Saturday 12 May 2001

Pic of the day: It was a beautiful day. Warm, but not too hot. Sunshine, but not too blindingly bright. And the forest in various shades of light green which you only see during a few days in spring. Needless to say, I spent most of the day inside with my computer...

Of pointing devices and men

My wrist has been hurting lately. This is common in spring. We have a task at work which repeats each spring, where I have to enter long strings of numbers repeatedly. This is probably what pushes my wrist over the edge. Most of the year, it balances on the edge of pain: I sense when it starts to hurt and step down the writing and mousing. But I can't do that with work. (And the stress of not enjoying it probably helps nothing, either.)

Today I decided to shop for an alternate pointing device, which would relieve the part of the stress that comes from mousing. Once upon a time I used a trackball, so I wanted to get one that was compatible with a modern PC. (The Toshiba, for all its faults, has a mouse pin in the center of the keyboard and mouse click keys that can be operated with my left hand on the keyboard. I use this to take the load off the right, but the new computer does not have this.)

So off to town I went. This did not go too well.

***

I know I commented on this last spring too, but is it not kind of counter intuitive that on warm days, women wear clothes that cling to their body? I can understand them wearing less clothes than on colder days, but ... what's with the tight-fitting stuff?

I don't want to be indecent, really ... but it is just not fair. Waah. Some days I feel like a boy walking through an overburdened apple garden in autumn, and he doesn't know how much of the heightened awareness comes from hunger and how much just comes from the fruit being forbidden.

***

I eventually wound up at North Corporation, the place where I bought the new PC yesterday. Despite the lofty name, it seems to be a bunch of geeks in business suits. Now why the women don't descend on that place is a mystery to me. Young geeks in suits! What more could they ask for? Anyway, the guys obviously know what they do, and love it. The place is stuffed with hi-tec gadgetry. This must surely be the place to buy an alternative to the standard mouse.

(It is worth noticing that here in Scandinavia, using the word "mouse" in mixed company is somewhat risky. Much like "pussy" in American slang, the word has a double meaning, alternatively implying a woman's most private parts. The current trend of hand-held computer mice with buttons have not made things better in the least. It is hard to avoid saying something ecchi without thinking. So I have taken to refer to computer mice as "pointing devices" when in mixed company. But this can easily backfire - if I pause to search for the synonym, the effect is slightly ecchi, kind of like women who try to hide their mammaries with their arms even though they are fully clothed. Or stretching skirts that are actually long enough, if not by too much. No one really noticed until you tried to hide your thoughts.)

I won't even try to describe the Anir mouse, except to say that it looks slightly like a small joystick. I should have been able to show you a picture, since I bought one. Originally I planned to buy a trackball, but the price was far from right. I have no idea why this beautiful idea has not taken over the world and replaced the computer mice, which are proven to damage wrists everywhere. Perhaps it is a worldwide conspiracy. Or perhaps it is one company having a monopoly on trackballs. Or perhaps the mice are simply easier to get started with. I don't know. I could ill afford one anyway, and I had heard good things about the Animouse. Admittedly only from the company that makes it, but it seemed like a good idea. (Incidentally, another Norwegian invention.)

So I came home, unplugged my Memorex mouse and opened the box. To my surprise, the hardware inside did not much look like the picture. Rather it looked exactly like a Creative webcam, which it was. At this time it was too late to get back before closing time. (Even if I had been able to take another walk through the walking forest of temptation.)

So now I'm stuck with a hurting wrist and a webcam I can't even unwrap. So near and yet so far away ... Yet I have to admit, there is probably someone who is worse off. For instance the guy or gal out there trying to take pictures with a slightly joystick-like white mouse.