I was going to write

about how absolutely relaxed I was after taking a cool shower, getting into my sleep shirt, and settling into the bedroom with the radio on. But that was an hour ago, and I've spent the whole time trying to reconnect the laptop to the wi-fi after an update to the adapter. Turns out that even though my router was working fine, and both the desktop and phone could get to the internet through it, it still needed to be reset for the laptop to get a clue. Yes, I did solve the problem, but my relaxation is shot. I'm going to just go on to bed. :(

That actually worked out better than I'd hoped

I went over to Office Depot and looked at the Microsoft mouse selection, and found one that was $30 off, so only $9.95. It is called the Explorer Touch, is wireless, and instead of a scroll wheel, it has a touch strip that you go up or down on vertically or go side to side to scroll. I suppose it's been discontinued, as I didn't find it online at their site, but it works for me because it is one of the models recognised by the evil software. So now I have a left-handed mouse again. I will have to remember to turn it off, and it's interesting getting used to just touching the strip (but then I'm also getting used to the new keyboard, and it's going pretty well, just a bit of backspacing here and there).

Today I went on a grocery run for my friends, watched Despicable Me with both of them (I do love that movie; it always makes me laugh: 'It's so fluffy!') One of us is like a blend of Gru and Margo, one is like Edith, and I'm somewhat like Agnes. And I do adore the minions. I'm looking forward to the sequel later this year. I also watched 'Green Lantern' and 'Young Justice' over there, as well as more 'Waiting for God'. In other words, it was a relaxing day with friends, primarily. But now it's reached evening and I have three or four projects that must be completed before tomorrow, if at all possible. I got the mouse installed (and it's working like a charm) but I also need to straighten up the living room and kitchen, take out the garbage, do the game notes for tomorrow's Call of Cthulhu game, and work on a professional project, which is due tomorrow. So, time to get busy.

I happen to have

a Microsoft laptop mouse, so I thought I might try to put that on the desktop, change the button to left, and then see if the mouse settings stayed for my normal, non-Microsoft mouse, but no, they didn't. I have two mice for the laptop, the Microsoft one, which is corded, and a Logitech wireless mouse. I will not be putting the cusotmisation center onto the laptop, as I don't want to invalidate the settings on my wireless mouse. Which by the way, was set up with left-handedness from the get-go, so maybe that was a function of being signed into my Microsoft account. If that's the case, it may have actually reverted to the right hand due to all this. I'm going to go check. Grrr....

Well, the good news is that the Logitech mouse works fine. Perhaps it's a function of which side I put the transmitter on. But I'm going to keep things as is on the laptop. The keyboard for the desktop really does require the program to be used correctly, so I may have to get another mouse if I want it left-handed. That is annoying. Well played, Microsoft. I didn't realise I was going down a dark road when I bought this keyboard. I will say it does take some getting used to as far as typing on a slanted and decompressed keyboard, but my wrists do feel better, so maybe it will be worth it. Maybe. My keyboard tray also will not slip back in because the keyboard is too high. I am not going to go get another computer desk due to that. Sigh.

I know the idea of open letters is rather laughable

As it's not like the big companies ever read little blogs like mine, so what's the point of writing such a letter? So I won't. I'll just make a complaint.

Today I decided to get a new keyboard, one that is more ergonomically designed. I chose the Microsoft Natural Ergonomic 4000, which includes a lot of programmable buttons that can be used for things like zooming, spell-check, calculator, opening mail, favourites, printing, various things. To use these features, you install a program called Microsoft Mouse and Keyboard Center. I've used the same program when installing a friend's mouse, and didn't think twice about it. Turns out that in doing so, it reset my mouse buttons, on a non-Microsoft mouse (it's my original one that came with my computer to the default, so that it became a right-hand mouse. Now, although I am, indeed, right-handed, I use the mouse with left-handed settings both at work and at home in an effort to reduce strain on my wrists (hello, the main reason I bought an ergonomic keyboard, and since my right wrist is worse and the number pad is on the right, I balance with the mouse on the left). I thought, fine, I'll go back into the mouse settings and change them back. That is no longer possible, as any attempt to use the mouse settings through regular Windows 8 brings up a box that says 'change mouse settings' and it goes straight to the Mouse and Keyboard Center, which, since it is not a Microsoft mouse, is useless as the hardware does not appear as an option. So, it overrode the button settings I had, then took away my way to make things better. This leaves me with the choice of getting a Microsoft mouse, or reverting to right-handed use. The latter would not be particularly bad, except every other computer I use is set to left-handed use. On the other hand, at the moment, inconvenienced as I am, I'm not feeling the urge to go out and buy a Microsoft mouse. Now, I doubt Microsoft did this on purpose to irritate left-handers and righties who happen to be somewhat ambidextrous, but it still stinks. I've left a comment on one of their forums. Maybe if enough of us do, they'll update the software in some fashion to alleviate the issue. Unfortunately, I don't really believe that.