I’m flattered but I really don’t think so.

You Are a Pundit Blogger!

Your blog is smart, insightful, and always a quality read. Truly appreciated by many, surpassed by only a few.

I’m currently adjusting to a new mouse. Actually it’s not a mouse I haven’t used a certifiable mouse on my computer since, oh, 99? 2000? I prefer trackballs. And the bigger the ball the better baby. There’s a practical reason for this requirement - better control. Like the rest of me my hands are short and wide. Unlike the rest of me they’re sweaty as all hell. I have no idea why it’s always been this way but I usually attribute it to having spent a lot of my youth with my hands in clay. So I need a fairly good grip on things and feel like I get slightly more control with a larger trackball.

The volume of cuddly cats in the house combined with my sweaty palms dictates that the ball needs to be able to pop out of its holder to be cleaned several times a day. And preferably the trackball is optical as opposed to mechanical because that makes cleaning the cat hair a much simpler task than unwinding that insidious melon fur from around mechanical wheel bits.

These are just the basic requirements. I’m more picky about the various fits and functions for my trackball than my mother is about purses. Can’t fault women for knowing what they want can you?

I have to admit that the Trackman Marble f/x was this close to being perfect for me. I’ve been using it since I first learned about it in early 2000. We thought it was pretty damned expensive at the time but having survived perfectly until last year it was well worth it. The only thing it needed to be the perfect mouse for me would be a thumb-driven scrolly wheel and a fan built into the handbase to cool the sweaty palm. My only complaints have been the regular click and right-click buttons get sticky every few months and that logitech programs are much larger and memory-laden than they really need to be. So I usually just didn’t run them.

But alas others didn’t seem to appreciate the sheer size of trackman’s ball because they discontinued it pretty soon after and logitech hasn’t come up with a ball of comparable size since. So I’ve been relying on ebay sellers instead of having to compromise my need for the trackman marble fx.

Cody bought this kensington last week and it came in yesterday. After about five years of using one trackball on my system it’s taking a little adjustment. The hand position is slightly different but my wrist is actually more comfortable with the neat little wrist rest that hooks onto the bottom. I’m also not really used to using nifty little programmed buttons. I felt the logitech program that controlled it slowed things down a bit and I never could remember what I’d programmed the extra buttons to do anyway. Right now I’m getting used to using the two upper buttons around the ball for “back” and “forward” page browsing buttons. Once I’m used to those I’ll deal with the numeric ones at the top. I’m also adjusting to having a scrolly wheel on my mouse which is weird because I inevitably accidentally click the little fucker and pull up the stupid slow scrolling option.

The ball itself is actually bigger than mr trackman’s! But it’s not an optical and I can already see I’m going to need to find an easier way to clean the mechanical bits under the ball. And it makes it kind of ‘jump’ just a little bit or ’stick’ a little at a certain place which is annoying. But for the most part I’m pretty happy with it.

I haven’t ripped it out of the tower and plugged my good old trackman back in so that’s a good sign right?

I’m the Most Interesting Person in the World!
Take Just How Interesting Are You? today!
Created with Rum and Monkey’s Personality Test Generator.

The Cheshire Cat! You’re a sly cat who grins on the
outside, but schemes on the inside. Even your
best friends don’t realize that you may
actually be their worst enemy!

What kind of cat are you?
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I’m curious…which mtv generation are they talking about because I could be considered an early member and this quiz was cake.

Good. You know your music. You should be able to
work at Championship Vinyl with Rob, Dick and
Barry

Do You Know Your Music (Sorry MTV Generation I Doubt You Can Handle This One)
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I love going to look at the sites of people who’ve given hedgeblog (or the egeltje group) a lowball (five stars or below) rating. Their sites are usually so badly designed there’s just no way it could be something like their lofty aethetic sense being bruised by the cuteness of my hedgehog. Or sheer adorableness of my punk rock fairy. It could only be jealousy. Possibly of my cute hedgehog ownership but more likely they’re just upset about my designs making their pages look like little nutty pieces of crap. We’re talking animated gif dogs and reindeer here, people. And not in an ironic way.

Oh I could link to them and let you point and giggle and say mean things right along with me. But I won’t. Because I’m kind. And I understand.

Drunk. Drunk with power they are. I was tipsy like that myself in the beginning. Wildly clicking “1″ on weblogs just because I didn’t agree with their Bush-votin ways. Yes, I was petty and sucked like that for about a day. Coincidentally the day Kerry conceded? No doubt heh. Until I got a 1 from someone who clearly just disagreed with me. Then I stopped voting at all for a few days in a big pout.

Now I only vote when I know I’m going to give them an 8 or more. No, it’s not honest but despite what some may say I don’t feel it’s my job to be everyone’s critic. I also try to leave really nice comments on the sites that I’ve truly enjoyed.

To the lowballers:

I’m not going to perpetuate the stupidity and vote your site low as well. I’m even going to start fighting the urge to look at who rated mine because I’d never change my site to just please semi-anonymous star-clickers.

I didn’t decide to start a weblog again after being offline four years to receive your approval. I did it to have a place where I could play with code. Learn CSS. Jot down my random thoughts. Share links with friends and family. And as a bonus meet new people and hear new stories.

Not to play some stupid junior high clique game. So put that in your pipe and shove it up your ass.

You are Liver Pate en Masque!! You are very, very
scary. Yet, somehow… erotic? No, just
scary.

What Weight Watchers recipe card from 1974 are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

The GashlyCrumb Tinies - You have a terribly wicked
sense of humour and people are drawn to your
wit. Children beware of the thin, pale man
with the black umbrella!

Which Edward Gorey Book Are You?
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Europe and Italy

The bus scene reminds me of the time my friend stuck his head in to ask a bus driver in Sorrento when the next bus for something was coming. Then the driver closed the door on my friend’s arm and started to drive away.

music sidebar has been updated-

This week’s theme: zoloft nation

right click! dilute dilute! ok!

Bessie Smith - Nobody knows when you’re down and out
(buy album)

Visage - Fade to Grey
(buy album)

Brenda and the Tabulations - Dry Your Eyes
(buy album)

The Ruts - Babylon’s Burning
(buy album)

Tom Jones and the Cardigans - Burning down the House
(buy album)

The Sugarcubes - Hit (Dragnet remix)
(buy album)

999 - Homicide
(buy album)

David Bowie - Across the Universe
(buy album)

Dead Kennedys - Holiday in Cambodia
(buy album)

ABC - How to be a Millionaire
(buy album)