Monday, April 29, 2013

A Stand For Workplace Health

It's not news that we as a country are getting less healthy. Obesity is on the rise, owing in part to a more sedentary lifestyle. Quite simply, we're not active enough and it's affecting our health. Exercise and proper diet can help, of course, but a new approach to office work is attacking the problem by cutting down on an unhealthy activity that has become essential to many jobs- sitting.

Sitting for long stretches slows metabolism and leaves people at risk for heart disease, diabetes and other life-shortening ailments. Unfortunately, that's just what many of us have to do everyday at our jobs. While proper posture and an ergonomically friendly desk will cut down on eyestrain, back pain and wrist injuries, it doesn't reduce the risk of long-term problems. As a result of these studies, one of the latest office trends is installing workstations that reduce or eliminate sitting entirely.


Ergonomics are still in play, of course. The keyboard should remain at elbow level, the top of the monitor should be just below your eyes and at an angle, and try not to slouch. This buying guide will help sort out different options for standing desks. In particular, how to tackle the obvious fatigue problem. Standing all day will wear you out, so having a stool or a surface to do some sitting work is important.

Even if you're not ready to make the jump to a standing workstation, there are routines you can get into that promote good health. Stand up and walk around every twenty minutes. Add more walking by parking farther away and taking stairs instead of the elevator. The site Compliance & Safety has a graphic with several exercises you can do while at work. Doing these is not only a break from sitting, they also stretch out various muscles.


Now that the weather's getting warmer, another healthy tip is to bike or walk to work if you live close enough to your job.

Friday, April 5, 2013

Gift Card From Tombow

We love Tombow products around here. Not that that's controversial. Their adhesive dispensers and associated refills are best-selling products and their correction tape dispensers have been described as the Cadillac of correction tape. It doesn't take much prompting to get us to gush about their products, but some recent developments has us even more eager to talk about them.


Tombow actually sells two versions of its popular adhesive tape. There's a version that you would buy in office supply stores, targeted towards creating presentation displays. Then there's a version sold in craft stores, aimed at scrapbookers. It's all the same stuff, just with different packaging, and Tombow has come to the realization that doing this was kinda silly. So they're phasing out the office version, the ever-popular TOM62201 dispenser and its TOM62202 refill, and selling the same thing everywhere. Equality for the win!

This is fantastic news because while it's the same tape we all love, the Craft Collection version, model TOM62106 with refill TOM62107, has 33 percent more tape on each roll. That means more bang for your buck for all your scrapbooking and office needs. The Craft Collection refills will still fit the TOM62201 dispenser and work just as well.

Best of all, from now until July, ordering $50 or more of eligible Tombow products will net you a $10 gift card from a number of popular retailers and restaurants. A $100 purchase gets you a $25 gift card! Check out this page for the rebate form and a list of eligible products. Most correction tape products are on the list, as are the Craft Collection adhesives, making this the perfect time to switch for those used to ordering the TOM62202 refills.