E, the N and the L

When I started with my current employer they were rather accommodating as far as providing me the tools I needed to do the job: Car, iPhone 13, business cards, office and desk, second monitor and, of course, laptop computer. The image shows that laptop in the background...which I hate...and in the foreground is my Bluetooth keyboard...which I love. If I'm honest I'd have to say there's nothing the laptop does, or doesn't do, to deserve the hate I have for it...other than the fact the keyboard has a terrible feel. Yeah, I know, it seems rather petty of me, but from the moment I began to use it I realised it was pretty fucken shite.

I'm not sure exactly which idiot at Dell decided upon the keyboard feel when creating this model, but I think he was on drugs that day because it has literally no feel at all. I type fast, and with a high degree of accuracy, but on that keyboard I was like a novice and the errors I made, mainly leaving letters off emails and the like, drove me bonkers.

I was in Brisbane at head office for a week when I got it so had to battle on for a while, but as soon as I got back to my own State I dug up my old Bluetooth keyboard that's been with me through thick and thin and connected it...my accuracy and speed came back, as did my sanity.

It's the Microsoft ARC which is probably not available anymore as I've had it for a long time. At my last two roles I've connected it to my desktop computers as it helps me to type faster and it just feels so nice. It's been put through the wringer though and some of the letters are wearing off, with three of them being totally gone now. That's not an issue though, I'm Mr. Fix-It, and had that keyboard all sorted in no time...with a label maker.

It's not pretty, I'll admit it. Ok, what the bloody fuck - #wtbf - G-dog, those letters look fucken terrible, but it does the job and that's what counts. Whenever I use my work laptop I use that keyboard and it's glorious.

Anyway, it made me think about you folks and whether you've ever had an item you liked so much that you performed repair after repair on it just to keep the thing going? If you have, and want to tell me about it, let me know in the comments.