I am turning into a proto-geek. First there was this business of letting my engineer friend talk me into building my new computer from components (he walked me through selection and assembled it, I mostly held the flashlight). Then I got Alexander the Laptop, whose touchpad gave me enough extensor digitorum fibrositis after a couple weeks of casual easy chair use that I had to go back to Micro Center and price wireless mice. And there on the shelf was this Wave Keyboard with on-keyboard media controls and the spiffiest of wrist rests.
The thing is, my sound system currently involves the membra disjecta of my old Dell, whose controls involve either a fussicacious click-icon-adjust-slider onscreen panel, or, if you want to be almost as annoyed, finding which of the speakers has the clunky little plus and minus buttons on its top. With my uncorrectable slight astigmatism, I can’t see these too well. And they don’t do much good when a client has just been deafened by the plucked bull fiddle that is my incoming mail sound because I was listening to some lute music on YouTube earlier (this is Zeus‘ fault).
I stroked the big audio button on the Wave keyboard dreamily. Of course it came home with me.
Even though the old Dell keyboard will probably only be used in a pinch — it’s a PS2, which is already kind of like pedal pushers or disco — I always put away retired hardware for a while before tossing it, and since I am not only a neat but a slightly OCD clean person, I did what I had to do years back when I spilled some Kir in it: I boiled water, cooled it slightly by dilution in a pitcher, tilted the keyboard over the sink, and slowly and majestically sluiced it, up and down, back and forth. This is a trick I learned from a guy who installed all the cruiser computers for the Arlington Police Department and had to train the force in this technique owing to the crippling quantities of doughnut jelly and Dorito dust that used to filter into the things.
A mass of desk dreck, cat hair and (I confess it) sesame seeds emerged, having apparently eluded the two or three cans of air that have been shot at this thing since I was last feckless enough to drink Kir while IMing.
Not quite like this, but kinda.
I was a good little housekeeper, and didn’t load my new keyboard software until I had winkled all the crap out of my old one.
Just because.
I wonder if there’s an herbal remedy for this. I mean my brain, not the slime mold.
The audio controls ROCK.
Well, if you really want to know…
How Many Germs Live On Your Keyboard?
Gack! I have even more germs than you do…
I had no idea that it was OK to wash a keyboard. I’ll have to try that … I have ever such a bad habit of eating at my desk, and having cats at my desk, and despite repeated assaults with canned air, my keyboard could surely use a disinfecting.
I didn’t click on the link for the Wave keyboard, because I know I’ll want one if I see how cool it is.
It even has a Zoom button at the left that enlarges the screen image in a single click. Blind Amazons rejoice.
you can wash keyboards? Wow! Mine does not bear close inspection
After a succession of Corset Fridays, I suspect there are a number of your readers who also need this trick.
It weirded me out when my friend told me too, but given his credentials I soldiered forward. He was quite particular about drying it out before powering it up — recommended a last quick sluice with rubbing alcohol and then leaning it on end near a fan or ventilation grille overnight. It went seamlessly back into service after that.
I’m not sure if I’ll have the nerve to do this to the Wave model. I’ve lost touch with the fella who gave me the original instructions, so some searching of geek sites will eventually be in order…
Oh geez. Something else to worry about: how filthy the keyboard is. As long as it is the germs that Jim and I have, I don’t care. Nobody else uses it. They are familiar germs.
I am not seduced by electronics. Jim holds that ecological niche in this household. Now, daffodil varieties, daylily varieties — those seduce me.
Actually, while I am a mild clean freak, I am not a germ exterminator — regular soap and hot water covers nearly everything. Most germs are your friends, in reasonable populations.
As for daylilies, I’d been meaning to ask you if you’d ever been to Viette’s? One of my clients is talking it up.
What are “corset Fridays”?
Oooooo a Wave keyboard…congrats.
Nursemyra departs from her customary program of depraved and demented medical and historic trivia to model fine lingerie on her site, every Friday (except the last of the month when favorite T-shirts are modeled in many quarters). Click on her name or Gimcrack Hospital in my sidebar to venture there and browse.