Keyboard Rabbit Hole?

The peripherals we're given for work suck; extremely so. CHI buys everyone crap Dells, which come with crap mice and super crap membrane keyboards. Some of the keyboards have actual keycaps, while some are much closer in design to a laptop keyboard and almost completely flat.

The first thing I replaced though was the mouse. I purchased a Glorious Model I gaming mouse. I had been using Patrick's old Logitech G502, but it was so heavy despite it being wired that it was fatiguing with 8 hours of use. Bu I love the overall ergonomics of the mouse with the thumb rest (that infinite scroll wheel though? UGH). When I saw a review for the Glorious I, I figured I had to try it. Not only was it ergonomic, but it had holes in it (racing holes!! lol jk) in order to make it extremely light. Yes, this mouse would normally be used for FPS gaming but there's no rule saying I can't use it too. I actually really like the mouse; it's so easy to move around that it makes using it all day much easier.

A while ago, I had replaced their crap keyboard with a "cheap" mechanical gaming keyboard from Royal Kludge. (What a name, huh?). It needed a few important things. 

#1 - Mechanical. Membrane keyboards are just horrible to type on. I had been using a mechanical keyboard at home for years and I was much more used to it. In fact, my keyboard at home is from Mountain. It's modular with a removable numpad and hot-swappable keys.

#2 - Backlit. It didn't need to be RGB, but I needed to be able to see my keys better because I still touch type a lot.

#3 - Numpad. This is where all the money is. I could get a decently-priced 60% mechanical keyboard but I need the numpad for work so it limited my options to more expensive stuff.

As for the Royal Kludge, I mean, it fit the bill. I was able to get it with Cherry Reds, which are linear and quiet, and it came with RGB that I kept on a static blue/teal color. But I did have to modify it a bit in order to get it more usable. It has an acrylic-defused RGB ring around the edges which gave the typing a very hollow, pinging noise that was incredibly annoying so I added some foam inside to help with that. And then I added o-rings to the keys to help quiet it down. It only helped so much. Cheap is cheap. 

But I finally decided to splurge a little bit and bought myself a new keyboard for my workplace. I don't work from home, so it's kind of a "waste of money" in a way to buy myself things for work because I don't get reimbursed for them even though I only use them at work. It just makes my life a lot easier.

So, I bought something better now that I hope I will never have to replace. The funny thing is that I'd seen a review of this keyboard on Short Circuit a while back but I didn't remember it, and I only heard from the other youtuber's I watch how good Keychron products are.

I purchased the Keychron K4 96% mechanical keyboard that had hot-swappable Gateron Reds with the aluminum frame for $109. A few things sold me, here. The first one being that it had hot-swappable keys. Although I had bought the Gateron Red version, at home I had Cherry MX Silent Reds and I could easily hear the difference, so I knew I was going to end up replacing the keys. What I ended up doing is putting in my Silent Reds from my home keyboard because I needed the silence at work more than at home. So that was a free upgrade. I also added the foam that came in the packaging to the bottom of the board, and took out the o-rings from my Royal Kludge board and added them to this one. It's so dang quiet it's incredible. (I type hard and bottom out all my keys, so it's quiet even despite that. If I typed like a normal person it'd be practically silent.)

Another thing that sold me, besides the fact that it was RGB backlit, was the 96% layout. It's kind of an odd duck, but it's perfect for my needs, where I can still have a full numpad but get rid of all that empty space between so that it's basically the size of a keyboard without a numpad, saving desk space. It also has the option for bluetooth connectivity, which isn't super important to me but a nice to have if I want to get rid of the cord.

I kind of see the appeal of building my own keyboard now. I don't think I could fall as far as Random Frank P, but I certainly can see the appeal.

And now my desk is much nicer to be at, for sure. It didn't even cost me that much in the end. It's worth it when you spend 8 hours a day there, you know?

Angel Kitty

So... I did a thing. I adopted a kitty. I know, we were trying to wait until we moved into our new place in Nov/Dec/Jan, whenever we can get through their god-forsaken waiting list, but Patrick and I were feeling so lonely since Daisy left us.

[It was my full intention to write out what happened when the hospice vet came to visit and euthanize our baby girl, but I just can't make myself write it. It was March 23rd, 2022 and I still can't do it.]

I downloaded an app called Petfinder, which is pretty amazing actually, as it connects you with all the local adoption agencies and lets you read about each kitty. You can even sort by age and breed and hair length.

I wanted to rescue a senior kitty. I know a lot of seniors are bypassed for kittens and young cats as they are probably a lot more entertaining, but I really enjoy the laidback nature of seniors. Daisy was a joy to hang out with, especially when we shared the HeatDish together. I'm not really into cats with a ton of energy. We don't have a lot of space in our current place and not really a lot of high places to hang out. We're both very chill people who are homebodies and basically watch TV all day, so I wanted a kitty that was cool with that.

Angie seemed like a perfect fit. She is an 11 year old domestic medium hair, but looks like she might have some Ragdoll in her. She had lost her human back in March or April, and was taken to the Emerald City Kitty Harbor in Seattle. They're a small organization and they only have probably 6 cats, but their facility really vets potential adopters and it looks like they really love their felines.

(How can you say no to that face?!)

Patrick was hesitant about adopting another cat right now (as he was still missing Daisy pretty heavily), especially a senior, but I was pretty adamant about wanting to give a lonely senior kitty a good home and good final years. Yes, it was extremely difficult to lose Daisy. It was the hardest decision we ever had to make when to decide to finally put her down. Angie (renamed Angel) seems quite healthy for an 11 year old. The only issues she had when she came to the rescue were obesity and needed teeth extractions. It's not uncommon for older cats to experience periodontal disease if they don't get their teeth cleaned yearly by a vet. It's just unfortunately fairly expensive because the cats need to be sedated in order to do it. It also looks like we'll have to get her used to her teeth being brushed daily, something I never thought I would need to do but she apparently lost 7 teeth and we don't want her to lose any more. 

Despite being a human for 3 cats in my life, I have never adopted one before. Sammy was an actual rescue from the warehouse I worked at in Auburn. They had posted signs in the area and no one claimed him, so I took him home. And of course, Daisy was Patrick's for a solid 15 years before she came into my life. (I had a cat named Spike when I was a child, but he was an outdoor cat. Plus, he was from a litter of my aunt's, so not adopted.)

I'm not sure what the process is like for a regular Humane Society adoption, but for Angel, I had contacted the rescue through the Petfinder app and set up a survey with Patrick and I in attendance over the phone where they asked general questions about our living situation and what kind of cat we were looking for. After that, I had a set up a phone interview with them which I had done on 6/11, where they asked more personalized questions like what I would do if she scratched furniture etc. After I passed that test, we got set up for a physical meet and greet which we were able to do on 6/12 because we both happened to be off due to our ARNP's wedding that afternoon. So in the morning we drove up to Seattle to meet Angel Kitty in person. We already knew that she was shy and nervous, so she never left the cubby that she was hiding in. But we gave her treats and spoke in soft tones and she seemed okay with us. My heart grew 3 sizes that day <3. We had been told that she'd had another meet and greet with someone else who decided not to take her because they couldn't feel a bond due to her being so shy. Well I'll tell you, they missed out because she is a most lovey-dovey kitty once she opens up to you.

After the meet and greet, we decided to adopt as Patrick was in love too. We had another hurdle to jump through, though. They were going to drive her down to us and drop her off, but before doing so, I needed to do a virtual walkthrough on my phone to show them the space and make sure it was well suited for a kitty and we had to wait until 6/18 when I would be off of work. It was one of the slowest weeks of my life!!

Finally, on 6/18, Angel Kitty was home. She ran under the bed never to be seen again lol. I worked with her over the weekend to coax her out more and more, but the threshold to the hallway was her challenge line that took her a while to cross. At night, she opened up and explored the living room while we slept, used her litter box for the first time, ate a decent amount of food, and eventually snuggled with us in bed a bit. (Patrick loves this. I had never had good experiences with cats in my bed because they lay on you or move around and constantly wake me up.) She is the sweetest baby, though. She purrs with almost everything and loves to rub up against your legs.

I noticed over the weekend that as much as she would come out and say hi, at the slightest provocation she would run back under the bed as it was her safety spot. She wasn't scared, per se, as she wanted attention really badly and I could often coax her out, but she didn't feel confident in her new space. So, we decided to block off access to under the bed; most of it anyway. When she did her nightly exploration Sunday night, she remained in the living room after we both woke up. Now Patrick gets the luxury of spending quality time with her in our living space for the first time (lucky!).