December 2, 2018
Well… if you follow my blog you know I write A LOT.
Sometimes I write 10 or 15 blog posts in a day (if my kids are out of the way for an extended period of time and I have no distractions!) Usually my blog posts are just 2 or 3 pages long, but sometimes they are 5, 10 or even 30 pages!
There are currently 1,409 posts and pages here on my blog!!!
What you may not know is that I also type close to 100 words per minute (with some typos, but I’m fast…) That’s one of the reasons I able to produce so much content (even with my disabled kiddos underfoot)!
As I was writing the post about kitty litter today I took a look down at my keyboard. Luckily I was trained in traditional typing methods back in high school (c. 1985) so I actually don’t need to look at a keyboard to type – and mostly I don’t ever look at the keyboard. If I did I might get just a wee-bit depressed.
These are photos of my keyboard today:
E is basically “disappeared.”
A is gone too.
N – also gone.
S is on the way to being gone soon!
That’s how much I type. That’s how important a laptop is to the work I do.
As you can see from the screenshot below I have a kind of crappy computer by modern standards. Also to note…it’s not even mine… my husband “loaned” it to me about two years ago and I have never even installed most of my stuff on it…I just use it for blogging and social media (my work helping families and answering questions about Lead.) I haven’t had my own computer work station since I lost my non-profit (through the whole legal mess I have been in for the past three years.)
My husband got this five year old laptop a couple of years ago from a client (he fixes Mac computers for people – or at least he used to!) It was a “brick” – completely non-functional. After helping the client recover her data and getting her up an running on a new machine, the client gave him this “brick” so he could have it and try to resuscitate it.
My husband is a Mac magician. Together we were among the original members of the Apple Consultants Network when it was first founded. I have been a consultant working with Apple Computers since 1987, and my husband started working on Apple Computers in 1989.
As a result, he eventually got this “brick” back up and running.
In addition to the laptop being beat up it also the following other issues:
- In only has 128 GB of storage, which is almost filled up because of all the photos I take for my blog.
- It has a dead “audio out” port – so I cannot use it to show my videos for presentations I give.
- The microphone also does not work – so I cannot film Facebook videos or any other kind of Face-timing with anyone (like Skype consultations, etc.)
- I also cannot install the current operating system because my drive is full, so that makes things run pretty sluggishly.
I share this with you today (as we head into the first night of Chanukah) just to put it out there for two reasons.
- I think it is really quite funny that I have totally worn off so many keys with my typing and
- If anyone has a newer / better/ less beat up Mac laptop that they might want to donate to the cause (give to me for free OR give to me so I can pay them for it in 6 or 12 months when I have some $)… that would be very much appreciated by so many.
I would appreciate it.
My readers would appreciate it (because it will keep me blogging.)
My husband will appreciate t (because then I can give him back this old beat up resuscitated laptop so he can have a laptop again!)
Thank you for thinking about it!
For good measure, here’s a link to my dream/fantasy computer – a fully configured brand new 15 inch MacBook Pro! [Link] But any computer that is a step up from what I have would be lovely!
Tamara Rubin
#LeadSafeMama
Meg says
Have you ever tested computer mice, laptop keyboard keys, etc.? I’d be interested to know if the roller disk that I use my middle right finger to scroll up and down websites has any nasties in it, nevermind the left and right buttons. Also, the part of my laptop that my wrist rests on. There’s a sticker where my right wrist rests. I tried using the search bar on your website to look for “mouse” and “computer”, but I didn’t get what I was searching for. Should I bother mailing in a computer mouse to you, or do you think it likely doesn’t contain nasties on the outside?
Claire says
I have this same problem with wearing off the “ink” from several keys on my MacBook Air laptop.
I was wondering if any lead of heavy metals in the keys? Have you ever tested?
Thank you,
Claire