A clean keyboard
Is a happy keyboard?

Well, last night I popped the keys off my keyboard to clean it and then decided to go a step beyond the compressed air thing because there was all this gunk under the keys. I suppose this is 2 years worth of bread crumbs, skin particles, skin oils, and matter from micro-wormholes or somesuch that collects in dark places. To do this I took the screws out of the bottom of the keyboard and took out the insides. This consists of a small circuit board where the (X)lock LEDs are, three mylar sheets, and a rubber pad. Two of the three sheets are printed circuits, the blank sheet in the middle has holes punched out where the keys are, and the rubber mat is pressed down by the keys to make connections. Anyway, that is beside the point, I took them all out and washed the case and keys in the sink.

It took me a good while to get all the keys back on, and I still am not sure about some of the non-standard keys that i never use. But i never use them, so I don't care.

The fun thing is I can do the letters and numbers from memory. :D

It took me four tries to get the circuitry working again, I was having trouble getting the printed circuits on the mylar lining up with the contacts on the circuit board. But, it works now, and it is clean! And I just finished eating a sandwich over it so I am well on my way to getting it dirty again! At least all the hair is out. Dog hair and my hair in a big flattened out mass, eeew.
- posted by Nick @ 4/28/2007 03:12:00 PM | 0 comments

 
Yardwork!
So I've been spending "spare" time chopping up shrubbery over the past week or so! The yard has been in a state of neglect for the past six or seven years now and the azaleas were the worst off for it. The ones in the back were in dire need of a massive cut back, one had taken root on the patio bricks in multiple places and was about 8 feet in diameter... One was all but killed off by a vine...

Anyway, I took care of all that on Saturday. The azaleas in back, all but one which hadn't grown out of control, are now just wooden branches a few feet long. Hopefully they will grow bushy. And hopefully the one that was almost killed off will revive.

Last night when I got home from school I trimmed up the azaleas in front, they were overly bushy and were making the driveway too narrow and were going to block the windows of the house. It got dark before I could finish up the front.

Today after work I did that. I trimmed the azaleas by the driveway and I cleared out the "oasis" on the side of the yard inside the driveway (it's a circular drive). I cut the seven foot camellia down to about three feet and cut out the vines that were growing in it. It is a lot more open now. I also trimmed the azaleas down and cut a few overly large limbs out of some other flowering bush/tree thing. I think I still need to cut a couple of limbs shorter on that but I managed to break the lopper I was using.

Anyway, it is starting to look better!
- posted by Nick @ 4/25/2007 04:02:00 PM | 0 comments