Keyboard cleaning and general workstation refresh

One of my Unicomp Spacesaver M keyboards (of course, the one I got with “Brilliant White” keycaps) was 4 years old and grimy AF. I’ve taken the keys off a keyboard before, and it was a PITA. What a difference having the proper tool makes! Anyway. Soaked in warm water with dish soap for a couple of hours, wiped them clean with a microfiber cloth, and it’s so, so much nicer. The “living room” workstation (a Mid 2010 Mac Pro, 6-Core Intel Xeon 3.33 GHz, 32GB RAM, ATI Radeon HD 5870, 1TB SSD, 2x1.5TB spinning rust drives, USB 3.0 ports on a PCI card, etc) is now comfortably usable again.



Now if only the scroll wheel on my ThinkPad USB Laser Mouse (I have several of these, including the wireless Bluetooth version; they’re normally great) hadn’t gone wonky. El cheapo Amazon Basics alternative arrived over the weekend. (I love, and am a bit scared by, the fact that we live in a world where a $7 optical mouse can be delivered to my door within 24 hours.)

Meanwhile, my Labrador has, after months of smooth sailing, started suffering side effects from his chemotherapy, so we’ve been hanging out on the balcony where his frequent ... accidents ... aren’t as problematic. I have an old (Mid 2010) 21.5" iMac out there (12GB RAM, 500GB SSD), with another Unicomp Spacesaver M (grey keys this time). It’s actually kinda nice to sit out on a nice day and work out there. Though our days lately have been grey (“May Gray” giving way to “June Gloom”), which enhances readability of the screen (hate glossy screens... I have matte Dell monitors on my other workstations) but can make for a chilly working environment. (I also have to work with an endless supply of Charlee Bear cheese and egg treats, to distract my street stray rescue from the mortal threat that is the 12 lbs Maltipoo walking on the sidewalk ~20' below us. Sigh.)