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09 January 2006

AskMecha: am I a MetaGirl, MetaDude, MetaGuy, MetaMale, MetaGenotypeCointos, MetaUnspecified or all of the above? But actually, that isn't my question at all. →[More:] I moved into a new apartment over the weekend. It's nice. There are a lot of gigantic windows. And it's really bright outside. I cannot position my computer in a place where the glare isn't so bright that I can feel my eyeballs melting. Any suggestions for how to solve this without spending money. The thing is, I ain't got no money. I'm tempted to spread butter on my monitor. Maybe that'll do something. I already tried making a tent over my computer and myself. It got really warm and the tent was attacked by robots. I lost the War of Today and the tent was no more.

post by: panoptican at: 16:01 | 11 comments

READ IT AND WEEP!

Just kidding, try a nylon stocking, any color will do.

posted by Hugh Janus 09 January | 16:03

over your head Hugh?

posted by arse_hat 09 January | 16:13

My computer is right in front of a window. I love it because I can watch the birds. The glare, though, it hurts.

I wear a baseball cap in front of the computer. Voila.

posted by mudpuppie 09 January | 16:13

Make a cardboard shade to attach to the computer monitor with tape. Tacky, tacky, tacky, but then again, you ain't got no money, so....

posted by Doohickie 09 January | 16:13

If birds were glaring at me, I'd be worried. But maybe I've seen too much Hitchcock.

posted by Eideteker 09 January | 16:24

Thrift store, old sheets.
Art supply store, dye. Or, if you're too poor for Procion, grocery store for Rit.
Hardware store, staplegun & staples.
Substance of choice, inspiration.

Get inspired. Tie up those sheets, dye them, dry them, staple them up over the windows and voila! You have an unattractive yet functional hippie apartment that will cut the glare from your monitor.

posted by mygothlaundry 09 January | 16:39

So basically, butter isn't going to help. Anyway, thanks for inspiring me folks. I'm always lacking that inspire thing on Mondays.

posted by panoptican 09 January | 16:43

whatever you do, DON'T use butter!

use margarine.

for real, here's the trick. a friend of mine does this. take a blanket and nail it up (on both top corners) in front of the window so it's like a regular curtain. the older the blanket, the better.

see if you can trick it up there so you can pull one side off the nail when it's not overly glaring outside -- pull back the curtain to expose the window. then, when the sun is beading down on you makin you sweat, you can place that corner back up on the nail - glare is beat and you won't lose your sight from the blinding sun!

*flags own answer as the worst one*

posted by mcgraw 09 January | 16:52

??

- close curtains (or wear sunglasses, or tinfoil your windows)
- place monitor, facing you, between curtains and yourself
- ??
- no more glare

posted by porpoise 09 January | 17:22

I have my computer by the window, because I can't give up the view... so I also have this problem. Plus, and this is really freaky: one hand and arm was getting tan... and the other wasn't.

But, the thing is, the sun moves. It's probably not going to glare on your screen all day. So I got a piece of thin, light wood that I can lean against the window and position it however I need to in order to block the sun where/when I need to. Plus I can still see around the edges of the piece of wood, or move it aside when I just want to gaze out of the window. And I don't have to deal with curtains that I don't want for any other purpose.

Now, if you have windows all around you in this room... I guess it's a different story.

posted by taz 09 January | 17:33

Move to Pittsburgh. My office windows face south, I keep the blinds all the way up and half the time I have to turn the lights on to see the papers on my desk during the day. I'd kill for some glare on my monitor at this point in the winter. I couldn't tell you the last time that I saw actual sunlight that wasn't on television.

posted by octothorpe 09 January | 22:20

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