No, I don't work here

I visited six stores today, most of them in search of a replacement ergo keyboard. At three of the stores, customers mistook me for an employee. At Staples, it was an easy mistake as I was wearing a red shirt. But that doesn't explain the other occurences. In one store, it happened twice! I must look like helpful person or something. Or maybe it was the look of frustration that confused them...I hit Staples, Circuit City, and Office Depot before finding the keyboard I wanted at Office Max. And even Office Max didn't have a model on display. The staff helped me open a box so I could test the keyboard before purchasing it. Some stores wouldn't have done that.

It'll take time to get used to the feel of this keyboard. It's the MS Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000--all the other stores only had the older model, in white, no less. I miss my touchpad and the feel of my old keyboard. More than anything, I miss the large enter key, but this MS 4000 model is far nicer than the older MS ergos. I love the zoom feature and the handy shortcut keys, especially the calucaltor button. Some of the keys I'll never use, but it's nice to know they are there if I need them. I need to read the help file to see if I can reprogram the mail button, which opens Outlook; I prefer using Outlook Express.

For now, I've removed the 7-degree reverse slope attachement. I'll give it a try after my fingers have acclimated themselves to the feel of the keys. They have a week prep time for NaNo.

It's such a relief to ditch my backup standard keyboard. I spent more time than usual correcting dyslexic typing errors. At least with an ergo, my long fingers don't trip over themselves as frequently.