New Mouse, New Guv (Eventually), New Complaint

I had to make an unscheduled shopping trip yesterday… the lil plastic rodent with the single bright red eye that controls my movements around the inter-sphere finally gave up the ghost. I’d noticed it (he? she?) was having difficulty with its fine motor control muscles lately, but being the rather… umm… cheap-ass frugal person I am, I just dealt with it. Until the point arrived yesterday where its behavior was simply unacceptable. You’ll be proud to know I resisted the impulse to fling the thing across the room in a fit of pique. Nope… I just saddled up and headed off to Wally-World and bought a new pointing device, sans drama.



(Wally-World’s selection was frickin’ dismal, but that’s another story. At least they had something acceptable: an HP optical mouse for much less than 20 bucks. That works. They also had a cordless version of the same mouse for a lil over 30 bucks. That didn’t work for me. See: “frugal,” above.)

I like the optical mouse… it’s a quantum leap over the old mechanical mouse as far as accuracy and fine granular movements are concerned and it works anywhere there’s a flat surface… mouse pad be damned. That said… there’s no fixing an optical mouse when something goes wrong. I tried everything known to man… blowing out all the orifices with canned air, q-tips and alcohol, etc. Nothing worked… the danged thing just refused to go where it was pointed. Contrast that with the old mechanical mouse… which, when things got sluggish or unresponsive, was quickly and painlessly disassembled, cleaned, blown out with canned air, reassembled and was just as good as new. I never, ever, ever had to replace a mechanical mouse in over 20 years of using them. Never.

Sometimes progress… isn’t.

(Image from icanhazcheezburger. Interestingly… do a google image search on “mouse.” Just plain ol’ “mouse,” not “computer mouse” or any other qualifier. Technology IS King.)

―:☺:―

Hey! We’re gonna get a new Guv! Let us now do the Happy Dance! Whazzat? New Mexico’s gain is the nation’s loss, you say?

The president-elect said that his nominee would be dealing with the economy, the most significant issue facing the new administration, and added that “his mixture of diplomatic experience, hands-on experience as governor (ed: OMG. We’re screwed.), experience in the cabinet, experience in Congress, means that he is going to be a key strategist on all the issues that we work on. (ed: Did I mention we’re in deep doo-doo?)”

“I think the notion that somehow commerce secretary is not going to be central to everything we do is fundamentally mistaken.”

Ooops. Well, OK… sorry. I did get a lil carried away there, for a moment. But everything will work out, I’m sure. At least I (ahem) hope so…

―:☺:―

Yet another random bitch, moan, and complaint… If you chase that Richardson link above you’ll see OurGuv standing behind the podium at yesterday’s presser announcing his appointment. Well, Hell. Just look to the left here… I’ve thoughtfully included a photo (from the NYT article linked above… cropped for effect).

And therein lays my bitch/moan/complaint: that lil sign on the podium. The one that says “The Office of the President-Elect” with that cheesy lil logo that looks like a kiddie version of the presidential seal. That sign galls me for some unknown reason, and I DO believe it’s unprecedented. I could be wrong on this, and I’ll readily stand corrected if any of you Gentle Readers can provide photographic proof of a president-elect… be it Dubya, Clinton, 41, Reagan, Carter or ANYONE… designing and implementing his very own logo and “Office of…” sign. It’s like O and his handlers/staff believe we… all of us… are too thick to grasp the fact The One is the Prez-In-Waiting. Nope… we have to be TOLD, and none too subtly, either. Or maybe he's just... ummm... rubbing it in. Could be, yanno.

I’m also open for explanations as to why this pisses me off as much as it does. The feeling seems kinda-sorta irrational to me.