Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Early successes

I admit, I cheated a little. I put a few things on my list that I was already in the process of doing. You'll notice there are several that have been italicized now to indicate that I'm working on them.

The big news of the day is that I have crossed #85: Set up my home office off the list! I knew it would be one of the first to go, because this is where I planned to spend my tax refund. However, I did not anticipate that I would complete it today.

I put this on the list because spending a lot of time on the couch typing on my laptop is bad for me in so many ways. It's caused back problems, wrist problems, and probably other problems I'm not aware of. If I'm serious about #2 (Spend 80 hours a month writing), then I needed to find a way to make this physically possible for myself. My list of needs included a desk with a keyboard tray, a mouse that would fit my hand nicely, and possibly a new ergonomic keyboard.

I went shopping with my family yesterday and found the perfect mouse... except there was no receiver. Of course its a discontinued model, so I couldn't just look for it at a different store. The salesman tried to tell us that we wouldn't be able to find it online because it's a Best Buy brand, but he was wrong. Within five minutes of looking on Amazon, I found the same mouse for ten dollars less.

We also spent time looking at desks. I looked around more after Mom and Dad went home, and finally settled on the first one we saw at Staples. Heather helped me set it up (no, we weren't done by 9:00... or by 10:00...), and I think this will be a big help in my ongoing attempts to be more... um, writerly oriented.

And finally, the keyboard. I have an old Microsoft ergonomic keyboard that I love. The design really works for me. However, the key action is very stiff, which puts more pressure on my wrists and also makes a lot of racket. I tried a Logitech model last week, but it just didn't have the nice rounded form that the Microsoft ones do. I played around with the newest version from Microsoft while we were at Staples, but with a budget conscious mind I decided to attempt cleaning the old one first to see if that helped. It didn't. Back to Amazon I went. Once again I found it for ten dollars less than it is in the store, and this time it qualified for free shipping with Amazon Prime!!

I suppose technically this goal will be in progress until I receive the mouse and keyboard, but since I've paid for them I'm considering it a done deal.

2 comments:

mkelley55 said...

This is what always happens to me too -- almost magical. As soon as I commit to a goal, I find it happening, almost by itself.

Nancy said...

I think that was the trick, Dad. Once I'd told the world I was going to do it, I couldn't back out... or find something else to spend the money on.