Now that we’re solidly into Week 2 of the Diablo III walk-a-thon, I figured it was time to run down a quick update of everything that’s changed in my gaming treadmill setup. (Some of these tweaks were done a few months ago, but I haven’t done a general round-up post in a while, so I figured it couldn’t hurt.)

The adaptations break down into three main groups: Environment, Gear, and Attitude.

Environment

Monitor

For those of you who’ve read the previous posts, you know I’ve been having problems getting my monitor at the right angle. I had been looking for a proper wallmount that would let me swivel and tilt the monitor until it was perfect—and then I realized I could just drop the shelf down eight inches and achieve the same goal. The only reason it was so high to begin with was that I had based the height of the shelf off the height of the treadmill and not my actual viewing angle.

Raised Mousepad

After some minor wrist annoyances, I ended up bumping the mousepad up a bit using a random box and some more non-slip shelf liner. I wrapped both the box and the shelf in the liner to make sure nothing was going to shift out of place.

The package of beans still holds the whole thing level, but it’s pretty much tucked out of sight.

Barstool

Nice, solid, wooden, and not comfy enough to sit on for hours—but nice enough for a breather between miles. I was lucky to find one at just the right height and I can still use the keyboard and mouse without problems. (Also gives me the benefit of being able to use the computer for actions like photo-editing that are too delicate for walking & mousing).

Gear

New Shoes

My old walking shoes finally bit the dust so I grabbed a new pair right before Diablo hit. There’s nothing more comfy than a new pair of shoes and I’d forgotten how much support they lose as they age. I’ve still got my dedicated trail-walking shoes, but I learned quickly cross-country treads don’t play well with treadmill decks.

New Workout Duds

Nothing improves a walk (indoors or out) like a wardrobe of lightweight pants, shirts, and good solid socks. In honor of the new shoes, I grabbed some new clothes that I dedicated as treadmill-only. Just like putting on work clothes signals my brain that it’s time to Be A Grownup™, I can now gear-up for my battles with digital dragons (and demons).

Razor Gaming Mouse

I was beating my head against the limited number of keybinds I could use with my left hand and finally gave in a bought a proper gaming mouse. Now I’ve got plenty of room to play around and it’s been pretty darned useful in both WoW and LotRO. I’m still figuring out all the random things D3 has keybound to the numberpad, so I can’t say it’s too useful there yet… but gimme time. 😉

Attitude

See (barstool).

Seriously, I was getting burnt out with the idea that I could only play computer games if I was walking. It was a great idea to start with, but since my walking stamina isn’t anywhere near my gaming stamina, it was more frustrating than constructive. So I picked up the barstool and now I can walk, rest, walk—and keep playing with my friends who aren’t grinding miles.

Diablo is probably going to continue to dominate my time, but after the first clear on Normal I think things will slow down again. I have a new ‘only an hour on a worknight’ rule in place this week, so we’ll see how she goes.

After all, there’s Pandas on the horizon…