I don’t know what it is about 2009, but I don’t seem to have got going. My posts so far this year have amounted to a note about what’s on telly and a photo of some over-sized dice. And it’s not just in the blogosphere that things seem to be stalled. As ever at work there are many balls to be juggled in the air at once. But I just seem to be juggling without end: I haven’t been able to set even one of the balls down to enjoy a fleeting moment of respite.
My uneasiness intensified this afternoon as I tried to settle to the task of banging out the first draft of a review article that is due soon. Somehow the words wouldn’t come. I guess I haven’t quite figured out my angle for the introduction and need to muse some more. But I wanted to get it done – get it over with.
So I returned home churned with frustration. I’d like to say that I got inspired on the train and am now basking in the glow of having bashed out 2000 words. I’m not because I haven’t. But nevertheless a temporary kind of peace has settled.
I brought home my computer mouse from work for repair. It’s an Apple Mighty Mouse which, like much of that company’s output, is delightful to hold and behold. But it suffers from a design flaw, which is that the little scroll ball gets clogged with gunk and stops working. For the past week or so I could scroll down documents or web-pages but was unable to reverse direction and wind my way back to the top.
This is a common problem and the fix is quite tricky. You have to dismantle the mouse and clean out the grease and dead skin from the scroll ball mechanism. Fortunately there is no end of helpful guidance on how to do this from the worldwide community connected to my computer.
The inner organs of a mouse – cleaned
So I spent a concentrated but pleasant half-hour working at the task. I prized off the plastic ring around the base with a pen-knife, carefully disconnected the wires between the ball and the circuit board and unscrewed the scroll ball housing. The housing, ball and four tiny rollers then had to be swabbed with alcohol to wash away the dirt—of which there was a shameful amount—and the parts carefully reassembled.
The focus on a finicky, practical task absorbed me completely and bestowed a pleasing calm. Happily it was not broken by the sudden pinging away of some miniscule part from my clumsy fingers. They say a change is as good as a rest. There could be something in that! Who knows if the words will come tomorrow but at least I’ll be able to scroll up and down the empty page with some satisfaction!
Alternatively, you get a sheet of white paper, and without dismantling the mouse, turn it upside down and rub the scrollball back and forth on the paper (applying a slight pressure).
Works for me.
That doesn’t sound nearly as much fun – or as soothing to the soul!
Plus it didn’t work for me, though I suspect I had accumulated too much goo (I didn’t include the worst looking swabs in my photo!). More frequent application of the white paper method might be good preventive maintenance though.
You have to dismantle the mouse and clean out the grease and dead skin from the scroll ball mechanism
That really does sound disgusting, and now I know what clogged up my mouse at work. My strategy was to work around it for the two weeks this was going on – then, three days ago, it started going again.
Pathetic.
Ever try turning over your keyboard and giving it a few taps? Not a pretty sight, I assure you.
I was saving this up for a blog post, but I think it would do you some good at your next pit stop: Writing in the Age of Distraction.
There’s a whole bunch of stuff at NaNoWriMo as well that I won’t link to, because at the bottom of your heart, you know it all already. Good luck this weekend.
Heather, I love how that article starts with
We know that our readers are distracted and sometimes even overwhelmed by the myriad distractions
…while there is a big, full page-length ad flashing next to it…
(To all nature network staff: please don’t ever allow them to make the ads flashy!)
P.S. As long as I can still identify what crumbles out of my keyboard, I am not too concerned.
Ever try turning over your keyboard and giving it a few taps
euw.. I did that ome time ago… yuack.
I use some Ethanol and swab my key board and the computer mouse every so often. Makes the goo not building up. (I am not sure I would be able to have the patience to put it all back after I picked it apart. However, it does look interesting!!)
@Steffi and Åsa – it’s really not that difficult to dismantle/reassemble this type of mouse, but very rewarding. And it’s not disgusting when it’s your own gunk…! Why is that? I never had a problem changing my own kids’ nappies but would be very reluctant to do it for any other child…
@Heather – thanks for the link to Doctorow”s article – some useful tips there (if only I had the discipline to implement them…). Steffi’s right about that dreadful ad though!
And it’s not disgusting when it’s your own gunk…! Why is that?
And why doesn’t that acknowledged truism apply to hair in the shower drain, when on a person it’s perfectly fine?
Because hair in the shower drain doesn’t even look like hair anymore. I think it has a life of its own after a while..
I’m beginning to regret having initiated a discussion on personal gunk – it’s not doing anything for my appetite…
Stephen: Now you are assuming that I would not start messing with the small parts and see if they could come apart more… 🙂
Regarding the personal gunk, Heather: hair in the drain is yacky since it looks like it has a life on its own…. with that black slime… grime… yack. As someone who looses a lot of hair, although I still have plenty on my head, I am still surprised that I find it so disgusting.
@Åsa – you’re right, I hadn’t counted on that particular level of curiosity. Although I like to see my proteins at the atomic scale, when it comes to my computer gear I’m happy to settle for macroscopic phenomena…
Stephen, I tagged you. Hope you don’t mind.
Stephen> I know, it is a bit strange 😉 I like the atomic structures though!
@Steffi -thanks! I certainly don’t mind! The question is – do I play?
Maybe you could write a post about “scientists” who inspired you, Stephen, rather than “blogs”?
That’s a very good suggestion (you are one of my main inspirations round these here parts, Maxine) and one that chimes with something I had been trying to put together…
For the record (it’s hardly a blinding insight into the scientific process), the first draft of my review (no figures or legend yet) has just weighed in at over 9500 words. My arms ache, though that could be more to do with shovelling snow earlier today…
The mouse worked beautifully throughout. Scroll up. Scroll down. Scroll up. Scroll down.