9 Best Essentials for My Work-From-Home Life
Illustration from Bēhance, all rights owned by Oleksandr Aleksandrov, Link
Working from home becomes the new norm to curb transmission of COVID- 19. It was new experience for me in the very beginning but turned into trouble very soon as my life rapidly became irregular, unhealthy, and tiring. During the past months, I've bought tons of new things to help me suffer (and even start to enjoy) the new work-from-home life. Here are the 9 best ones I like and want to recommend to all.
⌨️ Mechanical Keyboard
Apple keyboard just isn't good enough for coding efficiently, instead, mechanical keyboard does. WFH is perfect for using mechanical keyboard because you don't need to worry the keyboard makes too many noises to bothrer the colleagues nearby. I choose the Filco Ninja (Blue Switch) as my first mechanical keyboard. After using it for over one week, I strongly recommend anyone who want to try mechanical keyboard to start with this one.
🖥️ Monitor
I bought an iMac just a few days before WFH, thinking that the fancy 5K retina screen can be used as a perfect monitor for my work laptop. But I'm wrong: the 2019 newest iMac cannot be used as a monitor. To buy a temporary monitor that can be used even after WFH period finished, I choose to go with rotatable monitors so that they can be used as an assistant screen like the photo shows. HP VH240a was a popular one 23.8-inch 1080p but costing only $139.99 . The resolution is not as perfect as iMac 5k (for sure), but okay for coding and normal use cases.
☕️ Coffee Machine
Living in Seattle, the place Starbucks origins, I can get the super high-quality and monthly special beans from Starbucks Roastery and make coffee by meself. It's also a fun process to make the espresso and foam and enjoyable experience to start the WFH day with a cup of coffee. I'd strongly recommend Breville the Barista Express Espresso Machine. It's a bit expensive but amazing to cover all steps from beans to flat white.
🥛 Soylent
I got busier when starting to work from home because the communication becomes less efficient, more meetings are spread all over the day even in noon. Without time to have a formal lunch, Soylent becomes the perfect meal replacement that I can even have a "lunch" in meetings. After several weeks trial of Soylent, I tend to keep this habit even after WFH. Not only because of saving lunch time, but also avoid feeling tired after lunch.
🌱 Plants
After staying in the same room for several hours, I found the air quality tends to be much worse. Having plants on desk and in room can improve it (at least better than nothing). Also emotionally, having a green plant on working desk makes me "feel" healthy and happy XD . For the small ones shown in the photo, I got it from Seattle Garden festival for just $8. Whole Foods also have great succulent plants with pot for just $15. For the large ones (height 3~5 ft), Léon & George is an interesting provider I found from b8ta. They have a great taste to choose plant and plant stand.
📻 Background Surround Music, "Alexa, Play Everywhere"
This is another benefit that you cannot get in office: playing surround music. Just to use multiple Echos and say, play Beethoven everywhere.
🧶 Pajamas
Why do we wear pajamas? From Quora's best guess answer: "They help your body to relax and be free as well." I usually do casual wear or business casual when having meetings, yet pajamas when not in meetings. It's comfortable and makes me feel free. Texture and material are also important as it's touching your skin directly. I'm using daniel buchler's pima cotton, which is not too thick to be a good fit for the summer season.
🌊 Fragrance
As mentioned above, staying in the same place for too long makes the ait quality bad and smell really bad. The most direct way to change that is to use fragrance. Also, I found it's really easy to get tired when working in home for too long. You may try some fragrances for a refreshment. I use LE LABO which is a fragrance brand with stylished and creative perfume. SANTAL 33 and ROSE 31 are my favorite ourside of door. I'd suggest BERGAMOTE 22 and THÉ NOIR 29 for WFH as they're lighter. Another interesting point: Bergamote was widely used in ancient China imperial palace as air purifier for its perfumes.
😴 Sleep Cycle
I live a more irregular life when starting WFH. Getting up becomes harder in this case. Sleep Cycle is amazing waking you up during light sleep feels like waking up naturally rested without an alarm clock. I found this product around half year ago and use it literately every day since then. The only draw back is you have to keep phone charged and put it near head to let sleep cycle to track your sleep. It would be great if it can integrate with Echo directly as Echo is already on my night stand.
Hope these essentials I love could make your work-from-home life happier. Stay Home and Flatten the Curve with COVID-19.
在家工作成了新日常。现在华盛顿州疫情还很严重，为了遏制新冠肺炎传播，公司已经推荐在家工作到十月初。四月初刚开始的时候还是很新奇，但是很快就开始憋的难受、生活不规律、作息不健康、容易疲劳。到今天刚好满一个月，期间买的一些物品极大提升了工作和生活质量，分享我最喜欢的 9 个。
⌨️ 机械键盘
苹果笔记本的键盘因为键程太短，长时间敲代码有种敲木板的感觉；而独立的苹果键盘又偏软。所以从家里工作这段时间我拔草了种草已久的机械键盘。在家里用其实特别合适，因为不用担心机械键盘的噪声会让同事暴走。逛了一圈论坛，最后选的入门款是 Filco Ninja 青轴做我的第一个机械键盘。到今天刚好两周，强烈建议必买机械键盘，啪啪啪的感觉太爽了。
🖥️ 显示屏
在开始在家工作之前，入手了 19 款的 iMac，本来以为 5K 视网膜屏幕用来做工作电脑的外接显示器简直无敌，结果：2019 年款的 iMac 不能用作外接显示器；远程桌面也因为公司电脑防火墙被禁用了。所以放着一个完美的显示屏不能用必须要买一个新的显示器十分蛋疼。纠结一段时间之后买了个能够旋转 90 度的显示屏，这样就算不在家工作了，也能像照片里面那样竖着做副屏看网页用。副屏当然不能太贵，基本上是在亚马逊按照价格排序、能旋转过滤，选到惠普 VH240a，23.8英寸1080p，但只要 139.99 美元。分辨率当然跟 iMac 5k 不能比，但敲代码和看网页还是挺价美物廉。
☕️ 咖啡机
西雅图有全世界最大的星巴克烘焙工坊（Starbucks Roastery），从家走路过去只要 15 分钟，每个月它都会推出一款新的烘焙豆子，外加在外面买咖啡真的贵且豆子没特色，所以想了很久整了个稍微贵一点的，做算术大概 6 个月回本（当然实际情况就完全不一样了，要知道烘焙工坊不只有一种豆子，有一些特别好的豆子一袋就大概要 60 美元，买机器花了钱之后心里就会变成：买机器大头都出了，不配好一点的豆子怎么对得起自己嘿嘿）。做意式浓缩咖啡和打泡沫也是一个挺有趣的过程，每天从一杯新鲜咖啡开始还是非常有幸福感的。我强烈推荐 Breville 的 Barista Express 浓缩咖啡机。有点小贵，但是能从豆子开始全套做出拿铁。
🥛 Soylent
在家工作跟最开始设想的完全不一样，因为视频会议单线程而且没有白板，沟通效率特别低，所以基本是会连着会（还学到了一个新词儿叫 back-to-back meeting），中午也是满会没时间吃饭，但是不吃下午饿到爆炸，所以想办法就搞了三箱 soylent 代餐，可以可以在会议上“吃午餐”。整了几周的 Soylent 之后，特别推荐草莓口味，确实是方便而且比较抵饿，可能在这段时间从家工作过去之后，我还是会用 soylent 来做代餐，方便而且不会因为高 GI 值下午觉得困。在国内好像比较出名的是“若饭”，看天猫链接其实不便宜。
🌱 植物
在同一房间呆几个小时之后，空气质量明显会变差。在桌子上和房间里放些植物可以清新空气，而且室内有绿植心情也会好起来。照片中显示的小盆多肉，是我从西雅图花园节上买的只要八块。Whole Foods 的盆栽也很划算，只要 15 刀。最近还从 b8ta 找到一个设计师品牌，专门提供室内盆栽，花盆和植物的选择都很现代化。在写中文版本的这个文章的时候，我试着找国内定期送室内植物的服务，但是很有意思的中美差异是，国内倾向于定期送花而不是室内绿植。
📻 背景环绕音乐
这是在家工作的另一个好处：可以大音量播放背景环绕音乐。亚马逊的智能音响有个很有趣的功能：“Alexa，play everywhere”，可以直接链接多个智能音箱同步播放环绕音乐。亚马逊智能音箱价廉物美，但可惜还不支持国内。苹果的智能音响也有相似的功能，据说音效很震撼。另外，今年苹果应该会推出廉价版 HomePod，想近期入手的可以考虑再等等。
🧶 睡衣
我在家基本上穿睡衣，下意识的觉得在家穿睡衣比较舒服。为了更好解释和写这个博文，我还去搜了下“为什么我们穿睡衣？”，Quora 的最佳答案非常形而上：“它们可以帮助您的身体放松并获得自由。” 因为一穿就是一整天而且直接接触皮肤，材质很重要。我整的是 daniel buchler 的 pima 棉，这种棉不厚，很适合夏天穿。
🌊香水
绿植的部分提到过，在同一个地方呆太长时间空气质量变差，气味也不好。有时候长时间开会没办法，必须要呆在同一个地方，这种时候最直接的办法就是用香水。另外，在家里工作太长时间也很容易累，可以尝试一些香水来提神和换心情。我喜欢的是 LE LABO，SANTAL 33 和 ROSE 31 两款是我最喜欢的，一个是檀香，另一个是檀香玫瑰。但是建议在家工作长时间呆在同一个地方的花用清淡一点的，比如 BERGAMOTE 22 和 THÉ NOIR 29，佛手柑和红茶。另一个有趣的点：佛手柑在古代皇宫中其实被用作摆果闻香。
😴 Sleep Cycle
在家工作生活作息挺不规律，有早会的时候很容易睡过头。 Sleep Cycle APP 可以监测睡眠深度，在轻度睡眠的时候叫你起床，这样就像睡到自然起一样舒服，没有起床气。我大概在半年前发现了这个 APP，之后基本就变成了日常必用的 APP。唯一的缺点是必须保持手机充电，并且放在头部附近，方便 Sleep Cycle APP 听呼吸监测睡眠状态。
其实国内大部分公司都已经返工，把这些当作日常生活的物品推荐吧。:D
Wonderful!