Random Rants ΠΑ: That's a paddlin'

[aimeeandbeatles]

Sweat Pea

Ewww

 

[Takhisis]

Tastes like diabetes, doesn't it?

 

[Synobun]

Don't worry Sweat Pea, mommy will fix when she gets your card.

No!

 

[MaryKB]

No!

Yes! And I'm going to get you something pretty.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

Something tells me that your aesthetic preferences aren't very similar....

 

[Timsup2nothin]

Existential question: does Syns turn down the pink laptop that marks him as a kept man?

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

Even better: a sparkly pink laptop.

 

[Broken_Erika]

It comes pre-loaded with Pegasus Barbie Adventures.

 

[Ajidica]

The right earbud on my earbuds stopped worked. I tried wiggling the cable around and squeezing it in case something got loose, but nothing. It isn't the end of the world if I have to buy a new set as they have been through very heavy use over the last year, but still annoying.

 

[Synobun]

If I needed more evidence to dislike this Steelseries built-in keyboard, this certainly put the nail in the coffin. Somehow, the o key being screwed disabled the rest of the keyboard. I cannot fathom how it would do this.

But after ripping off the o key, which took way too effort, I noted that the retainer clip was melted onto the circuit underneath. Melted is perhaps not the right word. It was glued (why???), but the plastic of the clip itself congealed and warped. I cleaned it all off and suddenly the rest of the keyboard works. The o key... does not. I ordered a replacement key as the retainer clip is not salvageable. $11 per key is steep.

The clip of the key I bought looks different than what my keyboard uses, but I suppose I'll find out when it gets here in a couple weeks. It used letter shipping from the US so I'll be lucky to see it before November 4. In the meantime, I'm copy-pasting the o.

You don't realize how much you use a letter until you have to use it and can't.

Anyway, now that I've lost over four hours to this, back to work. Missing all my deadlines, even if this didn't happen.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

@Synsensa KeyTweak lets you remap keys, if there's any you don't really use.

 

[Ajidica]

@Synsena: see if you can track down an IBM Model M keyboard from the early 90s. It uses springs below the keys rather than vacuum cups. Mine is a few months younger than I am and is mechanically flawless. (Given how thick the plastic, it is probably bulletproof too!) Survived lemonade getting spilled on it, cheez-its dust, and who knows what else.

 

[Synobun]

@Synsensa KeyTweak lets you remap keys, if there's any you don't really use.

I could map it to Scroll Lock, Pause Break, or Insert. Or the | next to the spacebar.

@Synsena: see if you can track down an IBM Model M keyboard from the early 90s. It uses springs below the keys rather than vacuum cups. Mine is a few months younger than I am and is mechanically flawless. (Given how thick the plastic, it is probably bulletproof too!) Survived lemonade getting spilled on it, cheez-its dust, and who knows what else.

I'd use an external keyboard if I could, but my laptop takes up 75% of my "desk" (it's a hospital tray) and there's just no room for anything else except the mouse and laptop itself. If there's one thing I'm looking forward to for when I eventually move, it's hopefully being able to get a larger desk. As-is, one of them dinky task chairs and a hospital tray uses all available real estate in my room.

I looked up your keyboard. That curve looks infuriating to deal with!

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

Funny enough, I mapped my FRAPS record key to Pause|Break. I've never seen any other program use it.

 

[Ajidica]

I looked up your keyboard. That curve looks infuriating to deal with!

If you are talking about the vertical curve, it isn't infuriating, it is awesome. It means that when your hands are on the home row the keys are all about equal reach distance. By lowering the bottom keys you don't need to raise your fingers up as far when typing, and the upper row being raised means your fingers don't have to reach as far. So much nicer than flat keyboards, even nice flat keyboards like the one on my Lenovo T420 laptop have nothing on it.
You also get nice solid feedback when typing. Once your circumstances permit it, I highly recommend getting a nice spring loaded keyboard if you do heavy typing. My mother is a professional writer and swears by it.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

Don't the Model M keyboards have nice clicky noises when typing, too?

 

[Ajidica]

Don't the Model M keyboards have nice clicky noises when typing, too?

Yep!
Its nice when you want everyone else in the room to know you are typing. Not so nice when you are trying to avoid work and they are listening for the clickity-clack.

 

[Takhisis]

The obvious solution to that is keyboard-intensive game + headphones + jammed door.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

Or to play music so loud that they can't hear the keyboard over it.

 

[AdamCrock]

*pew ! pew !*