It’s a lovely case of carpal tunnel. No wonder I’ve had tingling hands, pain radiating up my arm and sometimes wake up with numb hands.

Ahhh – lovely…. Oh SO lovely.

So I get a lovely pair of wrist splints to wear and I get yet another reason to switch to Dvorak. And Aleve.

And if that doesn’t help, I get to see a neurologist for more extensive testing and such.

Color me not surprised but distinctly unthrilled.

Wearing the splints at night does help the numbness (and scares the cats). I can stand them part of teh day but can’t wear them while making jewelry because I can’t grip the pliers properly. I’m trying though.

I got an additional set on my doctor’s recommendation since he says each brand fits a little differently and it’s good to have two that I can wear so I can wash one and let it dry.

ah – joy.

So – after several bouts recently of numbness in my hands, I’ve decided to bite the bullet and switch from QWERTY to Dvorak.

For those who don’t know, Dvorak is an alternate keyboard layout that is designed to be much less stressful to use when typing, to be more efficient and reduces RSI issues.

I was chatting to my development lead at the day job today and we were talking keyboard layouts when I guess I suddenly made the decision.

I’ll have to see if C will join me in this challenge – if so, that will make sharing the keyboard of the laptop a lot easier. I think I’ll just invest in some of the keyboard stickers instead of dedicated dvorak keyboards since I really like my ergo keyboard’s feel.

My guess is that i won’t get the stickers until after RWA Nationals – so probably not actually switching until then but I’m sure my typing speed will go deeply down the toilet for a while. But the key (from everything I’ve read, is that you don’t keep switching back and forth, so I need to hang on with my fingernails.

wish me luck!

Just a note that there’s a new Erotic/Erotica ebook publisher opening its doors – Mojocastle Press.

Some experienced industry professionals are running it:
– Stefani Kelsey
– Carrie Anne King
– Marjorie Jones

With the emphasis on quality in all areas and the experienced folks running it, this will be a company to watch.

They are now open for submissions!

What is it with people who don’t feel their website or blog is complete without blasting whomever is trying to read it with some (loud) noise? At first it was websites that played an audio track in the background – usually music of some sort. That was bad enough. I’d innocently click on a link and get blasted out of existence with what someone unwisely decided was a Great Theme for their website.

That would immediately mean I’d never visit that website again and a quick use of Alt+F4.

I mean really – what if I’m trying to surf around on the sly? Wouldn’t the blaring rendition of “I Can’t Get No Satisfaction” sorta give away the fact that I was surfing sites that were not work related.

What if I was trying to quietly amuse myself when I had a child asleep nearby. It’s a sure recipe to end the nap!

Now there’s a new thing some people have decided is CUTE – This Site Pal crack that appears to be going around.

Now, why would someone want a cartoon talking head on their blog? And when I surf to their blog, I get a LOUD voice declaring “welcome to ….”. YIKES.

Please stop the audio spam, folks! Make it voluntary — “Click here to listen to audio”. Have mercy on those of us who HATE noise on websites.