Febuary 24, 1995
Dear Everyone:
I have a new friend. He doesn't
have a name, yet, but we’re going to get along very well.
He's a mouse. A very special
mouse. He has no tail.
I took advantage of the long weekend to do a little R&D (Research and
Development), which should be part of my job except that, normally, I'd
have a better chance of visiting Mars than I would of spending time on
something less than "critical". I'm
looking into the effectiveness of using a cordless mouse on the PC.
I spotted this a few weeks ago when I was looking for something else
entirely at
Egghead, which is a computer software and supply store.
Isn't it always the way?
You're looking for one thing and
wind up getting something else. In
fact, the retailers count heavily on this phenomenon (called "impulse
buying"). That's why they're
constantly rearranging their shelves and departments.
They're hoping you'll spot something you just can't live without while
trying to find where they hid the cat food, which used to be in the
center of Aisle 8. Last time I
tried to buy paper cups, I had a hell of a time.
Not only had they switched
aisles, but they'd move them from the top shelf to the bottom shelf.
And who decides to move lingerie to the basement where men's ties used
to hang out, anyway? Is that an
executive position? Vice-president
in Charge of driving consumers crazy?
Anyway, having spotted the cordless mouse, I decided to try it out, once
I've gotten the OK to spend some money (it's only $100-ish).
There are three things to like
about this little guy:
First: He has no cord.
No more fighting with gravity,
which keeps dragging the cord down under your desk.
Second: The Center Button.
This is programmed with an
automatic "double-click". Just
point the arrow where you wanted and press the Center Button
once and presto!
Instant double-click.
No more "missed" icons.
Third: "Smart Mouse".
With this feature activated, when
you go into one of those millions of dialog boxes that Windows
applications love so well, the arrow automatically goes to the Default
choice (usually OK).
This means, if you want the
default choice, you don't have to move the mouse.
It's already in position.
Of course, you have to remember
not to move the mouse if you
want the default, or you just have to move it back again.
Clearly, a little re-training is
in order.
Nevertheless, I'm already quite fond of the little guy (must find a name
for him) and consider him well worth a hundred bucks.
Particularly in light of the fact
that it wasn't my hundred
bucks. In the next few weeks,
I'll be taking him into the office for various of my customers to try
out and see if they like him, in which case, they can petition their
respective bosses for cordless mice of their own.
I'm certainly not giving mine up.
Movies…
We did find time this weekend to see a movie, but it's been out for
quite a while and may not even be showing in your area.
Quiz
Show. It's worth watching
if only to see the complete difference in the performance of
Ralph Fiennes
(pronounced Ray Fines), who plays
Charles Van
Doren, compared to his commandant in
Schindler's List. Rob
Morrow (late of Northern
Exposure) makes a nice try at a Harvard accent.
The costuming is particularly impressive, especially if you've forgotten
the styles of the 1950s, when no self-respecting woman would dare leave
the house without a hat on, no matter
how stupid it made her look.
Bless
Jackie Kennedy
for liberating us from the tyranny of hats!
Love, as always,
Pete
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