Two Smart Upgrades That Save Your Hands And Eyes

This episode is the audio version of the YouTube video https://youtu.be/QkEaGqHN_qc.

This episode contains a paid promotion.

A single sharp keyboard edge led to a lasting radial nerve injury—and it changed how I design my writing space forever. Today, I share the practical fixes that keep me creating without pain, centered on two upgrades that punch far above their weight: a height-adjustable laptop stand that restores neutral posture and a smart desk lamp that protects tired eyes while you write, read, and edit.

We start with the story: long days at Princeton, a rushed setup, and the invisible pressure that built into a chronic problem. From there, we break down the posture chain that causes neck hunching, wrist compression, and forearm pain when a laptop sits too high or too low. You’ll hear how a portable, variable-height stand raises and lowers the screen, keeping your wrists neutral, and how standing intervals reduce contact stress. If space or budget rule out a full standing desk, this simple stand still delivers real ergonomic gains at home, in the library, or on the road.

Lighting gets equal attention. We explain why smart desk lamps with presence detection and dimming reduce glare, squinting, and late-night headaches. The right beam spreads light across keys and notebook pages without washing out your screen, helping you focus longer with less strain. Along the way, we walk through the photo of our current setup—laptop on a stand, smart lamp, Kindle Scribe and Fire, travel cases, and a few beloved books—so you can visualize minor tweaks that add up to big comfort.

If you’re hunting Black Friday or Cyber Monday deals, this is your permission slip to skip the random gadget pile and invest in daily-use tools that protect your body and improve your craft. Ready to build a workspace that supports your best work? Follow the show, leave a quick review to help others find us, and share your own ergonomic must-haves—we’d love to hear what’s made the most significant difference for you.

Amazon Affiliate Links: as an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Nulaxy LS18 Laptop Stand 360 rotating: https://amzn.to/48vNyAy (Black Friday Deal)

Honeywell Smart Eye Protection Desk Lamp: https://amzn.to/49M05BY (on sale)

Amazon Kindle Scribe 64GB bundle: https://amzn.to/49Mjz9K (Black Friday Deal)

Amazon Fire Max 11 64GB: https://amzn.to/48EE3A6 (Black Friday Deal)

#AmazonBlackFriday #BlackFriday #BlackFridayDeals #AmazonDealsForWriters

#KindleDevicesBlackFridayDeals #KindleDevices #HoneywellDeskLamp 

#NulaxyLaptopStand

Chapters

• 0:54 Holiday Greetings And Disclaimers
• 1:13 Why Focus On Ergonomics
• 2:29 A Painful Lesson On Radial Nerve Injury
• 5:11 Standing Desk Benefits And Constraints
• 5:53 Laptop Stand Choice And Rationale
• 6:57 Smart Desk Lamp Features That Matter
• 8:06 What’s On The Desk Photo
• 8:57 Shop Smarter For Black Friday
• 10:39 Production Notes And Whiteboard Walkthrough
• 12:12 Affiliate Links And Closing Wishes

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:37

Hello. I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and uh that uh you're now uh heavily into Black Friday. So I have a few products to suggest uh and as an Amazon associate I earn from qualifying purchases. So I thought a lot about what to say today, and I decided I'd just talk about one or two products uh because the Amazon site itself uh is the best place to go for Black Friday and Cyber Monday, because there you see the full range of things that uh you can get on sale. And there are many more than I can suggest, even if I talk to you for four hours. So, what I decided to focus on was just a couple of uh purchases you can make on Amazon.com that are on sale at the moment. I just checked it, and these products are going to serve as an introduction to my next theme in the episodes to come, which is ergonomics. So writers spend uh many hours uh on their manuscripts, and uh some still write by hand uh uh and others use uh a laptop or please unlock the device to continue. That was Alexa, isn't that annoying? Um so it's important, and so what what tends to happen is you get so engrossed in what you're doing uh that you forget what your body is doing, and uh you really need to be very much aware of best practices for um preventing um injuries that come from uh writing for hours at your desk. So uh so I wanted to uh, and I'm not even going to um give the full information on these objects that I'm going to suggest. I'm just gonna mention them, and uh there'll be a whiteboard at the end that will show uh a photo of my uh of the table that I'm working at currently. Now, this podcast has an audio version on Buzzsprout, and I will simply make the photo uh the thumbnail so you'll be able to see it. So I uh have an incredible problem with the radial nerve of my right arm, which is a result of being a guest of the Institute for Advanced Studies in Princeton in 2000. And what happened was uh I worked incredibly hard because I was at Princeton and I was doing demanding research, and uh time just didn't matter. I was just there for as long as I needed, usually there from early in the morning to when I wanted to go to sleep. And I didn't see that my right arm was pressing against something sharp that was on the keyboard, and is giving me a permanent problem with my radial nerve. Of course, I complained to the Institute for Advanced Studies, but uh I didn't take out a lawsuit or anything, so um, but they made some adjustments to their equipment. Uh but unfortunately it was too late for me, so I'm stuck with this problem. So I have found that standing at a desk is the best way to avoid aggravating this condition. And in Alaska, I have bought from Amazon.com uh what they call a standing desk. And the nice thing about it is that it's a table, so you have a whole new table, and it it's its height uh can be continuously varied, and you can get exactly the height that you want. Now I am in Texas right now, so I can't take a photo of it. And uh I had to come to a different solution in Texas because we we haven't got room in Texas for another table. So what I went with was um uh a laptop stand. Um it's the new Laxi laptop stand. And I'm not going to do a tutorial on it today. I'll do that some other time, but it's it's in the photo that I've taken that's on the whiteboard, and what it is is it's rather than having a desk, a whole desk, which um goes up and down, so you can get the right height, it uh is a device like that, but just for the laptop. And my problem with my radial nerve mainly occurs when I'm using a laptop. So this has turned out to be a really great device. And uh another purchase that I made because you know I'm getting older and uh you know my eyesight isn't isn't what it was, and I decided I needed a new desk lamp. So I went for the Honeywell Smart Eye Protection Desk Lamp, and I will do a tutorial on that separately. But I really uh urge you. I mean, there's one uh very similar product that is not the smart one. Uh as uh it's on discount right now, and I checked that. Uh I really uh push you to get the smart version because it has all sorts of nice features, like it like it can detect when you're in the room and when you leave the room, it'll turn itself off automatically. When you come into the room, it'll turn itself on. It has a dimmer, uh, it has all sorts of features which go uh above and beyond uh just a good desk lamp. So the laptop stand and the desk lamp are the two um products that I want to emphasize. And uh if you think you may need them at all, go buy them today because they're on great discounts. So uh in this photo that I've taken of the table, uh you'll also see uh my um fountain pen cover. If you look closely, you'll see my my two published books, The Over Life and Three Kidnapped, Three Siblings, Three Furies. And you'll see uh my beloved uh what have come, my beloved uh Kindle Scribe and Kindle Fire Max 11. All on sale. Okay, so my advice to you is to shop for yourself. That's why I don't want to give too many suggestions because it's Black Friday. I want to talk to you about these products that I actually own and use. And if I don't own and use them, it's because I already have a comparable uh product at home. And what I will do then is to suggest uh a similar product that I trust because of the brand name or whatever. So this is a slow process, and I don't want to cram it all into Black Friday. And let me say again that this is your day. So I've made two suggestions uh a laptop stand with variable height and a really good desk lamp. And if you just buy those two things, you can use them, okay, especially if you're a writer. But for everything else, I just want you to have a great time and uh look for things that you really want, and uh the same for Cyber Monday. So that's it. Uh that's all I want to say today. I um hope you had a great Thanksgiving. I hope you have fun today getting all the discounts. And uh please uh subscribe to uh my podcast and uh like and comment. Okay. And okay, so now I'm gonna go to the whiteboard, and I know that there's going to be a black screen that comes up just before the whiteboard. I haven't figured out how to get rid of that. So um, as I've said uh a number of times, I'm I'm a beginner on YouTube on YouTube. So uh and I'm using Zoom at the moment, and I'm uh a beginner on that too. So you just have to put up with my growing pains. Okay, have a great day. So uh this is my uh whiteboard. So on the left you'll see um the uh Honeywell SmartEye protection desk lamp. And on the right, you'll see a laptop on a stand uh whose height varies. Okay, so that's the laptop stand. You'll be looking uh straight at my Kindle Scribe and uh my Kindle um Fire. And in the in the covers sold uh for these devices from Amazon, but you'll see also on either side uh the travel cases that I've bought um for long trips. And then you'll see two books uh in line with the laptop stand, and they're my two published books. So I will leave uh affiliate links in uh the episode description for uh these items. Oh, and uh you should also see the um leather cover for the fountain pen, okay, which I've talked about before. And uh as an Amazon associate, I learned from qualifying purchases. And if you are listening to the audio version, as I said, I'm going to make this the um the thumbnail for the uh podcast. Okay, have a great have a great day, guys.