Sunday Smorgasbord
Joelle said at some point on February 17, 2008
The cleaning of my laptop didn’t really help the sticking of my keys too much. I still have to really bang it in the sweet spot to get “T” to show up… “R”, too, or I have to backup and do it again. I had no idea how much I use T and R… I feel like I’m typing everything twice. I also can’t believe I just said “bang it in the sweet spot”.
But, lo… she is clean. In fact, when I went to pick her up, I exclaimed, “Whoa! I forgot it was that color!”. Seriously. It’s almost pristine. The keyboard could use a bit more love from a Q-Tip, I think, but overall, they seemed to do a great job. I don’t know if it was $70 worth, as I’ll probably need to get a new laptop anyway unless someone can fix these keys… but it’s nice to see a clean, cooler-running laptop.
Speaking of which, the guy who cleaned it out looked totally ominous when he handed me back my laptop. I cracked some joke about there probably having been enough crumbs in there to make a loaf of bread and he glowered at me. There’s no other word for it… he glowered. I was thinking, “I wonder what else he found in there that’s made him so disapproving...”. Unless, of course, he took a tour of my hard drive in which case I should probably monitor YouTube for potential indiscretions.
I kid. Maybe. Anyway, so there was that.
I hung (leveled and evenly-spaced!) three 30x30 mirrors over my couch yesterday… that was exciting. OH! And I watched a recorded Valentine’s episode of Oprah where she talked about the sweetest dog ever: Oogy. If you love animals, go read Oogy’s story because I sat on the couch and cried for this sweet, sweet dog. Good tears, but still… a wonderful story and a really, really cute dog.
In other news, I got a new phone! Hooray for new phones! My old phone was okay, but the battery was just crap wrapped in plastic and the photos it took made technology from 1999 look advanced. It’s only two years old, but I think I’d gotten one of those experimental beta models because it really just sucked. I never could get a signal, half the time I missed my messages, people would call and it never told me… etc. etc. etc.
I couldn’t really justify buying a new phone, especially since I’m not on it all that much, but Sprint reminded me that I was eligible for the full rebate on a new phone, so I could get a cheapy for free or a nicer one for a hefty discount. I went with the hefty discount and nabbed this baby: Katana DLX… it’s the 3rd version of my old phone and so far, I love it.
First, it’s actually pink, not like my old phone which claimed to be pink but was really more like a silvery dusty rose that reminded me of tacky frosted nail polish. The DLX is pink pink. Almost where I feel a bit adolescent, like I should be wearing sweats with Juicy on the ass, but who cares? I like pink. 
Second? It has a 1.3 megapixel camera. I really assumed that all camera phones were the same, but it’s really a big difference. AND… it takes video! I can’t wait to start using that… beware fashion victims! I kid again. Maybe…
It also has a bunch of other stuff in it… I can watch TV, I can play mp3s...and of course, it vibrates, too. Now if only it could take out the trash and kill spiders…
Moxie Design Studios™
Congrats on the phone and the clean computer! Just a question about the computer, could you just get a plug-in keyboard or even a wireless secondary? I know it wouldn’t be optimal when you wanna hang out at the coffee shop or wherever, but for around the house it might be a way to extend the life of your laptop. Just a thought. Hope you have a great weekend.
from SD CA (this week) • Cocktail: Red Headed Slut
“bang it in the sweet spot”
hmmm....hahahaha
from El Cajon
“Almost where I feel a bit adolescent, like I should be wearing sweats with Juicy on the ass, but who cares? I like pink.”
LOL
When you are as old as I am (old enough to be your older sister) and the middle age spread thing happens, it doesn’t take “juicy” on your ass to get heads to turn. What once was a “wolf” whistle sounds more like a “holy sh*t” whistle where they kinda lose wind at the end.
Of course....not speaking from experience or anything.....
from San Diego
Just stopping by to say hi. I am loving your new phone. Can’t wait to see it in person. It’s about time I upgraded. You just may have inspired me there, tenth muse!
PS. Looking forward to seeing you when Lushy’s in town.
from my pants!
Ahem, I will clearly not be giving you any guff over your choice of color. ;p
from San Diego, CA • Cocktail: slightly dirty Grey Goose martini
@slackmistress: tell me you read about Oogy. It made me think of you.
from Canada
If your laptop isn’t that old, call the manufacturer and get a replacement. We have heard of new keyboards ranging from about $20 to $50 Canadian. You would really need to consider the age of the machine, the new technology out there if you replaced the whole machine and whether you’re attached to this machine enough to hang onto it. Currently there are very few (and less by the day as the days go on) laptops with XP loaded on them or with Vista and a rollback to XP option, so if you are going to do it, now is the time. Otherwise you will be stuck with Vista as your OS on any laptop you buy, at any price and performance level. That said, the only ones we can get from our vendors with the XP or XP rollback are in the Acer TravelMate series within the business class (so, that would start at $739 Canadian). Now, ask yourself, is it feasible to upgrade or replace just the keyboard. It can be done, but only through the manufacturer because all the companies have pulled field service work and we can’t get parts, but if you can as the end user, you can certainly take it back to that same computer shop and ask them to replace it. If they are competent, and it’s not a struggle with the physcial laptop bezels themselves, it shouldn’t take more than a half hour of labour to swap it out. I’ve seen Joe swap keyboards out on laptops in just under ten minutes because it was very straight forward. If you are mechanically inclined, it’s not that hard to unscrew the old one from the bezels, unhook the contact and replace it with the new keyboard and work in reverse to put it all back together.
Or get a USB keyboard and use that. You could prolly pick one up for like $20.
And what’s with the glowering? You’re cleaning a computer, dude. It’s gruncy work. Get over it.
from Pasadena, CA
Ooh, congrats on the new toy!
from Portland
Go here: http://servicesales.sel.sony.com/ecom/accessories/web/index.jsp
On the top right side you will see “search” stick in your model number and off you go. If the keyboard isn’t listed you can call their CS and ask them if they can get it.
The only other thing I can think of to try is actually unhooking the key from the pad, but that can be troublesome and sometimes they are not removable.