MeghanIsMe

Someone on the Facebook Solitary Cycling community made a post asking the people who are "still" using manual gear shifting instead of electronic systems why they are doing so. This person does not seem to occupy the same existence I do, or even a neighboring one. I did not leave my answer, which is that my bike is 24 years old and those systems didn't exist when I bought it, that I don't have thousands of dollars to drop on a bike with bells and whistles that I don't need, and that even if I did, I wouldn't.

I have speculated about why, but I take some perverse joy in having and using hardware that other people don't like or understand. My bike is probably part of that. It's now old enough that the handlebars are non-standard size, and it uses rim brakes. It seems like it's getting harder to find bikes with rim brakes instead of disc brakes, and somehow that makes me want to cling all the harder to mine out of perverse stubbornness. It has a triple chainring gear train too (with only 7 gears in back instead of the 10 or more that seem common now), which is now seen as either a mountain bike thing or sometimes a specialized touring setup though some people say you don't even need them for that. Maybe eventually I won't be able to find parts, but I know there are people with bikes far older than mine that keep them going.

And it makes me think of my taste in computer hardware, though my reasons for those preference are, I think, more thought out and based in real needs and my use-case for them. If someone gave me a $200, 24", wide-screen monitor, I'd probably sell it and buy half a dozen old 19" 5:4 ones for $20 a piece to make sure I have extras in case mine die. Those are what I want. Bigger and/or widescreen ones do not work as well for me. I don't think I'd even want larger ones, even if they were 5:4 instead of widescreen. 19" is just fine for where they sit on my desk.

There are so many weird, boutique keyboard out there now, too, that save space by removing "unused keys" like page up/page down or home/end. I use those *constantly* when editing anything with code or text. I will fight you for my home/end page up/page down keys. I saw one lately with a programmable LED display on it too! Cute, but pretty gimmicky, no? And I type with my keyboard on a sliding tray mostly under my desk, so on-keyboard displays do me no good because I can't see my keyboard while I'm typing! (Says the girl who wants to paint her Kinesis keyboard pink. No I'm not always rational.)

Anyway, speaking of computer hardware, I'm going out tomorrow to buy a $20 video card from a seller on FB Marketplace that should let me attach 3 more monitors to my desktop if I want to. I don't know where I'd put a 5th one right now, but I'd like to have the option for when I figure it out. If I had 2-tall mounting pole, I'd definitely put it up.

The Kijiji seller with the keyboard didn't get back to me for several days, so I started combing eBay.

I found a keyboard to buy! It's by a company called AUKey. I was not familiar with them, but reviews speak favorably of them as a budget-friendly mechanical switch keyboard maker. AUKey sources their own versions of Cherry MX's keyswitches, which are still rated to 50 million keypresses and are well-reviewed. Mine will have the blue switches, which offer both tactile and audible feedback. Folks say they're quite loud, but I have no issue with that. I bet my Model Ms are louder. It also has adjustable backlighting. I've never had a a keyboard with that before.

I'd rather have had the keyboard with the extra macro keys to be entirely honest, but I think this one will make me happy, at least until I've replaced or repaired a better one.

It was only $30 bucks with shipping. Even as an open-box item, I suspect the reason it was that cheap is that's it's pink. It's very, very pink. And while I really, truly didn't buy it because of the color, there's a part of me that loves how extra it will look on my desk.

Then, today, the Kijiji person finally noticed my message and asked if I wanted his keyboard. I'd still choose it over the pink one because of the macro keys if I hadn't already bought the other, but he missed the boat.

Manufacturer's product page, with picture, at the link: https://www.aukey.com/products/mechanical-gaming-keyboard-pink

I've been spending a lot of time together with my keyboard but today, for some reason, I was suddenly struck by how very grungy it was. While I did a surface cleaning (except the keys) with paper towels and citrus cleanser, I thought about how long I've owned this thing. The realization that I've been with Danae for about ten years now and that this keyboard significantly predates her bent my brain for a few moments. There are a couple Model Ms that I've owned longer, but I only took one keyboard with me in the move.
I'm thinking about taking all the keycaps off to wash individually and cleaning out all the fur and stuff in the keywells when I have a little extra relaxation time.

And in other, less serious, news, I dropped into Goodwill on the way home from taking Piper to the shelter and found a 24" monitor for $10. Bigger than any of the three connected to my system at home, and, at seven years old, considerably newer too. I can see lots more of my Factorio map at once!