Mundane Geekery
I have been using a trackball mouse at home for the past year and a half, after recurring and painful bouts of tenosynovitis in my right hand. Switching to a trackball mouse was one of the many steps I took, and has improved my situation immensely. I use a trackball mouse for everything except gaming, which means I use it about 99.98% of the time. (Gaming is hell on wrists, anyway.)
Lately, my old Microsoft Trackball Explorer has been getting on my nerves. Over time, I’ve had to clean the trackball more often to keep it “free wheeling” and I long ago ground off the internal “keeper tabs” that prevent the ball from falling out of the mouse. Grinding the tabs down helped restore smooth operation, at least for awhile.
Today, I decided to find a replacement for my trackball. After fondling the display mice in the store for awhile, including one whose ball was missing (I tried not to make it feel inferior…), I opted for a new cordless Logitech TrackMan Wheel mouse. The primary adjustment I’m having to make is the wheel and trackball positioning on my new mouse are opposite from what I’m used to on the Microsoft mouse. Throughout the day, then, I’ve been making weird selection and navigation errors as my brain and hand learns how to work with the new mouse.
I can already say the new mouse is definitely a keeper, though. It’s sized better for my fairly small hands, and the cats will no longer have a mouse cord they can attempt to capture when I reposition the mouse!
An entire entry devoted to the lowly trackball… I warned you in the title it was Mundane Geekery!
