Cup of Coffee

March 2, 2015: This Fracking Keyboard

112 Comments

...it constantly does double-letters when I tap a letter. Well, not "constantly" but about once in about 100 characters...enough to annoy me, but not enough to have it looked at.

112 thoughts on “March 2, 2015: This Fracking Keyboard”

  2. Making my way to the airport. Y'all got a pretty decent public transport system. Got a bus and then transferred to the blue line. Easy peasy.

    1. Sorry I missed you guys at Lowbrow, I didn't get there until almost one. I'll have to catch you next time around.

      1. It looks like there will be plenty more opportunities. We're trying to finalize a moving date.

        2. Nice. We finally found a place to live here this weekend, which just happens to be near The Lowbrow. We move in this weekend which couldn't happen soon enough.

          1. Where's it at? Don't have to post exact address, just the cross streets will suffice.

        3. Hope you got my text. Sorry for the no-show but I'm posting this from the pediatrician's office.

          1. Good luck with whatever's ailing the Valet - unplanned infant visits to the doc are no fun. Niblet is just now getting back to his old self following a bout with RSV a few weeks back.

              2. First one...I'll set the over/under on amount of that amoxicilin bottle absorbed by baby clothing at 33%
                Best of luck.

              3. ugh. Despite everything we've been through with our son, at least he made it to the age of 2 without having a single fever or bacterial infection. Ear infections are awful; I had a half-dozen when I was a kid and I remember there's almost nothing anyone can do to make you feel better.

  3. I've heard that fracking keyboards aren't feasible once oil drops under $50 per barrel.

    1. And I've heard that Chief Tyrol can get you a bootleg fracking keyboard next time he's stripping a Viper for parts.

  4. This morning, my '09 Rav4 was diagnosed with a water pump that needs replacing. I don't think we're even to 70k miles yet (not certain) but I don't have the luxury of shopping around for a better deal on service, so I bit the bullet and agreed to let the dealership do the work. We're talking $750 of unplanned expenses.

    Then, I was getting a ride to work from the courtesy shuttle when the driver got a call for another customer in need of a drop-off. He was the only driver available this morning and we weren’t yet on Hwy 36 so he turned around and picked her up. She was headed to work in White Bear Lake, which was a shorter trip, so I deferred and we drove 10 minutes in the opposite direction to drop her off. Not so much as a thank you from her before she got out. I was 20 minutes late.

    Oh, and I need new front brakes - they're at ~5% ($400) and tires - between 1-2mm tread - ($650 - $900) in the near future.

    I don't usually hate Mondays, but I'll make an exception today.

    1. Brake pads are pretty easy (unless the stupid caliper is frozen. Dammit.)

      But other than that, that sucks, dude. Car problems are the worst... unless you're Twayn.

        1. My year newer Rav4 is needing new brakes and the rear differential is leaking. Can't wait for the bill when I bring it in.

        2. Just a reminder that the last brake job I started on my daughter's Prizm ended up as a $700 repair bill at the local auto shop.

    2. And the hits just keep on coming...my wife just learned that her only remaining grandparent passed away this morning. He was something of a local legend up in the Orr area as he was 88 (I believe) and as recently as last year was still working at the lumber yard. Family lore has him wrestling Bronco Nagurski, and winning the match, sometime in the late '40's or early 1950s. I'm glad he lived long enough to meet my son (Niblet has Grandpa Floyd's surname as a middle name).

        1. Much appreciated. By all accounts, he was a real hard-case as a father, but by the time I met him, he'd mellowed quite a bit...mostly I just feel bad for my wife. She's lost a parent and now her third grandparent in maybe five years.

      2. Condolences, Corny.

        Still able to work until 87? Sounds like he did not get cheated.

  5. Oh for the love of god.

    Hunter, you see, wants to be a GM one day. If he retires after this season, he hopes to work in the Twins' front office, learning under Ryan, while also working in TV.

    "I really want to get into that front office, make some changes, and build a team that I want to build,'' Hunter says. "I'd love to learn everything from Terry. He'll be a mentor. One day, that's my goal, to be GM of the Twins.''

    Ryan, who advised Hunter not to retire, or make any announcements until he's fully ready, says he'll have a door waiting for him.

    2. He picked a good team. His anti-analytics viewpoint won't be laughed out the door with the Twins.

      1. A team free of analytics, black Latino imposters, and gay players! Oh dear god I hope this doesn't come to pass.

    5. Its interesting that Hunter would want to go into management and not into the television booth.

      1. Maybe he can pull double duty a la Flip. Broadcaster/GM. It'd be even easier to ensure that the booth is towing the company line, then!

        1. *ahem* from the article:

          If he retires after this season, he hopes to work in the Twins' front office, learning under Ryan, while also working in TV.

          1. Okay I could've sworn I saw that in there, didn't when I went back and looked again, so thanks for finding that!

    6. That's kind of effed up if you think about it. "Hey, Terry! I want your job, man. Start teaching me about your job, because I want it next. You're going to be my mentor, and then I want your job. Gonna make some big changes..."

      2. LaTroy, apparently, isn't stupid.

        "I've played a long time, and I've seen great players and OK players," Hawkins said. "But I want to learn something new. It's intriguing to me. I've got a buddy who played the game who calls those analysts who never played the game 'propeller heads.' But the truth is they're changing the way you look at the game. They've come up with new ways to look at what a guy brings to the table every day. It doesn't hurt to learn more, and ask a lot of questions."

  6. Now that I'm officially #TeamMinneapolis I'm open for some lunch caucusing if anybody's up for it. I'm thinking more next weekish, but I'm just putting it out there.

    I'll be working at home at a place the google calls Kingfield most days, but I'll also be working out of CoCo's Coworking spaces a couple days a week. Mostly Uptown, but I'm willing to go to any of the downtowns, I'll even be in Fargo Wed, and Thursday if there a need.

    1. Sweet. There's a few of us over here in StP who have yet to hold our first mini-caucus. Perhaps this is something we can get done? I'm open most days for lunch from noon-1pm. Next Friday, I'll likely be at a funeral, but should be open other than that.

    3. We're currently looking for a suitable apartment (move in dates will partially dictate when I leave Austin), but we'll probably end up #TeamStPaul since she went to St. Kate's and now St. Thomas for her master's that's the part of town she knows.

    4. Once it's nice enough for food trucks, it sounds like a WSK mini-caucus should be arranged in downtown MPLS.

          1. I went to their restaurant today. Stuck with my shiitake mushroom and squash tacos. I like to pretend I am healthy.

            1. I went and checked out the menu last night, and I'm definitely gonna have to stop by there for lunch with J at the end of the month.

  9. Keyboards are actually a big deal to me. I spend so much of my time using them that I've grown particular. My favorite is a virtually new old-school IBM model I picked up at a Goodwill store a couple of years ago. The key spacing and alignment is perfect for my fingers, it's got great key action and precision, and it even makes a pleasant clacking sound when I type. The downside is that it's beige, a little bulky, has a coiled cord and needs a PS2->USB adapter.

      1. Your fingers will feel the difference with a buckling spring keyboard. Your typing accuracy will improve. The buckling spring key switch is design to record your keystroke at the precise instant that you feel the tactile change. Standard rubberdome keyboards record the keystroke well after the tactile change is felt by your fingers. If you miss characters as you type and you know you pressed the key, that’s why. If you’ve tried to enter a shifted character but it came out lower case, that’s why. In fact most rubberdome keyboards require you to press the key all the way to the bottom. To compensate, many rubberdome users end up pounding the keys as they type.

        This, and the horse it rode in on.

          1. Artisanal keyboards are the next big thing, right?

            "Why yes, this is a 2014. That was such a good year for spacebars, and the inlaid lighting system on the caps lock was simply a bonus."

          2. I have a tenkeyless Razor Black Widow at home and I use a Microsoft Natural keyboard at work. I would love to have a mechanical keyboard at work, but I'd also prefer that my keyworkers not want to kill me for typing loudly.

            1. They aren't like the Model M of old and they have quieter ones. I have a near original Das and it isn't that loud. Another coworker that sat next to me previously had the same model and I barely noticed (perhaps because it matched my own cacophony).

              1. I've heard using Cherry MX Brown switches is a bit quieter. But I type very firmly as-is, so when I type on my home keyboard it sounds like machine gun fire. I worry even the browns would be loud at work. Some day, though, because typing on them is a DREAM compared to any work keyboard I've ever had.

    2. When my division of my employer got sold, I had two machines for a while, one new employer, one old employer.
      The new employer's keyboard had compressed and shifted F1-12 keys. I kept hitting F1 when I meant ESC (annoying as f--- [even now], can anyone tell me how to shut off F1 = help in excel?).
      And the Insert-delete-home-end-pageup-pagedown block was 2 across by 3 tall. Double-yoo tee eff?

      I switched the keyboards and stole the old employer's keyboard. I claimed I spilled coffee on it that last week. It was going to a landfill (or whatever) anyways. I still have that old keyboard but I don't like using other people's computers. (Some now have better keyboards.)

      And then there's mice... the version issued by the new employer made me feel like I'd just downed a pot of coffee with a Four Loko chaser.
      Don't get me started on cordless mice.

      1. Heh.

        I had a trackball once, for about 15 minutes. Ugh.

        I use a Microsoft Natural Elite at work to reduce stress on my wrists. Had one at home, but my wife rebelled against it, so I am stuck with a crappy flat keyboard. Also, despite the fact that we are both left-handed she refuses to allow me to move the mouse to the left side.

        2. I'm right handed, but I have my mouse on the left. However, I did not reverse which button does what--apparently for it to truly be a lefty mouse, I'd have to change which is the primary button and which is the secondary. It's fun seeing the IT guys get confused whenever they need to do something with my computer.

          1. Yea, the IT guys get confused every time. Dudes, it's not that hard! (my buttons are reversed).

            Also, my mouse at work (I had no choice in the matter) is one of those contoured things. Contoured for the right hand, of course. PITA.

        3. I will never understand why some people won't give ergonomic keyboards a shot. I used one in college and it was the greatest thing ever.

          1. I don't really use home row, so it throws me off horribly.

            Yes, I know I should use home row. I'm unlikely to start at this point.

                1. My old boss had one of these for a while after she broke her wrist playing softball. She couldn't rotate it to use a regular keyboard, so this was her only option. I wanted to try it/buy it from her but it was a bit more expensive than I could manage.

            2. I've wanted to type on one of those for years and years! I saw someone selling one of these used for a really good price, I'm still kicking myself for not getting it.

  10. the Insert-delete-home-end-pageup-pagedown block was 2 across by 3 tall.

    Horrible.

    We recently bought a bunch of keyboards that can be run through the dishwasher for our patient areas, and the ones that we bought feel cheap and the keys are bunched really weirdly (including the dread 2 across, 3 tall config). I hate them. Not that I'll have to use them very often, but when I do, I'll hate them more.

  11. Reading above, I see that this place is crawling with lefties. I am one, too. But, I prefer the mouse on the right side.

      1. I shoot pool and use a scissors right handed. Never could do either left-handed. But pretty much everything else is left-handed.

        1. I do fine-motor stuff lefty (eating, writing, brushing teeth, fine-control stuff with tools) and gross-motor righty (I naturally throw and hit righty, for example). Scissors right-handed, because nobody has lefty scissors, and righty is my "strong" hand anyway for stuff like that. Screwdrivers and wrenches righty, because the world is made for right-handed screws, I guess. But anything that requires fine precision, I'm using my left.

          1. I use my right hand to drive screws in and my left to loosen them. Because lefty loosey, righty tighty.

      1. with the number pad generally on the right, the distance the right hand has to travel to get to a mouse in the typical righty arrangement is a lot farther than the distance the left would have to travel. So this makes some sense to me. But the fine-motor control for certain things done with the mouse would seem to make the lefty arrangement difficult for righties.

    3. httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rmPckNvD3E
      httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-lBN5Jl7iU

        1. That's what I was going for, but I thought there'd be some fans of "(Theme from Caddyshack)"

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