Finds! - Apple Aluminum Keyboard

In this entry of Finds, I can say that this is an item that I'm glad I bought sooner than later. Since getting a nice big 24" Samsung monitor hooked up to my macbook, I have been lacking a decent keyboard to hook up to the thing. Yes, I could use the macbook keyboard alongside the mondo monitor, but to be honest, I would rather stare at a single screen and be completely focused in a single designated area for my work, or "work".

Ever since getting a laptop a few years back (it was an HP Pavilion at the time), I have been a big fan of keyboards with a very short key travel. More precisely, they're called scissor-switch keyboards since the keys of these keyboards are connected by two pieces of plastic that lock in a scissor-like fashion. Aside from the technological descriptions, all you really need to know is that these keyboards are low-profile and have shorter key travel distance compared to traditional keyboards of years past. I like to call them 'stadium-seating' keyboards. You know what I'm talking about.

For the most part, I'm not a big fan of those stadium-seating keyboards. They just don't suit me very well for two reasons:

1. My fingers have lost feeling over the years since working mostly manual labor jobs as well as cramping them various times while playing basketball and football. (My pinky and ring fingers just barely move as a result.)
And...I'm kind of ashamed to say this, but...

2. I haven't actually learned how to properly type.

You heard that right. I don't actually know how to type. I blame it on my computer class teacher in junior high for not properly testing me properly. My junior high at the time wasn't the poorest school out there, but the way we took our typing exams was extremely ghetto to say the least. We were supposed to type up some paragraph without looking at the keyboard to guide us. Of course our teacher took some preliminary measures to prevent us from looking at our keyboards--a piece of paper. Yup, one piece of lined-loose-leaf paper taped over the keyboard was placed over my fingers so I wouldn't be able to look at them.

So long old-school IBM keyboard and PS/2 GE mouse. I knew thee well.

Obviously I was able to see through the piece of paper, or if I was unsure, I took a peek periodically just to make sure I was still okay. I never got caught, so I basically developed a shitty habit of always looking/never utilizing all my fingers. I learned about the home keys and that was about it. I could never discipline myself to not look at the keyboard and typing with only three fingers felt comfortable for me. (Since, I've been able to occasionally use my ring fingers, but for my pinky fingers--they're useless and need to be cut off, jk) Nowadays I can type around 50 words per minute which is fairly respectable considering my circumstances.

Considering my slow typing speed and crippled fingers, big clunky keys on keyboards makes my typing speed slower. I needed a keyboard which could minimize my handicap so to speak. Basically the Apple Aluminum keyboard became my ticket to cripple-fingered-never-learned-how-to-type-ever heaven.

Since I didn't want to pay the Apple the retail price of their keyboard, I went searching on eBay for it. Best Buy periodically auctions off used Apple keyboards on eBay, and thought it would be a cheaper alternative to snag one up. I didn't really care if it was used (keyboards are used everyday and don't really go through much wear and tear) or if it were in a generic box (I don't need it to be in a super clean, sterile, unique-yet-generic box). If you are patient enough you can most likely snatch one up for around $29-$34. Try not to spend more than that if possible; I happened to pay around $42 including tax for my keyboard. If it didn't come in such a nice condition, I would've been annoyed for paying only $6 under retail price for a new one.

Two shots of the used keyboard box. Again, I don't care about the box since it'll end up being recycled anyway.

What I really love about this keyboard is its no nonsense/clean look. I don't need extra multimedia buttons and the 'F' keys are properly mapped to what I need to use on my Macbook (Expose, Dashboard, and volume control). It's nice and lightweight and the desk footprint is very minimal, even with the number keypad. I don't know why people would opt not to have it. I guess people don't prefer punching in numbers at a reasonable pace and save about 9 square inches on their desk.

This is how I like my keyboards, nice and undamaged.

Lastly I'll just give some of the specs of the keyboard just for a quick reference:

• Enclosed in anodized aluminum with low-profile keys.
• Mapped function keys for screen brightness, volume, eject, play/pause, fast-forward and rewind, Expose, and Dashboard
• Two USB 2.0 ports for whatever USB devices you may want to hook up quickly

This keyboard has definitely made me feel less incompetent with my typing skills. Despite all the praise I'm giving this keyboard, I do hope that they make the keys illuminated and that they make the wire connector a little more durable in the future. I would like to use my keyboard late at night since I do occasionally look at it and that wire is so thin I could bend and rip it apart fairly easily if I wanted to. To end it, here's a picture of my current desk setup.

That keyboard just looks really sharp on the table. Oh yeah, the Apple Mighty Mouse sucks (I temporarily borrowed it while I was charging my batteries for my wireless mouse). I'm currently watching Baccano! and loving it. You can also see a glimpse of my HRAP3, which I covered in an earlier entry of Finds. Until then, happy bargain hunting.

It's a Party at the Halloween USA

Oh you really like that title? Corny as it may be, I do have to admit that Miley Cyrus song is pretty catchy, although I would be fairly ashamed to play it with other people listening along with me. I could go off about Miley Cyrus right now, but I won't; I'll leave it at that. Right now, before this post becomes irrelevant, we'll have discussion about Halloween.

This was really leaning towards an 'old fart' post, but I'll just leave it at a normal rant. I know I'm old, but writing more of those posts are simply encouraging my senile mentality. No one wants me frequently bitching about being old--only periodically. This post will be separated into three different sections: the days before, the night of, and the days after Halloween. Hmm, I guess this could have been split into three different posts, but since this post is coming so late, consider it a belated Halloween treat. Just don't be getting blog-vities...I won't be held responsible for those.

Weeks Before

Several weeks ago we had a new eccentric girl work with us at the office. Again, like most of my co-workers, she is younger than me by a few years. The rebellious type who likes to stir things up, she asked around wondering if we were able to wear costumes into work the Friday before Halloween (Saturday).

Attire at work has always been business casual. I'm not exactly one who enjoys wearing khakis, slacks, multiple shirts, ties, belts, etc. It's not that I don't like clothes and that I may be a closet nudist, but I just want to wear a t-shirt and jeans to work is all. If people are more comfortable physically when they are at work, productivity would supposedly increase, right?

Then again, not many people share this philosophy. We supposedly need to dress professional since it's a professional environment. It is an office headquarters--fair enough. There are a lot of HR people and executives roaming around with clients showing the day-by-day operations around the place, so they would like to project a professional and respectable image. Fine. I can live with that.

I thought to myself and told her, "Well, we DO work at the headquarters for a pretty big company. If anything, I highly doubt they'll let us wear silly/questionable costumes into work for Halloween."

Not to be denied she replied, "Well, I think it'd be really cool if we did though!"

Last week (I guess 2 weeks now, considering the belated-ness of this post) at work in the office we received several notices about Halloween coming up. The reason why these notices were so significant was because HR (Human Resources) actually allowed us to wear costumes and other Halloween-themed clothes in the spirit of Halloween. They mentioned Halloween-themed sweatshirts/sweaters were welcome and that costumes were to be "functional" for work. However, that notice also mentioned that jeans were NOT allowed. So for instance, someone wanted to dress up as a cowboy (like Woody from Toy Story), he would wear a nice vest, a cowboy hat, boots, and some unconventional but business-casual-appropriate dress slacks. Of course, that would look absolutely atrocious: a gunslinging cowboy riding his trusty stallion while carrying his portfolio and references. Okay, so no sane person would bring a horse to work, but you get the idea.

I don't think I could ever imagine myself with some Jack-'o-lantern sweater since it would probably would make me look like a middle aged white woman going through a mid-life crisis. Funny how this image is the first thing that comes up when you search for 'Halloween Sweater' and it links directly to ugly seasonal office sweaters.

Later in the week we received another notice revising the first one which would allow us to wear jeans--as long as they are part of our costume. Basically this led to a massive brainstorm around the office on various costumes that would somehow incorporate jeans. Most of the girls around the office either opted to dress up as nurses (a.k.a borrow their friend's scrubs for the day) or opt not to dress in costume at all. To be honest, women's business-casual attire has more vague boundaries which they can obviously exploit. I on the other hand really didn't have any ideas nor did I want to spend extra money on a costume that would just allow me to wear jeans for one day. I really thought I was going to end up wearing the same 'ol shirt and tie until it hit me--Kanye West.

I have a pretty decent assortment of clothes which would be considered as 'urban'. It would be a fitting costume despite me being Asian. Okay, Asian Kanye West coming through. Yo HR, I'm really happy for you on this day celebrating the spirit of Halloween, and Imma let you finish, but wearing these jeans is part of my costume. There's no way you can send me home to change my clothes; the jeans are legit. Eh, there wasn't much of anything else to this story for the most part. Work was boring like usual.

Night Of...

Now for the actual night of Halloween. I didn't really bother to go out. After all, I'm too old for trick-or-treating and mentally, I'm also too old to be hitting up the club. I hadn't really planned out giving out candy (okay call me a cheap bastard, I deserve it) so I was basically celebrating Halloween through my brother. I recently got him the Metal Gear Essentials Collection for PS2, so he really wanted to be Snake (Snake Eater snake to be specific). Before anyone questions my parenting skills, I think a 13 year old has the capacities to play a Metal Gear game without too many bad repercussions. For his costume I got him some dark clothes and put some camo paint on his face; job well done I'd say. I could've gotten him a fake rubber snake and perhaps a toy knife to finish the ensemble, but maybe next year I suppose.

The Days After

Since I'm too old for trick-or-treating now, but since I still have a sweet tooth, the last few years I've been hoarding the seasonal 30-50% after-Halloween candy. Okay, I feel like a real cheap bastard because:

1. I didn't give out any candy Halloween night.

And...

2. I'm only buying candy when there's a sale on it.

Eh, let's just blame the economy on my spending habits. It's everyone's scapegoat nowadays.

I made a trip out to Target early Sunday morning with my brother to see what was left of the Halloween candy there. Surprisingly, there was still a lot of candy there compared to years' past. Again...that dreaded e word. I didn't get too much candy. Only spent about $16 worth which isn't too bad. If I spent anymore, I really would need to hit up the elliptical machine more often than I should. My metabolism was never good to begin with so the candy I get now will be going straight to my thighs, gut, and wherever else fat likes to roam. Anyhow, this is what I managed to get with that $16:

• a bag mix of Skittles/Starburst


• a bag of various Reese's candies (regular Reese's, Fast Break, Sticks)


• a bag of various flavors of Nerds


• and a hefty 3 pound jug of Milky Way.

The thing is this 3 and a quarter pound jug of Milky Way was pretty cheap. Only $4.99 for 90 Fun Size pieces (I'll complain about Fun Sizes at a later time). Pretty damn awesome if I do say myself. I could've opted for Snickers, Twix, or 3 Musketeers, but Milky Way is definitely my candy bar of choice. It has that awesome mix of nougat (whatever that is) with caramel. Disturbingly, my choice to opt for Snickers was pretty much gone when a Vietnamese family dropped by to completely hoard all of the Snickers jugs away. It was absolutely crazy, similar to how pirates hoard other ships or when vikings pillage towns--everything left bare and devoid of anything useful.

I apologize for not having a picture of the jug full of candy. Apparently I put a big dent into the jug already with more than half of it gone. Lulz.

I knew people liked their candy, but not that much. When I was paying for my candy, I happened to see that family head out with 2 FULL shopping carts full of those jugs? Really? Who are they trying to feed? I know the peanuts in it make it slightly healthier than other candy bars, but holy crap, who's going to eat all of that? If I still retained my math skills from high school, I could possibly figure out how many jugs they had. Let's just say...a lot. Even at $5 a jug, they still paid at least more than $200 on them. It really got out of hand, but basically that's what Target and every other store that has leftover Halloween season candy aims to do with the clearance sales--get it the fuck out.

Well that basically wraps up my Halloween adventures this year. Perhaps I'll actually post my time-sensitive posts on time for once, but then again I would most likely sacrifice the quality/content of it in return. Happy candy eating!

I'm an Old Fart. Let Me Rip...Work

Time for another installment of fart-ripping goodness. This time, I'm going to rip about work. Not homework, but actual 'joining the labor force' and 'contributing to society' work. Don't get me wrong, working is fun up to a point; I really like thinking about how I'm simply working, and not going to school on the side.

During college I was unfortunate enough to land a total of zero internships. I worked a lot of labor-intensive jobs focused around manual labor; nothing particularly in the professional realm (the area I was aiming for since, otherwise why would I be going to a 4-year college for?). A job that was even remotely related to a professional setting was working in a library shelving books. Every job I managed to qualify for involved heavy manual labor perhaps even comparable to sweatshop labor. Err, nevermind, nothing ever compares to sweatshop labor; no matter how bad you have it in America, somebody has it worse elsewhere in the world...

At my current work where I only work part-time (damn them not offering full-time just to skimp out on benefits...it's the economy hehe that seriously should be a taboo word nowadays), I was trained by people who were younger than me. It felt kind of embarrassing, they range from 18-20 year old kids still taking college classes on the side while working there. Then there's me, straight out of college with a degree, working at a place where these teenagers have been for 1-2 years already. Aside from the great work experience gap, just the actual age gap is noticeable in terms of everyday demeanor and conduct. Sometimes my coworkers will be loud, obnoxious, and sometimes rebellious during work. Even though I know they're only acting natural for their age, I'm only 2-3 years older than them; and I feel like I shouldn't engage in their shenanigans. See? I'm using shenanigans to illustrate their actions--so old.

Like I said above, I only work part-time for now, and of course eventually I would like to work full-time to expedite my process of moving out of my parents' place. During some of my summer work stints and some other temporary work experiences, I definitely caught a glimpse of my future where I would be working 40-60 hours per week--it's not pretty. The work would be fine, as long as I'm receiving some income, I'm not going to be the one to complain; although the trade-off from working long hours during a given week is that I will obviously have less free time for myself.

For those who are younger than me, or maybe those who are experiencing this already, having enough free time is or will be an issue for you. For the most part I think I've done a good job of keeping up with my periodic cardio workout, watching sports every now and then, watching a fair number of TV shows;although I've been wanting to catch up with Lost and The Office. Oh yeah, I totally forgot that I'm also trying to juggle in a pseudo social life. Since I'm making time for TV, working out, and my sham of a social life, I haven't really made enough time for playing video games.

I remember back in the day (great...I'm using the back in the day clause) when I first got my PS2. I was maybe 13 or 14 at the time, and one of my first games for the system was Gran Turismo 3. Before I was super interested in cars, I would occasionally watch coverage of the 24 hours of Le Mans or the World Rally Championship on SpeedTV. I was completely mind-blown by Gran Turismo 3, and have been super passionate about cars ever since. To this day, it is the only game where I actually bought the strategy guide for. Luckily it was only $4, so it wasn't so hard to find the money for it.

Before people started fail-themed blogs and websites, the people at Polyphony Digital and Gran Turismo were the originators of the FAIL meme.

I played that game back and forth trying to unlock every special/LM car in the game. This would often lead to me doing 10-long race championships and endurance races multiple times. Of course this was only possible because I had so much damn time on my hands. I was only in Jr. High at the time. I had the luxury of being a kid--I was a carefree child for the most part. If only my PS2 memory card didn't go corrupt on me, I would still be able to show proof of my 100% completion of the game. I wasn't a true GT masochist by trying to get all golds for the license tests, but I at least completed all the races with gold. I actually did it twice since one of my friends who also had GT3 lost his data, and I offered to beat the game for him for kicks.

I prided myself on actually having 3 (you read that right) R390 GT1 road cars. Sigh. Oi, where art thou?

In short, I had a lot of free time on my hands to finish Gran Turismo 3 not only once, but twice completely. I happened to pick up a copy of Gran Turismo 4 a few years back when I was still in college, but I hadn't come around to putting in some decent time into the game until I graduated. Looking for jobs and maintaining a somewhat healthy social life alongside some responsibilities at home started eating my free time away. As of now I'm only about over 50% through the game which is still an amazing feat in my opinion (thanks to B-Spec mode, err, I won't go further into detail about that), but it just doesn't seem like I'll ever finish it. There's just no time in my schedule to face those grueling 24 hour endurances at the Nurburgring or Le Sarthe, tempting as they may be.

Since starting GT4, I've developed a love/hate relationship with that damned pace car. "Oh awesome...you're showing the correct racing line...AHH shit you're in my way!"

Gone is the time that I can just lay around and not have a care in the world. I can't just go to class, go home and take a nap. I gotta wake up, make a lunch for my kid brother, prep food for dinner, go to work, run errands, take care of some household chores, etc. Blah. Will I be able to make enough time to play something as time consuming as a Gran Turismo game? I sure hope so, just for my youth's sake.

~Gimme some R390~