The persistence of change

I loved the old one. That's why I bought another one just like it. I can't do a thing about the size of my hands. They're big, so I need one that spreads across half the desk, and that's what I had, for years. 

Worked fine, but like everything else below the heavens, it took on dirt. Gross, my wife said. Four years ago or so, I chipped out the keys and let 'em soak in a sink-full of hot water, then went after the miniature dust bunnies inhabiting what spaces they could find beneath the keys. Wasn't a hutch exactly, but the numbers were substantial.

You can stop reading if this is getting too graphic, but the fact is the keys had somehow, through the years, gained an infestation of foul detritus. I cleaned them each in a way the Dutch pride themselves, reset every last one (I'd taken a picture of the keyboard before I'd started, to remember what goes where--that's what the You-Tube said to do), and voila! my sweet keyboard worked perfectly. And, it was as clean as Orange City's Main Street. 

Six months ago, the infestation had returned. I went through the same process--a veteran now. But when it was over, the blasted space bar didn't function well from the right side, right thumb. I took it off again, reset it--still bad. Again, still bad. Again, still bad. Let me put it this way, the space bar worked, and then again it didn't, which is to say it didn't work. I couldn't trust it.

My-size keyboards aren't cheap, so I figured I'd stay with the old one, just learn to adjust. Maybe ten keys lost their ID through the years--pure wear. The bottom row's nakedness is almost embarrassing, but I don't look at the keys so I didn't miss the lettering, mostly. But I spent the last month or so editing a 330-page novel. I can feel where the M is if I'm using both hands, but if I'm hunting-and-pecking, finding the right blasted key requires a thought process that got old fast.

Christmas. Time, I figure, to get a new one. Got to be a sale somewhere. I hunted on-line. Cheapest Logitech jumbo was at Best Buy on Cyber Monday. 

The new one looks exactly like the old one, except the bottom jaw has all its teeth, so to speak. Nothing has changed in appearance and function. I didn't use half the keys before, nor will I now. Logitech's R and D didn't do a thing on this item in a decade. That's okay. Didn't have to as far as I'm concerned.

This new one is sparkling clean, and I'm more efficient because I'm not constantly going back to get the blasted spacing right. The space bar is wonder, a joy, a blessing.

But, the shape of the mouse changed. It's touchy, much more touchy, and my pointer finger--I'll admit it--is a shade less reliable, likely to move a bit even if I don't call on it to do such.

And it's driving me nuts because that new mouse registers heartbeats, I swear. Extra clicks are no fun. Confession? I've repeated some naughty words when that mouse clicked and wasn't supposed to--and it's happened too blasted regularly. 

I could go back to the old mouse. I think I could make it work. 

Besides, I'm telling myself that I'm not that old, doggone it. I'm not that old. I can still adjust. I can still change. I'm not stuck in my ways. I'm not that old, see? I'm not. I'm not.

Get used to it, I tell myself. You'll get used to it.

And for heaven's sake, don't be so owly.  That's what I tell myself. 

It's a beauty--this new keyboard. It is. It's a beauty.