i beat the crap out of my keyboard
There was a time when I was all about mechanical PC keyboards. I stopped with all that nonsense once my hands started hurting from use of one of those. I would keep bottoming/"thudding" the keys. It did not matter what switch type I used. If the keyboard was mechanical, I would bottom the keys. Not good.
I switched back to regular PC keyboards, and yep, no more hand pain. But I had to find the right one, which I did.
I use a Perixx keyboard. It's a model that's no longer made. This keyboard is my favorite kind, which is USB wired backlit type. Perixx has since since introduced a new "plain" model and you'll see that from the many different types they make. I actually very much like the wide selection they have. Everything from regular to roundy keys to split ergonomic to scissor laptop-style keys and everything in between. They even have one that's literally split in half so you can make the separation as short or long as you like. Nice.
When I got my Perixx keyboard, within less than a week I immediately bought another. It's still in the box. I only took it out once to make sure it worked, then back in the box it went. When the one I have finally wears out, then I'll use the second one.
But yeah, I beat the crap out of my keyboard. The comma and period keys are the ones where the keycap coating started to wear off first. My down and right arrow keys have similar rub-off, and the S is showing some slight wear now. All the other keys are still holding up fairly well.
Performance of the keyboard is more or less the same as when new. While true I have 7 backlight colors to choose from, I just go with white. Of the three brightness settings available to me, I use the lowest setting, and that's enough to see what I'm doing.
I also very much appreciate the layout is NORMAL. No crazy/wacky stuff going on. The arrow keys are the standard inverted T, the Ins/Home/PgUp/Del/End/Pgn is in a standard 3-over-3 cluster, number pad is normal, F keys on top are normal, Enter is a single rectangle and wide, backslash is about half that length and normal, and so on. It's just all normal. Normal is good. It also has a Win-key on it, which I use for keyboard shortcuts often. Again, good.
It's very nice that there are many choices for a cheap backlit wired USB keyboard. Perixx is just one brand as there are many. And, thankfully, a lot of them have a STANDARD layout without any wacky crap going on.
I also love that keyboard makers finally wised up and started offering large print versions of them. The keys are the same size but the text on them is larger. Even if your eyesight is good, these are way better than the standard print size an always have been. Why? Easy answer. What they did is copied the print size that old typewriters used to have on their keycaps.
Yeah, it took going back to the past and looking at typewriters to finally get a proper appearance everybody can use for computer keyboard keys. It took a long while to get there, but we have them now, and they're cheap. That's a win.
chipotle has the worst chips i've ever tasted
For a while now I've been avoiding eating at Chipotle mainly due to it being complicated. That restaurant is one of those places where you have to know how to order before even going in there. Some say that Chipotle is basically Subway, but instead of sandwiches it's burritos, bowls and tacos. Eh... sort of.
I finally went to a Chipotle. And it sucked.
I ordered two soft tacos and a side of chips and queso. In the tacos I had chicken, lettuce, tomato salsa and sour cream. Nothing too crazy.
The tacos were meh because the chicken was just average and the sour cream had barely any thickness to it.
But those chips... yikes.
So I take a chip and dip that into the queso. I've had actual real queso before made by an actual Mexican chef and this was definitely not that. What Chipotle tries to pass off as queso only qualifies as "cheesy sauce".
I eat a chip and my face started contorting almost immediately seconds later. Why? These chips had a hit of what I think was lime. And by hit, I mean a smack-you-in-the-face hit in a real bad way.
You're probably thinking, "Dude, haven't you had lime chips before?" Yes. I've had the no-heat lime chips and the kind with heat on them (i.e. jalapeno or habanero). But never in my life have I had a chip with what I can only describe as an ungodly amount of lime.
I'll put it to you this way: These chips had so much lime that it busted through the cheesy sauce/queso dip. It didn't matter how much sauce was on these things, because whoever made them just dumped on ALL the lime. Obviously, I didn't finish them.
To recap:
Two soft tacos that were only slightly above high school cafeteria grade, queso that was nothing more than cheesy sauce, and chips with so much lime on them that they could choke a goat.
That was my first experience at Chipotle. And my last.
i'm very happy this printer type is still being made
Many moons ago, I got exposed to one of the best damned printers ever made, the HP LaserJet 4 Plus. People love this thing so much that they are STILL reconditioned and sold on eBay to this day, STILL have new toner cartridges manufactured for them, and STILL have repair kits and replacement parts made to fix them. That's the staying power of the HP LaserJet 4 Plus. It's that good even though it was made 30 years ago.
What made the HP LJ 4+ so good is that it just worked. Black-and-white printing only, reasonable print speed and rock-solid reliable. They were built for office use and cranked out print after print with no complaints.
But can you get this with a new printer now for the home?
Yes. Thankfully, there is the Brother HL-L2460DW.
The advantage of getting the Brother over an old HP LaserJet is that it's new and wireless is built right in whereas on the HP it obviously isn't.
Like the old HP, this printer does one thing. Print black-and-white. No color. And that's fine because all anybody cares about is black ink and not the color crap. It uses the 830XL toner, and replacement toners start around $50. That's actually pretty darned good considering how insanely priced inkjet carts are.
To note, the L2460DW is not cheapest version. There is also the HL-L2405W. On the higher end is a model with built-in scanner and fax, the MFC-L2820DW. That one costs more, but for people that want a scanner/printer with reliable black-and-white printing, oh yes, that will do just fine.
When you're sick of inkjet crap, you go laser and stay there.
Everybody knows that inkjet printing is a racket, both for the printers and replacement ink carts. Many thousands of people get frustrated with their printers daily, mainly because it's always the COLOR carts that run out first when all you want to do is print in BLACK.
Anybody who prints at home regularly eventually learns that monochrome laser printing is what works best. Yes, you could try your luck with a portable thermal printer. Those do work, but thermal paper is annoying to deal with. You're better off with tried-and-true monochrome laser. The print quality is better, it's a proven reliable way to print, and you don't go into the poorhouse buying ink carts over and over again.
Casio WSB1000 has one fatal flaw
On paper, this thing sounds darned near perfect. But there's one thing about it that's not-so good. Bad, in fact.
I really like that Casio has been introducing a good amount of squared-off digitals lately. There's nothing wrong with round, but LCD digits by their very nature are angular, so a square/rectangle shape totally works with it. The WS1700H is a good example of that, as that model is big, square, and not sorry about it.
But then comes the more reasonably sized WSB1000. 46.2mm lug-to-lug, 41.3mm case, 11.6mm thick. Nice dimensions all around.
The WSB1000 has a trick up its sleeve. You can connect it with Bluetooth to your phone to sync the time. At top, you see STEP TRACKER. This watch will track up to 999,999 steps. That's not a typo. Step goal ranges can be set from 1,000 to 50,000 using 1,000-step increments. It also has a step reminder feature that will show on the display and beep at you if you like. There's even a step count graph on it at top left. When active, it replaces the weekday display.
But even if you don't use the step tracking feature, this is still a good looking digital with nice big buttons on it for easy operation.
What's the flaw?
Two-year battery life from a CR2016.
True, CR2016 batteries are dirt cheap, but I'm totally used to Casio watches with a 10-year battery life.
I did look up to see if there are any more Casio Step Tracker watches that have a longer battery life. The one that stuck out was the WS2100H. That's a bigger watch, but also has the bigger CR2025 battery which Casio claims lasts 3 years instead of 2. The tradeoff is no Bluetooth sync with that model.
As far as I can tell, no Casio watch exists that has the step tracker feature and 10-year battery life. Not even for G-SHOCK models. The GBX100 has a 2-year battery life. If you want a longer battery life, you have to go solar. Two of the few models I know that has step tracker along with everything else and the kitchen sink and is solar powered is the G-SHOCK DWH5600 and G-SHOCK GBDH2000. Those are cool watches, but at that point you're going far beyond just having a basic step tracker.
The WSB1000 is cool and I like it. I don't like the short (for a Casio) battery life. But I do like the step tracking and the very low price point to get a plain digital watch where you can sync the time with Bluetooth. That's just a nice feature to have.
online shopping is required in this modern clown world
Certain events happen in my life that prove to me yes, this modern era is just plain dumb sometimes.
Spiral bound memo pads in 3x5 size, with the spiral being a metal coil. A simple thing. It's been around a very long time. The spiral bound notebook itself has been around since the 1930s. I don't know how long the 3x5 size of this has been around, but it has to be at least 70 years.
My preferred style of this memo pad is with the spiral on top of the page. It's easier to tear off pages and use either side of a page without the spiral getting in the way.
There are several styles of this memo pad available. Top coil, side coil, metal coil, plastic coil, waterproof versions, every cover color you can think of, whatever.
I have a point to saying this. These are common.
But not at Staples!
Earlier this week I went to two Staples stores to buy memo pads like the ones shown above. NONE AVAILABLE. I go to the first store, nothing. I go to another one 10 miles away, NOTHING AGAIN.
Bear in mind Staples is an office supply store. I can understand if Walmart or Target runs out of these things, but Staples?! That store is supposed to have piles of memo pads in stock at any given time. I could even understand one store running out of them. But two in a row on the same day? Yeah, that happened.
After striking out twice, I said screw it and just ordered my pads from Amazon.
Why didn't I just go to Walmart, Target, Walgreen's, CVS or even Dollar General to get my pads? The pads they sell either don't have the top metal coil and/or the paper used sucks and/or it's the chintzy 60-sheet crap (or worse yet, 50-sheet). I WANT GOOD PAPER AND MY 75 SHEETS.
Confused by what I mean by "good paper"? I'll explain by describing bad paper. Really bad memo pads have paper so thin and terrible that a regular ballpoint ink pen will bleed right through it. You can't even use the other side of the paper. One side only. On top of that, the ink has a hard time getting into the paper, so you press harder, literally dent the paper you're writing on and the next page. Then when you go to write on the next page, the point of your pen encounters little divots and valleys, and day ruined. Yes, the whole day. You should have bought the better pads...
...which I did. Staples USED to have these pads, but evidently those are up and gone like a fart in the wind. I had to buy mine online.
Let me spell out how ridiculous this is. I had to use a computer.. to connect to the largest computer network in the world.. to electronically make a purchase.. just to get decent paper in a small 3x5 size to WRITE SOMETHING DOWN ON.
Total clown world.