
<span id="more-233"></span><br />
<strong>Quick background:</strong> Some studies came out a couple years ago saying that sitting a lot is bad for you, <a href="http://www.npr.org/2011/04/25/135575490/sitting-all-day-worse-for-you-than-you-might-think" target="_blank">even if you exercise regularly</a>, and it&#8217;s <a href="http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/10/17/get-up-get-out-dont-sit/" target="_blank">worse than smoking</a>(!). Some people use &#8220;standing desks,&#8221; which I tried for about two weeks before buying a treadmill. If you go that route, you&#8217;ll definitely want a foam pad to stand on (or maybe just good shoes), and you&#8217;ll have to constantly dance around to keep from feeling stiff (trust me, it&#8217;s kind of annoying. Also, be sure to buy a tall stool for breaks). With a treadmill, your legs are always in motion, so it&#8217;s actually less tiring (at a slow speed) and more comfortable. Most people with treadmill desks only walk at around 1-2 mph&#8212;the point is not really to exercise, it&#8217;s to <em>not sit</em>.</p>
<p><strong>Who Should Do This:</strong> Anyone with a desk job, I&#8217;d say. <a href="http://www.printrevolver.com/" target="_blank">I&#8217;m a web designer</a> who works at home, and I use Photoshop every day. I don&#8217;t have much trouble typing or working on graphics. If you&#8217;re an artist with a Wacom tablet&#8230;well, you probably wouldn&#8217;t want to walk and draw. But for anyone who mostly types, it&#8217;s fine. If you don&#8217;t work at home, you may have to settle for a standing desk if you can&#8217;t convince your boss/co-workers to put up with these crazy shenanigans. If you can&#8217;t even do that, perhaps try a <a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/?_encoding=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;field-keywords=balance%20ball%20&amp;linkCode=ur2&amp;rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Abalance%20ball%20&amp;tag=thegrablo0a-20&amp;url=search-alias%3Daps" target="_blank">Balance Ball</a><img class="colorbox-233"  style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" alt="" src="https://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=thegrablo0a-20&amp;l=ur2&amp;o=1" width="1" height="1" border="0" />? Definitely do some research on that, though. I&#8217;ve read that you want just the ball, no &#8220;chair&#8221; attachment, and you should maintain good posture or it can cause problems.</p>
<p><strong>Note:</strong> Because of the size of my office and the type of camera/lens I used, I had to use a fisheye attachment in order to show the whole desk at once. It may mislead you as to the actual size/proportions, so keep that in mind. Click on a photo for a larger version.</p>
<h2>Treadmill ($381):</h2>
<p><a href="http://spikedskull.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/treadmill.jpg"><img class="alignright size-medium wp-image-266 colorbox-233" alt="treadmill" src="http://spikedskull.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/treadmill-300x258.jpg" width="300" height="258" /></a>I opted for the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003X5J1S6/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=B003X5J1S6&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=thegrablo0a-20">Exerpeutic TF1000 Walk to Fitness Electric Treadmill</a>.</p>
<p>Pros:</p>
<ul>
<li>Quiet</li>
<li>0.1 mph increments (0.4 &#8211; 4 mph).</li>
<li>Runs forever until you stop it</li>
<li>Wide belt (which may make it look shorter in the pics, but it&#8217;s plenty of room)</li>
<li>Controls on the handles (which I don&#8217;t use, because I have it folded)</li>
<li>Easy to leave folded, if you don&#8217;t mind having the control panel on the floor</li>
<li>Long arms, which could be used to hold a board, and then you wouldn&#8217;t need a desk</li>
</ul>
<p>Cons:</p>
<ul>
<li>Heavy. Really heavy.</li>
<li>LOUD beeping (but you can disable it pretty easily with a screwdriver). Like wake-up-the-neighbors loud.</li>
<li>Only goes up to 4 mph (fine for walking)</li>
</ul>
<p>You&#8217;re supposed to attach these leg things onto it, and unfold it. I simply left it folded up without the legs, and it works great! I put cardboard under the front so it wouldn&#8217;t scratch the floor. Of course this means I can&#8217;t use the controls on the arms, and the panel is on the floor, but that&#8217;s fine. The arms would just get in the way, and require me to walk around them every time. Because the panel&#8217;s on the floor, I stuck some rubber things onto the buttons to make them easier to press with my feet. You could disconnect the control panel wires, and pull them through the arms. Then you could put the panel wherever you wanted. I may do that in the future. You could also remove the arms/frame completely, and put lawnmower wheels on the front. That would cut down on the weight tremendously (not an issue because I never move it).</p>
<p><a href="http://spikedskull.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/speaker.jpg"><img class="alignright size-medium wp-image-254 colorbox-233" alt="speaker" src="http://spikedskull.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/speaker-300x230.jpg" width="300" height="230" /></a>To disable (or soften) the beeping, you can simply open up the control panel, and stuff something into the little speaker (I shoved part of a q-tip into it, then taped over it. Now it&#8217;s very quiet). You could probably break the whole thing off if you wanted to, but I don&#8217;t mind it being quiet, and I didn&#8217;t want to void my warranty right away.</p>
<p>Because the panel is behind me, the &#8220;safety&#8221; shut-off cord doesn&#8217;t work. I don&#8217;t mind, since I walk at such a slow speed, but you could attach a longer cord to it, and wrap it around your desk.</p>
<p><strong>Cheaper Option:</strong> The <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004TGWUPE/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=B004TGWUPE&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=thegrablo0a-20">Confidence Power Plus Motorized Electric Treadmill</a><img class="colorbox-233"  style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" alt="" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=thegrablo0a-20&amp;l=as2&amp;o=1&amp;a=B004TGWUPE" width="1" height="1" border="0" /> ($250). On the plus side, it goes up to 10 mph, is easy to disassemble, and may take up less space. However, it STOPS AFTER 30 MINUTES, and there&#8217;s no way to change that. That was an absolute deal breaker for me, and after using my treadmill desk for four months, I can say I&#8217;m really glad I made that choice! I walk for multiple hours at a time (sometimes I&#8217;ll go to the kitchen to grab a drink without stopping the treadmill), and having to constantly restart it would be infuriating, not to mention having it stop <em>while</em> you&#8217;re walking. Other people don&#8217;t think it&#8217;s that big of a deal.</p>
<p>One more point: Mine starts at 0.4 mph, whereas the Confidence starts at 1 mph. I thought having the slower speed might be good, although now I walk at 1 mph minimum. Starting out (especially if you&#8217;re unfit), you may want the slower speed (I used 0.8 mph starting out). It takes a little while to get used to walking and typing/reading. If you can&#8217;t concentrate at 1 mph at first, you could just practice walking while doing non-critical things like browsing the web, and stand while working.</p>
<h2>Desk ($121):</h2>
<p><a href="http://spikedskull.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/desk.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-284 colorbox-233" alt="desk" src="http://spikedskull.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/desk-700x288.jpg" width="700" height="288" /></a></p>
<p>I spent a lot of time trying to find a desk. Finally I realized that because I already had my monitors on arms, I didn&#8217;t actually need anything strong, since it only needed to hold a mouse and keyboard. I wanted something adjustable, and tall, so I picked the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001Q3KTLA/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=B001Q3KTLA&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=thegrablo0a-20">Odyssey CTBC2060 Carpeted Folding DJ Table With Adjustable Leg System</a><img class="colorbox-233"  style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" alt="" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=thegrablo0a-20&amp;l=as2&amp;o=1&amp;a=B001Q3KTLA" width="1" height="1" border="0" />. Mostly, I bought it because <em>how cool is that?</em> I don&#8217;t regret it, but it may not be right for you. It&#8217;s carpeted, so it&#8217;s not easy to wipe down (you need to vacuum it, and I have a strict &#8220;no food or drink on desk&#8221; policy), and it&#8217;s not very stable and maybe not super strong. <a href="http://spikedskull.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/riser.jpg"><img class="alignright size-medium wp-image-255 colorbox-233" alt="riser" src="http://spikedskull.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/riser-300x239.jpg" width="300" height="239" /></a>It&#8217;s also not tall enough on its own (it&#8217;s 38&#8243; max), so I had to buy <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000FNJ5NK/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=B000FNJ5NK&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=thegrablo0a-20">Range Kleen Bed &amp; Furniture Lifts</a><img class="colorbox-233"  style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" alt="" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=thegrablo0a-20&amp;l=as2&amp;o=1&amp;a=B000FNJ5NK" width="1" height="1" border="0" /> ($13) for extra height (I didn&#8217;t need these when it was a standing desk). I have the desk up against the wall on the left side, so that keeps it fairly steady. If you have your monitor(s) on the desk, they may shake a bit from the vibrations. You could definitely secure the desk to the wall if you&#8217;re so inclined. Having more weight on the desk might actually help, too.</p>
<p>On the plus side, it has a center hole for wires, which you may find useful. It folds up, so that&#8217;s nice if you need to move it, and it even has a handle (which you could remove). Because it&#8217;s carpeted, I realized I could actually velcro things down, like wires. I don&#8217;t want to rip up the top, so I don&#8217;t do that, but you may have a use for it.</p>
<p><strong>Cheaper Option:</strong> You could stack a bunch of stuff on top of a regular desk, or you could look for a cheap folding table: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003YJPC2A/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=B003YJPC2A&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=thegrablo0a-20">Lifetime 4 Foot Adjustable 4428 Height Folding Utility Table</a><img class="colorbox-233"  style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" alt="" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=thegrablo0a-20&amp;l=as2&amp;o=1&amp;a=B003YJPC2A" width="1" height="1" border="0" /> ($56). They have some that are adjustable, but they may not be tall enough (most are 36&#8243; max, versus the 38&#8243; DJ table), even with the Bed Lifts on them. Currently, from the floor to the top of my desk is 43.5&#8243;, and I&#8217;m around 5&#8217;7&#8243; (I could extend my desk up one more notch, which would give another inch). You may prefer your keyboard higher up.</p>
<h2>Stools ($75 for two):</h2>
<p><a href="http://spikedskull.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/chair.jpg"><img class="alignright size-medium wp-image-267 colorbox-233" alt="chair" src="http://spikedskull.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/chair-300x259.jpg" width="300" height="259" /></a>I highly recommend buying some type of bar stool or tall chair, because you will probably want to sit down at some point. Theoretically you could raise the desk while walking, and lower it if you want to sit down, but trust me, <strong>you do not want to bother</strong>. They don&#8217;t make it easy to raise and lower the desk, especially by yourself. So I chose the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000NPTYJA/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=B000NPTYJA&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=thegrablo0a-20">Winsome Wood Air Lift Adjustable Stools, Set of 2</a><img class="colorbox-233"  style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" alt="" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=thegrablo0a-20&amp;l=as2&amp;o=1&amp;a=B000NPTYJA" width="1" height="1" border="0" /> because they&#8217;re relatively cheap, adjustable, and have a leg rest (which is actually pretty uncomfortable, so I don&#8217;t use it). They have rubber on the bottom, so I don&#8217;t worry about them damaging my treadmill. The seat is not very comfortable, but you don&#8217;t want to spend a ton of time sitting anyway, remember? They are also pretty light. Unfortunately they only come in a set of two for that price, but I figured it couldn&#8217;t hurt to have another.</p>
<h2>Monitor Arms ($85 each):</h2>
<p><a href="http://spikedskull.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/arms.jpg"><img class="alignright size-medium wp-image-257 colorbox-233" alt="arms" src="http://spikedskull.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/arms-300x226.jpg" width="300" height="226" /></a>The <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00455GH58/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=B00455GH58&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=thegrablo0a-20">HP Single Monitor Arms</a><img class="colorbox-233"  style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" alt="" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=thegrablo0a-20&amp;l=as2&amp;o=1&amp;a=B00455GH58" width="1" height="1" border="0" /> that I use are actually made by Ergotron (it literally says it on the back), and are the same as the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00358RIRC/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=B00358RIRC&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=thegrablo0a-20">LX Desk Mount LCD Arms</a><img class="colorbox-233"  style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" alt="" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=thegrablo0a-20&amp;l=as2&amp;o=1&amp;a=B00358RIRC" width="1" height="1" border="0" />, but instead of chrome, they&#8217;re black, and cheaper. Check your monitors for compatible VESA mounts.</p>
<p>These clamp onto a desk, or you can screw them in. My DJ table isn&#8217;t strong enough for that, and I wanted them mounted on something separate anyway. I have these mounted on a <a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/?_encoding=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;keywords=metro%20rack&amp;linkCode=ur2&amp;qid=1362724702&amp;rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Ametro%20rack&amp;tag=thegrablo0a-20" target="_blank">Metro rack</a><img class="colorbox-233"  style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" alt="" src="https://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=thegrablo0a-20&amp;l=ur2&amp;o=1" width="1" height="1" border="0" /> (that I bought locally), because it allowed me to adjust the height of the mount (every shelf).</p>
<p>I clamped them onto a board that&#8217;s on a shelf, and put weights behind them to counteract the monitors. It&#8217;s not the best solution, but it was stuff I already had.</p>
<p>Keep in mind that the monitor arms go much lower than higher, so purposely mount them higher up (if you mount them to a desk, they can go lower than the desk). Since I often have one monitor stacked on top of the other, I needed to mount one higher up.</p>
<h2>Keyboard and Other Fun Stuff:</h2>
<p><a href="http://spikedskull.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/typematrix-keyboard.jpg"><img class="alignright size-medium wp-image-256 colorbox-233" alt="typematrix-keyboard" src="http://spikedskull.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/typematrix-keyboard-300x199.jpg" width="300" height="199" /></a>If you noticed my &#8220;crazy&#8221; keyboard and want to know what it is, it&#8217;s a <a href="http://typematrix.com/" target="_blank">TypeMatrix</a>. I <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vi1V3_X1gy4" target="_blank">made a video for them</a> in 2004 that explains why they rock. It&#8217;s worth it. I&#8217;m on my computer all day and I never have finger/wrist pain anymore. Also, I type Dvorak, but even if you type QWERTY you&#8217;d benefit. You can remap some of the keys if you want; <a href="http://spikedskull.com/blog/2011/02/05/how-to-remap-your-typematrix-or-other-keyboard-keys-with-autohotkey/" target="_blank">I even wrote an article about that</a>.</p>
<p>I don&#8217;t use a wrist rest for my keyboard, but I do for my mouse, because that requires finer movements, so it helps with selecting text and whatnot. The one I bought is the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0016OV5MQ/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=B0016OV5MQ&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=thegrablo0a-20">3M Gel Wrist Rest, Black Leatherette, 6.9 Inch Length, Antimicrobial Product Protection (WR305LE)</a><img class="colorbox-233"  style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" alt="" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=thegrablo0a-20&amp;l=as2&amp;o=1&amp;a=B0016OV5MQ" width="1" height="1" border="0" /> ($7), but any one should work fine.</p>
<p>Another device I <em>love</em> having is the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004AM5RB6/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=B004AM5RB6&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=thegrablo0a-20">Razer Nostromo Gaming Keypad (RZ07-00490100-R3)</a><img class="colorbox-233"  style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" alt="" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=thegrablo0a-20&amp;l=as2&amp;o=1&amp;a=B004AM5RB6" width="1" height="1" border="0" /> ($53), although mine is actually a previous (discontinued) model made by Belkin. You can set multiple profiles with different keys mapped, and even create macros to save you time. I mostly write my own scripts using autohotkey, because it gives more control. Those scripts are called with the F keys, so I just map the F keys to the Razer. You can use it for video/music control (play/pause/volume), Photoshop commands, and so on. One profile of mine simply has cut/copy/paste as single key commands, and alt-tab on the thumb. If you do a lot of copying and pasting, it saves tons of time!</p>
<h2>All-In-One Treadmill Desk Solutions:</h2>
<p>There are some options for people who don&#8217;t want to build their own, like the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006M2PJV0/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=B006M2PJV0&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=thegrablo0a-20">LifeSpan TR1200-DT Treadmill Desk (2013 Model)</a> ($1500!), or the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00761HK3Q/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=B00761HK3Q&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=thegrablo0a-20">Exerpeutic 2000 WorkFit High Capacity Desk Station Treadmill</a> ($730, height NOT ADJUSTABLE)<img class="colorbox-233"  style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" alt="" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=thegrablo0a-20&amp;l=as2&amp;o=1&amp;a=B00761HK3Q" width="1" height="1" border="0" />.</p>
<p>If you have the money, you may want to look into some of those, but be sure to buy one that has an adjustable height! There are also desks made specifically to go around a treadmill, but those are also expensive and don&#8217;t seem very good.</p>
<h2>Total Cost of These Components:</h2>
<p>I&#8217;m going to assume you have a computer and monitor already. You don&#8217;t need all the stuff I mentioned, so feel free to do your own calculation, but here are some typical setups:</p>
<table style="font-size: 12px;" class="styled" width="100%" border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="5">
<tbody>
<tr style="background-color: #ccc;">
<td width="150"></td>
<td>Single Monitor on Desk</td>
<td>Single Monitor on Arm</td>
<td>My Setup</td>
<td width="150">Cheaper Options</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Treadmill</td>
<td>$381</td>
<td>$381</td>
<td>$381</td>
<td>$250 (Confidence)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Monitor Arm(s)</td>
<td>-</td>
<td>$85</td>
<td>$170 ($85*2)</td>
<td>-</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Desk</td>
<td>$121</td>
<td>$121</td>
<td>$121</td>
<td>$56 (Folding table)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Accessories</td>
<td>$20</td>
<td>$20</td>
<td>$20</td>
<td>$13</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Stools</td>
<td>$75</td>
<td>$75</td>
<td>$75</td>
<td>-</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Metro Rack</td>
<td>-</td>
<td>$80</td>
<td>$80</td>
<td>-</td>
</tr>
<tr style="background: #CCFFCE; font-weight: bold;">
<td>Total Cost</td>
<td>$597</td>
<td>$762</td>
<td>$847</td>
<td>$319</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>I included the cost of the Metro rack, but you may have something else you can clamp (or screw) the arms to.</p>
<h2>Downsides:</h2>
<p>There aren&#8217;t many, but this is a commitment, and it&#8217;s not easy to change your mind later. Because the stool is pretty uncomfortable, you really can&#8217;t take a three-hour break if you need to concentrate or rest (you may be able to find a nice tall chair, though). I&#8217;ve never needed to take a long break, but at my old apartment I would play video games while also pausing to chat with someone, which I can&#8217;t really do now (though I have an Xbox in my living room, and can chat on my iPad instead&#8212;the point is that you may have to change the way you do things). You may want to consider all the things you do at your desk, and imagine doing all of them while walking. Is there anything crucial? I think the benefits <em>far</em> outweigh any downsides.</p>
<p>Watching fast moving videos while walking is a bit weird, and can cause you to lose balance a little bit. It&#8217;s not too bad if you simply keep one hand on your desk. Watching normal movies is generally fine, but things like GoPro videos could make you a little dizzy. I rarely get motion sickness, but if you do, it might be worse for you.</p>
<p>This also takes up more space than a standard desk. It doesn&#8217;t really <em>have</em> to, since a third of the treadmill is under the desk, and you stand where a chair would be. But you want some extra room behind you, and in my case I have a lot of space in front so I can adjust my monitors in crazy positions.</p>
<h2>Conclusion:</h2>
<p>I hope this was helpful! I can&#8217;t imagine switching back to a regular desk now. Remember to drink when you&#8217;re thirsty (not some <a href="http://www.snopes.com/medical/myths/8glasses.asp" target="_blank">arbitrary amount</a>). You&#8217;ll also probably have to consume more calories, unless you&#8217;re trying to lose weight or were always really active. I definitely eat more than I used to, but I don&#8217;t count calories so I can&#8217;t say how much.</p>
<p>Feel free to leave a comment with questions or your own advice if you&#8217;ve built a treadmill desk!</p>
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		<title>These matches say you&#8217;re lying!</title>
		<link>http://spikedskull.com/blog/2011/10/28/these-matches-say-youre-lying/</link>
		<comments>http://spikedskull.com/blog/2011/10/28/these-matches-say-youre-lying/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 29 Oct 2011 02:29:29 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Tommy Gun</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Life]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Movies]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Photos]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[blue]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[film noir]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[funny]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[graphic design]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[joke]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[jon lovitz]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[loaded weapon 1]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[matchbook]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[national lampoon]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[samuel l. jackson]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[silver ink]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[what recession?]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://spikedskull.com/blog/?p=202</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[&#8220;I don&#8217;t know any York!&#8221; &#8220;You don&#8217;t know any York? Well these matches say you&#8217;re lying.&#8221; I designed these and got an entire box made. For a single joke. Totally worth it. &#160; &#160; &#160;]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div style="float: right; width: 220px;">&#8220;I don&#8217;t know any York!&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;You don&#8217;t <em>know</em> any York? Well these matches say you&#8217;re lying.&#8221;</p>
</div>
<p><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/NOva15gcJOI" height="233" width="400" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p><a href="http://spikedskull.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/these-matches-say-youre-lying-1.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-216 colorbox-202" title="These matches say you're lying - close" alt="These matches say you're lying - close" src="http://spikedskull.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/these-matches-say-youre-lying-1-600x585.jpg" width="600" height="585" /></a><br />
<span id="more-202"></span><br />
I designed these and got an entire box made. For a single joke.</p>
<p><em>Totally worth it.</em></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><a href="http://spikedskull.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/these-matches-say-youre-lying-3.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-217 colorbox-202" title="These matches say you're lying - hand" alt="These matches say you're lying - hand" src="http://spikedskull.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/these-matches-say-youre-lying-3-600x457.jpg" width="600" height="457" /></a></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><a href="http://spikedskull.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/these-matches-say-youre-lying-2.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-215 colorbox-202" title="These matches say you're lying - box" alt="These matches say you're lying - box" src="http://spikedskull.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/these-matches-say-youre-lying-2-600x381.jpg" width="600" height="381" /></a></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><a href="http://spikedskull.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/these-matches-say-youre-lying-4.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-218 colorbox-202" title="These matches say you're lying - box close" alt="These matches say you're lying - box close" src="http://spikedskull.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/these-matches-say-youre-lying-4-600x462.jpg" width="600" height="462" /></a></p>
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		<title>How to remap your TypeMatrix (or other) keyboard keys with autohotkey</title>
		<link>http://spikedskull.com/blog/2011/02/05/how-to-remap-your-typematrix-or-other-keyboard-keys-with-autohotkey/</link>
		<comments>http://spikedskull.com/blog/2011/02/05/how-to-remap-your-typematrix-or-other-keyboard-keys-with-autohotkey/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 05 Feb 2011 08:48:26 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Tommy Gun</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Coding]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Life]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://spikedskull.com/blog/?p=185</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I just got a couple of the new TypeMatrix keyboards. I&#8217;m friends with the owners, and years ago I made their promo video: The new version is great, but some of the keys have been switched around, and I&#8217;m very picky. Luckily, autohotkey allows you to remap keys very easily (I always have a script [...]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I just got a couple of the new <a href="http://typematrix.com/">TypeMatrix keyboards</a>.  I&#8217;m friends with the owners, and years ago I made their promo video:</p>
<p><iframe title="YouTube video player" width="480" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/vi1V3_X1gy4?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>The new version is great, but some of the keys have been switched around, and I&#8217;m very picky.  Luckily, <a href="http://www.autohotkey.com/">autohotkey</a> allows you to remap keys very easily (I always have a script running anyway).  AHK can do tons of amazing things, but for our purposes we&#8217;re just going to do some simple remapping.  The basics are:</p>
<ul>
<li>Download and install AHK</li>
<li>Create a new text file (with notepad or whatever), and add the code below.  Save it with the extension &#8220;.ahk&#8221;</li>
<li>Double-click on the .ahk file you just saved, to launch it</li>
</ul>
<p>It may seem confusing at first, because AHK is not a program you launch.  You simply install it, and then <em>launch each script</em> individually.  You can also create .exe files so you don&#8217;t need AHK installed, but I prefer to keep them .ahk so I can keep editing them at any time easily (I change my mind a lot).<br />
<span id="more-185"></span><br />
Okay, so what&#8217;s the code?  For starters, I really wanted the numpad Enter key on the right side where it used to be.  They switched that key to CTRL.  So to swap it back, all you need is this line:</p>
<p><code>RControl::NumpadEnter</code></p>
<p>The first key is the old key you want to change, the second is what you want it to be.  Pretty simple.  But now there&#8217;s no right CTRL key, so we&#8217;ll map that to the &#8220;www&#8221; key:</p>
<p><code>Browser_Home::RControl</code></p>
<p>That&#8217;s it!  Be sure to put them on separate lines, save the file, and then launch the script.  I recommend adding this script to your Windows startup folder.</p>
<p>For users of TypeMatrix, there are a couple other things you may be interested in.  First, their copy/paste keys (this mostly applies to Dvorak typists like myself).  They work fine most of the time, but some applications don&#8217;t like them.  The reason for this, straight from TM:</p>
<blockquote><p>
For the record, here is how cut, copy and paste are implemented on TypeMatrix keyboards:<br />
Cut: Shift + Del<br />
Copy: Ctrl + Ins<br />
Paste: Shift + Ins
</p></blockquote>
<p>They do this because those commands are more universal, whether you&#8217;re on Windows, Mac, or Linux.  But if you&#8217;re always on one OS, you can safely remap them.  For Windows, if we remap some keys to &#8220;CTRL-C&#8221; it should work perfectly in every app.  Since the &#8220;shuffle&#8221; key is hardwired in the keyboard, we can&#8217;t reprogram it.  We&#8217;ll move the keys to the left and use play and app instead:</p>
<p><code>^Media_Play_Pause::^c<br />
^AppsKey::^v ; Keep this HIGHER in script than regular AppsKey!</code></p>
<p>The ^ means CTRL in the above code.  So hitting CTRL-play = COPY, and CTRL-app = PASTE.  The keys are all next to each other, which I also like.  For CUT, I just use the normal CTRL-X since it&#8217;s not that far away, and can still be reached with only your left hand.  Of course now the keys are labelled wrong, so don&#8217;t get confused.  Also, the semi-colon in the code means it&#8217;s a comment, so you can leave that part in if you want.</p>
<p>Second, the shuffle key.  I LOVE that key, but unfortunately it seems to be a bit buggy on the new version.  We&#8217;ll just ignore their shuffle key and make our own.  Again, we can&#8217;t reprogram the actual shuffle key, so we&#8217;ll use app instead:</p>
<p><code>Launch_App2::!Tab ;Calculator button<br />
AppsKey::!Tab</code></p>
<p>Now both the CALC key and the APP key will shuffle (alt-tab one time).  This only switches between two windows.  If you hold it, it will keep shuffling back and forth.  It&#8217;s super fast and that&#8217;s all I want.  But some may prefer the TM shuffle key, which lets you hold it down to go 2, 3, 4 windows back, etc.</p>
<p>I&#8217;ve remapped other keys, but they may not be useful for most people.  For instance:</p>
<p><code>Launch_Mail::^!+Space<br />
Volume_Down::^!+Left<br />
Volume_Up::^!+Right</code></p>
<p>Those are global hotkeys for VLC media player.  If I hit CTRL-ALT-SHIFT-spacebar, my video pauses, even if it&#8217;s not in focus (I watch on a second monitor).  So now with this new code, the MAIL key pauses, and the Volume keys skip forward and back.  You&#8217;ll also need to set those within VLC for it to work.</p>
<p>If you&#8217;d like to remap the &#8220;desktop&#8221; key (this key sends the command WINDOWS-D), you can use this code (change the second part to whatever you want):</p>
<p><code>#d::RControl</code></p>
<p>However, note that this will disable the WINDOWS-D command, so only do this if you don&#8217;t use that shortcut.</p>
<p>This should give you a glimpse of how powerful autohotkey is, and this is really basic stuff.  For more info, you can see a <a href="http://www.autohotkey.com/docs/Hotkeys.htm">List of hotkeys</a>, or read their tutorial on <a href="http://www.autohotkey.com/docs/misc/Remap.htm">Key Remapping</a>.  I will update this post with any new commands people ask for.  Have fun and let me know any other tricks in the comments!</p>
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		<title>The Beckoning of Lovely (10/10/10) &#8211; Review</title>
		<link>http://spikedskull.com/blog/2010/11/16/the-beckoning-of-lovely-101010-review/</link>
		<comments>http://spikedskull.com/blog/2010/11/16/the-beckoning-of-lovely-101010-review/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 16 Nov 2010 19:51:00 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Tommy Gun</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Events]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Life]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://spikedskull.com/blog/?p=172</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[On October 10th, 2010 I attended &#8220;The Beckoning of Lovely&#8221;: The Beckoning of Lovely is an expanding film project involving hundreds of strangers from around the world. Amy Krouse Rosenthal initiated the project last fall by filming a spontaneous public gathering on 8/08/08 at &#8220;The Bean&#8221; in Millennium Park. The event was a beautiful testament [...]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img src="http://spikedskull.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/DSC05152-600x291.jpg" alt="" title="DSC05152" width="600" height="291" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-174 colorbox-172" /></p>
<p>On October 10th, 2010 I attended &#8220;The Beckoning of Lovely&#8221;:</p>
<blockquote><p>
The Beckoning of Lovely is an expanding film project involving hundreds of strangers from around the world. Amy Krouse Rosenthal initiated the project last fall by filming a spontaneous public gathering on 8/08/08 at &#8220;The Bean&#8221; in Millennium Park. The event was a beautiful testament to the power of community, cooperation, and hope amongst strangers in the name of all things lovely. The project has since evolved into the making of a full-length feature film.
</p></blockquote>
<p>What exactly the event would entail remained vague, but my girlfriend wanted to go, and it sounded like it could be cool.  I watched the 08/08/08 video, and it seemed like it could be something akin to <a href="http://improveverywhere.com/missions/the-mp3-experiments/">the mp3 experiment</a> (except with more art, and no mp3).  Here&#8217;s the 08/08/08 video:<br />
<span id="more-172"></span><br />
<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/0QVQSZA9zSk?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US"/><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"/><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"/><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/0QVQSZA9zSk?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"/></object></p>
<p>Before the event started, people started singing &#8220;We&#8217;re here, because we&#8217;re here, because we&#8217;re here, because we&#8217;re hereeeeeee!&#8221; to the tune of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auld_Lang_Syne">Auld Lang Syne</a> (as heard in the &#8217;08 video).  What seemed at first to be a mildly amusing tautology proved to be chillingly accurate.</p>
<p>As mentioned in the description above, the beckoning was created by Amy.  Her invitation video asked everyone to wear a white shirt with their first name on the front, and &#8220;beckoning of lovely 10/10/10&#8243; on the back.  I didn&#8217;t want to do it because 1) I don&#8217;t wear white, and 2) it made it seem a bit too cultish.  But I figured maybe something interesting would be done with them (e.g., &#8220;go find someone with the same name as you!&#8221;).  But the only thing that even remotely required them was when Amy told everyone to &#8220;turn to your neighbor and give them a high five while saying their name.&#8221;  It seems the real reason for the shirts was simply to make the event seem more important and organized than it really was.</p>
<p>There was a guy &#8220;warming up&#8221; the crowd at the beginning, who later explained he had no idea he would be standing up there, he was just there for the event and somehow got picked to help out.  At first that seemed kind of cool, like we&#8217;d all be participating in some way, but no, it really just showed the lack of planning that went into it.  There was a funny moment when he asked the crowd, &#8220;How many people here came to the Beckoning last year?&#8221;  (No one raised their hand.) &#8220;NO ONE?!  Wow!&#8221; (I later found out there was no &#8217;09 beckoning, just Amy by herself, but perhaps I should have taken that foreshadowing to heart.)</p>
<p>Finally Amy arrived, and explained that there would be &#8220;ten moments.&#8221;  Amy talked about kindred spirits, and how the word &#8220;kindred&#8221; was what this event was all about.  She had two people rip a sign in half, showing that kindred was also &#8220;KIND&#8221; and &#8220;RED.&#8221;  Red was the theme, which allowed her to shoe-horn in all sorts of things for no other reason.  There were also tons of needless puns, such as:</p>
<p>&#8220;Who has recently learned to tell time?&#8221; (a little girl comes up and Amy sits her on a stool) &#8220;This is your lookout tower, you have to watch and make sure everyone is having a good <em>time</em>.&#8221; (That was moment number 1.  A girl sitting on a stool.  That&#8217;s it. Nothing else happened.)</p>
<p>Then someone brought up a &#8220;red carpet&#8221; (which was actually just a red towel).  Amy: &#8220;This is Matt. Thanks for the mat, Matt!&#8221;  Clearly, he was chosen for his name only.</p>
<p>She brought up all the redheads for one of the moments, then had them sit back down.  She released a red balloon into the sky for another.  She read letters from people who had &#8220;red&#8221; in their last name.</p>
<p>But what really bothered me was how many of the moments were based on previous beckonings.  In the &#8217;08 video you saw someone give a flower to a stranger.  Well she had him back, and had a bunch of people give <em>him</em> a flower.</p>
<p>In &#8217;09 there was a guy who asked for a &#8220;moment of peace&#8221; and she played him a song on her ipod.  This time she had the actual band there to play their song live.  It would have been great, but the instruments weren&#8217;t miked, and the singer stood too far away from his mike to be heard even by us, and we were five feet from the speaker.  After the song was over Amy asked if the volume was too low, and everyone (except the people right in front of her/them) shouted &#8220;YES!&#8221;  Then she asked, &#8220;could you hear it?&#8221;, and we all shouted, &#8220;NO!&#8221;  But the only people <em>she</em> could hear were the ones right in front of her, so she replied, &#8220;good!&#8221; without realizing that only about ten people could actually hear it.</p>
<p>Then she read a letter from a 14-year-old girl who couldn&#8217;t come.  She had everyone say hi to her on camera, so that we could all be with her in spirit.  While that&#8217;s all fine and good, Amy, there are hundreds of people here <em>right now</em> wanting to be involved in something!  What happened to the &#8220;we&#8217;re going to make a bunch of stuff together&#8221; mentality from &#8217;08?  Why aren&#8217;t we doing <em>something</em>, anything?  The whole event seemed less like a gathering to share a moment with strangers, and more of a platform for Amy to speak to a large audience about her art project.</p>
<p>There were a few cool moments.  At one point she had everyone take out their cell phones, and hold them up (which is a wholly unoriginal idea, but it was still neat to see).  Then there were two guys in old diving suits who slowly walked around (like they were underwater) handing stuff out.  They had bubbles blowing out behind them.  The best thing was when she had kids hand out tiny letters, which are simply adorable:</p>
<p><a href="http://spikedskull.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/DSC05165.jpg"><img src="http://spikedskull.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/DSC05165-600x154.jpg" alt="" title="DSC05165" width="600" height="154" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-175 colorbox-172" /></a></p>
<p><img src="http://spikedskull.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/DSC05166-375x400.jpg" alt="" title="DSC05166" width="375" height="400" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-176 colorbox-172" /></p>
<p>But aside from that, we were incredibly disappointed.  My girlfriend (who is an artist) later described the event as &#8220;insultingly cliche&#8221; and &#8220;offensive.&#8221;[1]  I read that Amy did some other things as part of the beckoning (in book stores), and maybe those are nice.  It seemed like this event was the final chapter, so it was her just wrapping up the story.  However, that really wasn&#8217;t clear to all the people attending, and since nearly everyone was there for the first time, it didn&#8217;t make any sense.</p>
<p>Seeing clips of the event online will probably seem nice, and you may think I&#8217;m crazy to be writing such a negative review.  The final film may be neat.  People loved the &#8217;08 video, and will probably love the &#8217;10 video, but that just proves that with pretty music, slow motion, and soft narration, you can make almost anything seem more special than it really was.</p>
<p>[1] Edit: she clarifies &#8220;I didn&#8217;t mean anything about it was particularly offensive &#8211; just offended that she wasted my time.&#8221;</p>
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		<title>&#8220;Lion&#8217;s Den&#8221; Photo Gallery</title>
		<link>http://spikedskull.com/blog/2010/11/04/lions-den-photo-gallery/</link>
		<comments>http://spikedskull.com/blog/2010/11/04/lions-den-photo-gallery/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 04 Nov 2010 06:42:41 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Tommy Gun</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Movies]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Photos]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://spikedskull.com/blog/?p=166</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Here are most of the photos I took at the film shoot for &#8220;Lion&#8217;s Den.&#8221; I was trying to get &#8220;action shots&#8221; of everyone there, so a lot of these aren&#8217;t the greatest, but I figured the people in them still might want them. Some are a bit blurry, badly framed, and taken in low [...]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Here are most of the photos I took at the film shoot for &#8220;Lion&#8217;s Den.&#8221; I was trying to get &#8220;action shots&#8221; of everyone there, so a lot of these aren&#8217;t the greatest, but I figured the people in them still might want them.  Some are a bit blurry, badly framed, and taken in low light, but I removed the really bad and redundant ones.  Here is the flash gallery:</p>
<p><a href="http://spikedskull.com/pics/lions-den/">http://spikedskull.com/pics/lions-den/</a></p>
<p>I recommend clicking the &#8220;full screen&#8221; button at the top right, and turn on autoplay if you&#8217;d like. You can also use your arrow keys to cycle through the photos.  If you want to download these photos, you can browse the raw directory here:</p>
<p><a href="http://spikedskull.com/pics/lions-den/images/">http://spikedskull.com/pics/lions-den/images/</a></p>
<p>The flash gallery lists the file names if you just want a few.  Otherwise, you can use an FTP client, or a Firefox add-on like <a href="https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/201/" target="_blank">DownThemAll!</a> to download them easily.</p>
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		<title>New cellphone</title>
		<link>http://spikedskull.com/blog/2010/08/13/new-cellphone/</link>
		<comments>http://spikedskull.com/blog/2010/08/13/new-cellphone/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 13 Aug 2010 09:27:23 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Tommy Gun</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Life]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://spikedskull.com/blog/?p=162</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[At Pitchfork I found a cool lost cellphone, but instead of keeping it we were able to track down the guy and give it back. I liked it so much that I bought the same model on ebay. Yesterday it came, AND SOMEONE STOLE IT from my doorstep. All I found was an empty, ripped-open [...]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>At Pitchfork I found a cool lost cellphone, but instead of keeping it we were able to track down the guy and give it back.  I liked it so much that I bought the same model on ebay.  Yesterday it came, AND SOMEONE STOLE IT from my doorstep.  All I found was an empty, ripped-open box.  Awesome.  Just further proof that <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Just-world_phenomenon">there&#8217;s no such thing as karma</a>.</p>
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		<title>Fun with Heteronyms</title>
		<link>http://spikedskull.com/blog/2010/04/19/fun-with-heteronyms/</link>
		<comments>http://spikedskull.com/blog/2010/04/19/fun-with-heteronyms/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 20 Apr 2010 04:44:27 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Tommy Gun</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Random]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://spikedskull.com/blog/?p=157</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Heteronyms are words with the same spelling, but different pronunciation/meaning. My friend and I were trying to come up with sentences that can be interpreted two different ways; here are a few of mine (italics on the heteronyms): The President&#8217;s handwriting was sloppy on the treaty, so he resigned. Hand me that sakazuki, for Christ&#8217;s [...]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Heteronyms are words with the same spelling, but different pronunciation/meaning.  My friend and I were trying to come up with sentences that can be interpreted two different ways; here are a few of mine (italics on the heteronyms):</p>
<blockquote><p>
The President&#8217;s handwriting was sloppy on the treaty, so he <em>resigned</em>.</p>
<p>Hand me that sakazuki, for Christ&#8217;s <em>sake</em>!</p>
<p>The tailoring on my new shirt was terrible, so I stuffed it in the <em>sewer</em>.
</p></blockquote>
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		<title>Confusing Sign</title>
		<link>http://spikedskull.com/blog/2010/01/27/confusing-sign/</link>
		<comments>http://spikedskull.com/blog/2010/01/27/confusing-sign/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 27 Jan 2010 22:21:19 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Tommy Gun</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Life]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Random]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://spikedskull.com/blog/?p=153</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Wait, so, uh&#8230;should we cross? Everyone is shopping on this side.]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img src="http://spikedskull.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/DSC04753-600x450.jpg" alt="Please stay on that side of the rope.  Thank you." title="DSC04753" width="600" height="450" class="size-large wp-image-154 colorbox-153" /></p>
<p>Wait, so, uh&#8230;should we cross?  Everyone is shopping on <em>this</em> side.</p>
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		<title>Teach Kids Animal Cruelty with Toys!</title>
		<link>http://spikedskull.com/blog/2009/12/14/teach-kids-animal-cruelty-with-toys/</link>
		<comments>http://spikedskull.com/blog/2009/12/14/teach-kids-animal-cruelty-with-toys/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 14 Dec 2009 08:02:35 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Tommy Gun</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Life]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Vegan]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://spikedskull.com/blog/?p=136</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I found this at the local dollar store. Boooo.]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://spikedskull.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/grow-animal.jpg"><img src="http://spikedskull.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/grow-animal-600x450.jpg" alt="grow-animal" title="grow-animal" width="600" height="450" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-137 colorbox-136" /></a></p>
<p>I found this at the local dollar store. Boooo.</p>
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		<title>Worst episode involving a &#8220;vegan&#8221; ever: Kitchen Confidential</title>
		<link>http://spikedskull.com/blog/2009/11/27/worst-episode-involving-a-vegan-ever-kitchen-confidential/</link>
		<comments>http://spikedskull.com/blog/2009/11/27/worst-episode-involving-a-vegan-ever-kitchen-confidential/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 27 Nov 2009 11:17:53 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Tommy Gun</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Television]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Vegan]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://spikedskull.com/blog/?p=141</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[This is a post I wrote back in 2006, but never actually posted. I was just looking through old files and found it. I always joke about how we should be eating raw blocks of tofu while walking down the street, and that&#8217;s a reference to this horrible, horrible episode. Vegans are almost always portrayed [...]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>This is a post I wrote back in 2006, but never actually posted.  I was just looking through old files and found it.  I always joke about how we should be eating raw blocks of tofu while walking down the street, and that&#8217;s a reference to this horrible, horrible episode.  Vegans are almost always portrayed badly on tv, since there&#8217;s apparently no reason to include them unless the episode is about them <strong>wanting meat</strong>, unfortunately.  So here&#8217;s a partial transcript of the episode, with a few of my comments.</p>
<p>For anyone not familiar with this show, it is NOT a reality cooking show, it&#8217;s a fictional comedy.<br />
<span id="more-141"></span><br />
&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;</p>
<p>From &#8220;Kitchen Confidential&#8221; &#8211; episode &#8220;<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0620548/">Rabbit Test</a>.&#8221;  There are a few storylines going at once, so here&#8217;s a partial summary (with spoilers) of the &#8220;vegan&#8221; stuff.  </p>
<p>Vegan woman will be known simply as &#8220;vegan,&#8221; with quotes implied at all times.<br />
&#8220;Chef&#8221; is the main character, the head chef.<br />
&#8220;Cook&#8221; is any of the other guys from the kitchen.<br />
&#8220;Woman chef&#8221; is the other head chef who just arrived, she knew Chef from culinary school.</p>
<p>Owner&#8217;s daughter comes into the kitchen and says, &#8220;Heads up guys, we&#8217;ve got a level 5 celery sucker out there.&#8221;  <em>All the cooks groan.</em><br />
&#8220;What&#8217;s that?&#8221;<br />
&#8220;A chef&#8217;s mortal enemy.&#8221;<br />
&#8220;A vegan.&#8221;<br />
&#8220;No meat no fish no fowl no fun, ever.&#8221;<br />
Chef: &#8220;They don&#8217;t even eat eggs!  Which means that they&#8217;re weak, and they can be frightened off with a large spoon.&#8221;<br />
&#8220;Why wouldn&#8217;t someone want to eat meat?&#8221;<br />
CUT TO vegan bitching to chef about how it&#8217;s poison, and murder, etc. She always speaks in a pissed off voice.</p>
<p><strong>[Vegan Stereotype #1: Vegans are whiny people who won't shut up about how meat is murder, and talk about it everywhere they go, to everyone.]</strong> Why would we go to restaurants just to complain?</p>
<p><em>Waitress sets butter on the table.</em><br />
Vegan (offended): &#8220;Could you take this butter away?!&#8221;<br />
&#8220;Yes, I&#8217;ll be sure to give it a decent burial.&#8221;<br />
Vegan (to chef): &#8220;Look, I&#8217;m serious about this.&#8221;</p>
<p>Chef: &#8220;So I&#8217;m evil?  I&#8217;m evil because I eat meat.&#8221;<br />
Vegan: &#8220;Yes, I would say that.&#8221;</p>
<p>AT A BAR &#8211; chef tells other cooks how he was impressed the vegan had such strong convictions.</p>
<p>[etc]</p>
<p>Cook: &#8220;Bottom line, vegans are scum, and dead animals are DELICIOUS.&#8221;<br />
<em>Vegan takes a picture of herself in the bath holding a &#8220;TRUCE?&#8221; sign, and sends it to Chef&#8217;s phone.</em><br />
Chef (distracted): &#8220;Yeah&#8230;screw the vegans&#8221;<br />
CUT TO chef rolling off of vegan in bed.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the rabbits the chef had ordered for that day&#8217;s special just arrived. They are cute white rabbits, still alive in a cage.</p>
<p>Conversation about how chef is &#8220;selling out&#8221; because he&#8217;s sleeping with a vegan.  Also, he doesn&#8217;t want to kill the bunnies, and he took the crab out of the crab salad.</p>
<p>Chef: &#8220;I&#8217;m not selling out!  I&#8217;ve cooked thousands of animals far cuter than that.  Now where&#8217;s my rabbit-stabbing knife?&#8221;</p>
<p>Scene with bunny on the table, with chef trying to kill it, but can&#8217;t.</p>
<p>Other cook now tries to kill it, but also can&#8217;t.  He starts crying because it reminds him of a hamster he used to have.</p>
<p>Another cook tries to, but fakes a seizure instead.</p>
<p>Fourth cook also can&#8217;t.</p>
<p><em>(walking down the street together, eating BLOCKS of tofu)</em><br />
Vegan: &#8220;So, who was wrong about tofu?&#8221;<br />
Chef: &#8220;The guy who invented tofu.&#8221; <em>(spits it out)</em></p>
<p><strong>[Vegan Stereotype #2: Vegans only eat salad and tofu. We absolutely love eating raw blocks of plain tofu.  Hell, I have some in my pocket right now!]</strong> Not a very good chef if he doesn&#8217;t even know how to cook tofu.</p>
<p>One of the cooks steals the rabbits and takes them home (with the female greeter, he likes her).</p>
<p><em>(just bought a meat pizza)</em><br />
Chef: &#8220;Now, this is what I&#8217;m talking about.&#8221;<br />
Vegan: &#8220;Why do you have to do that?&#8221;<br />
Chef: &#8220;Because if we&#8217;re going back to your apartment I need energy.&#8221;<br />
Vegan: &#8220;See now you have sausage breath.&#8221;<br />
Chef: &#8220;Come on, it&#8217;s not that bad. Come here.&#8221; <em>(wants to kiss her)</em><br />
Vegan: &#8220;No, it&#8217;s DISGUSTING!&#8221;<br />
Chef: &#8220;Kiss me.  What&#8217;s gonna happen?&#8221;<br />
<em>(they kiss) She licks her lips.</em></p>
<p>CUT TO apartment, they bust through the door, he&#8217;s feeding her pizza.<br />
Vegan: &#8220;Oh my god!&#8221;<br />
Chef: &#8220;You like that, don&#8217;t you?&#8221;<br />
Vegan: &#8220;It&#8217;s SO GOOD!&#8221;<br />
Chef: &#8220;Eat it. You love it. You love a sausage.&#8221;<br />
Vegan: &#8220;I do. I do love a sausage!&#8221;</p>
<p>Chef: &#8220;Do you want some more little girl?&#8221;<br />
Vegan: &#8220;Oh I want some more!&#8221;<br />
Chef: &#8220;Wait wait wait, what about the rainforests?&#8221;<br />
<em>(she pushes him down, and grabs pizza with both hands, shoving it in her mouth)</em></p>
<p><strong>[Vegan Stereotype #3: Vegans desperately WANT to eat meat, and will instantly give up their principles from one taste of meat.]</strong> Um, very few people were born vegans. We know what meat tastes like.</p>
<p>IN KITCHEN chef says he was out to lunch with vegan, but she&#8217;s not vegan anymore.<br />
&#8220;You turned her?&#8221;<br />
Chef: &#8220;Was there ever any doubt?&#8221;<br />
&#8220;All hail the vegan slayer!&#8221;<br />
<em>(they cheer)</em></p>
<p>They can&#8217;t find the rabbits, and know it was the greeter who took them.  The guys act like they&#8217;re mad, but they obviously didn&#8217;t want to (and couldn&#8217;t) kill them, so they&#8217;re actually relieved.</p>
<p>(later) Greeter brings back the bunnies, and woman chef takes them.</p>
<p><em>Chef goes to vegan&#8217;s apartment, she&#8217;s throwing up in the bathroom.</em><br />
Vegan: &#8220;It&#8217;s the meat!  You&#8217;ve poisoned my body!&#8221;<br />
Chef: &#8220;I feel terrible about this, I had no idea a little bit of sausage would&#8230;&#8221; <em>(looks in toilet)</em> &#8220;Is that bacon? I didn&#8217;t feed you bacon.&#8221;<br />
Vegan: &#8220;No, but you fed me the sausage!&#8221;  <em>(crying)</em> &#8220;Which led to the salami, which led to the bacon!&#8221;<br />
Chef: &#8220;There&#8217;s salami?&#8221;<br />
Vegan: &#8220;Yes and it&#8217;s your fault!&#8221;<br />
Chef: &#8220;How&#8217;s that my fault?&#8221;<br />
Vegan: &#8220;Because you&#8217;re the devil!&#8221;</p>
<p>KITCHEN &#8211; He tells woman chef that he broke up with vegan.</p>
<p>Woman chef: &#8220;Well good. I mean she abandons her principles, and then blames you?  That&#8217;s not the kind of woman you need to be with.&#8221;<br />
Chef: &#8220;Oh really?  What kind of woman do I need to be with?&#8221;</p>
<p>Cook: &#8220;We need the rabbit special!&#8221;<br />
Chef: &#8220;We don&#8217;t have the rabbit special.&#8221;<br />
Woman Chef: &#8220;Sure we do!&#8221; <em>(opens oven)</em><br />
Chef: &#8220;Did you just&#8230;?&#8221;<br />
Woman Chef: &#8220;It&#8217;s no big deal. I just picked them up&#8221; <em>(picks up celery sticks)</em> &#8220;and I said &#8216;nice rabbit, sweet rabbit&#8230;&#8217; and then&#8221; <em>(breaks celery sticks in half, and smiles)</em></p>
<p>Jim, one of the cooks, is shocked. (he had a crush on her throughout the episode and got &#8220;excited&#8221; whenever he was near her)<br />
Woman Chef: &#8220;Problem, Jim?&#8221;<br />
Jim: &#8220;Not anymore.&#8221; <em>(walks away, angry)</em> [this was the only good part of the episode, aside from the guys not wanting to kill the rabbits]</p>
<p>Chef: <em>(looks at woman chef, amazed)</em> &#8220;You&#8217;re incredible.&#8221;</p>
<p>Woman Chef: &#8220;Well, sometimes you&#8217;ve gotta stop pussyfooting around and just do what you&#8217;ve gotta do.&#8221;<br />
<em>(they smile at each other)</em></p>
<p>Chef voice over: &#8220;The truth is, most of us are barely even aware that there&#8217;s a connection between the animal, and the meat on our plate. It&#8217;s comforting to pretend that nothing had to die to sate our appetites.  But it&#8217;s also a lie. And you have to admire someone who has the courage to look that part of themselves in the eye and not flinch. I know I do.&#8221;</p>
<p>CUT TO chef and woman chef in bed together.  Song &#8220;There she goes&#8221; plays.</p>
<p>[WTF? Now bunny-killing is SEXY?]</p>
<p>The final, extremely confusing shot, shows them naked on the bed making out, and the camera pans down to show a cage of bunnies under the bed.  [...WHAT?]</p>
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