I was almost impressed with myself. I came really close to getting this post done before I went in for my overnight shift at the fireworks stand. It is that time of year. We opened the stand on the 18th, and we’ll sell until the afternoon of the 5th of July. Sales have been pretty decent so far, and they’ll pick up Monday or Tuesday, I’m sure.
Hands up
Here’s a shocking development. I’ve got carpal tunnel syndrome.
Crazy, right? Someone who’s on a computer as much as I am?
I’ve had the tingles and such for off and on for quite a while, and I finally mentioned it to my PCP at my last visit. He did some quick tests in the office then referred me for an EMG test. The doc there said, “Yep, you’ve got carpal tunnel, but the nerves aren’t dying, so that’s a plus.”
He diagnosed it as moderate and told me to wear a wrist brace at night for the next 4-6 weeks. We’ll reevaluate then. I may explore some self-guided PT options, too. I’d already been looking at ergo keyboards, so maybe it’s time to pull the trigger on one.
The nice ones start at $354. It feels like it should be out of my price range, but it might be tax-deductible to an extent. After far too many hours on YouTube and /r/ErgoMechKeyboards, I feel like I’m leaning toward the ZSA Moonlander, possibly with some third-party low-profile keys. But the Voyager comes with low-profile keys from the get-go, so I wouldn’t have to spend extra money on top of the $350.
On the other hand, the thumb keys on the Moonlander are on a pivoting wing. The Voyager thumb keys are fixed in place.
And because I can’t leave things the way I find them, I discovered FalbaTech, in Poland. They make beautiful wooden and bamboo enclosures for several common split ergo keyboards. They have a couple for ZSA’s ErgoDox, but none for the Moonlander, as far as I can tell. Which is probably okay in the long run, because the stuff for the ErgoDox runs about $100. That’s a lot for a keyboard that’s already almost $400.
And just for giggles as I’m contemplating the whole keyboard thing, I went over to MonkeyType to test my typing speed. I’m currently averaging about 54 WPM, which I guess isn’t bad. I know in years past I’ve been up in the 70s.
Writing
Recall that I’ve written a number of posts about music, musicians, and cover songs. I styled them as “Music For A Sunday Afternoon” as a tribute to my dad’s radio show on WMRT-FM back when he was at Marietta College.
Side note: one of my fondest memories from his funeral was our pastor at St Luke’s talking about his search for a good radio station shortly after he arrived in Marietta. He found a station playing classical music, and then, he said, he heard, “That voice.” My dad had a very distinctive baritone and it really kind of tickled me to hear how someone else enjoyed his voice.
At any rate, Dad would have a topic or a composer or a musical genre that he’d focus on each Sunday. He’d record the voiceovers ahead of time and give the station a playlist, often checking the albums out from the MC library. Each Sunday afternoon, his stereo would be playing his program, mainly so he could keep an ear out for dead air, when the student DJ missed the end of a piece and thus the cue for a voiceover. He’d give them about thirty seconds before calling the station.
At any rate, I’ve wanted to do more of those, but the thing that was holding me back was when to publish them. I officially publish my weekly posts on Saturday evening and promote them Sunday morning. Sometimes they go up really late Saturday. Like after midnight. And there was that whole Sunday promotion angle, too. I didn’t want to promote both posts on Sunday (the MFASA were going to be irregular and not part of my regular blog posting).
All of that to say that I’m now publishing MFASA posts on Substack. It’s going to be a free publication for the foreseeable future. I might post up my PayPal to see if anyone wants to tip me, but that’s probably all I’ll do.
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