Mental Meanderings

The Intricacies of Computer Keyboards

I was chatting away earlier today as I frequently do when out of no where I was brutally attacked by a rogue pair of denim size 3 shorts. They caught me unawares and while my reflexes were speedy enough to catch the stray clothing they failed to prevent an almost full can of lemonade from upending all over myself, the floor and my keyboard. Yes, the sort of thing nightmares are made of isn't it?

The two year old miscreant responsible for the dead was no where to be seen which was perhaps lucky for him. Also perhaps lucky for my keyboard because instead of seeking him out to throttle him I swiftly moved to salvage the device before the icky stickiness laid siege to my much loved electronics.

How many of you have had occasion to open up your keyboards? I know it's the sort of thing few casual users would ever bother to do. Thankfully I've had interest in having intimate knowledge of the internal workings of my computer so in the past I'd pulled apart and successfully restored keyboards similar to my current one. This one is a rare and special keyboard however and only today I came to understand it's uniqueness.

On the box this keyboard came in it had something along the lines of dust and dirt resistant or something equally unfathomable. I remember thinking it odd when I was setting up my computer a few months ago but not enough to investigate. I mean ok, dust and dirt resistant, how could a computer keyboard be so innovative and clever? It didn't really matter so long as it would willingly type qwerty when I demanded.

Anyway, I rummaged in my supply of do-it-yourself handy-chicks tool box and found the right size and shaped screwdriver. Ah ha! Yes a woman who actually knows you use a screwdriver and not a wrench to unscrew screws. *grins* I set about on the eight screws that hold the keyboard together, placing them in my screw map (learnt that technique from the first Lara Croft Tomb Raider movie) and opened it up.

To my horror hundreds of little rubber bits scattered everywhere and lemonade dripped down my wrists. I'd already soaked up a fair puddle with a towel so I set about wiping down the rest of the sopping mess, getting into the grooves, lifted away the wiring sheet and set it all aside to dry.

It was as it dried that I came to realize why this new keyboard was unique. These rubber things were all designed to slot into each of the keys to trigget the electronics. Each key had a rubber thing and even more interesting was the keys were actually on a separate base and thus why dust and dirt could be more advantageously restrained from the electronics of they device.

It did however make for even more time consuming cleaning as I pried each key and cleaned and dried them all and then the plastic hub of all this activity before putting it all back together. Then came the time consuming task of placing rubber things over the backs of each key, in place, and not risk knocking them all awry again with a simple clumsy movement. Then with more agile skill getting the back of the keyboard in place with all parts accounted for.

Thankfully with everything screwed back together it continued to work perfectly. Which was good because the last time I had a lemonade incident with a keyboard I didn't clean it right away figuring that lemonade would dry and that would be that only to find that the inside of keyboards rust. Yes, you heard me, the electronic pads inside keyboards rust. My favorite keyboard had to go to the keyboard grave of my spare parts bin because of rust thanks to spilt lemonade.

I would suppose all this might teach me to not eat or drink around my keyboard. pfft AS IF! I practically live here, I'd sleep here if they invented soft padded keyboards that don't leave dents in my head. I'd die of thirst if I couldn't drink while at my computer. Thus, another reason I taught myself how to clean and repair it all and why I try to refrain from being subjected to the attacks of clothing or two year olds.

If only such terror two year olds would learn the intricacies of computer keyboards so they'd know better then to upend cans of lemonade on them. *frowns* It's ok, I bide my time, before much longer he'll be a computer genius, just like his mother.