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Talking Time's Top 50 Office Supplies

Dracula

Plastic Vampire
(He/His)
I have two wireless keyboards, one at work and one at home. The work one is a Logitech model with an ergonomic layout. One time the company hired a new IT guy and he stopped by my workspace to say something like "wow they give you guys the really good stuff!" He was talking about my keyboard specifically. So I guess it's a good one, maybe. It's not mechanical, but it does have fun little buttons to call up things like your calculator app or media center.

The one at home is a basic Logitech deal that I got from wal-mart. I got it last year when I started working from home exclusively. It's fine! It does the job. I actually like it a little better than the fancy one I have at work.

Now I have two questions.

1. How and when did you learn to type? For me, it was Mavis Beacon software in 6th grade. This was probably the single most useful class I took in Junior High. I have probably made use of these skills almost every single day of my life since.

2. What is the best way to clean a keyboard?
 

Kirin

Summon for hire
(he/him)
Huh, looking at my list, I included a few digital/computer accessories, but I didn't put down any of the *essential* elements for the computer, since I guess I think of them more as "the computer" than an office supply. But no quibble with people who did.

The other reason I probably didn't think of the keyboards specifically is mine are very not flashy and olllllld. I keep swapping the same spare ones around rather than getting anything new, even when new computers show up. The ones in use in my office right now are two Apples (quite old and even older, from before they got super slim) and some ancient Dell QuietKey PC one. They all work fine. *shrug*

As for Drac's first question - I really never formally learned to type, which is maybe a bit odd for someone who does it for a living. I'm slightly too old to have had a required touch-typing class in grade-school. I do remember that the period when I got really *efficient* at typing quickly was one summer back around like '90 or so that I spent glued to BBS's and MUDs. But to this day my typing style, while reasonably fast and accurate, is still some weird amalgamation that doesn't conform to any actually-taught typing technique.
 

Falselogic

Lapsed Threadcromancer
(they/them)
Space Quest taught me how to type. By which I mean I taught myself how to type as a very, very small lad in order to be able to play parse based adventure games. By the time the public school system got around to trying to teach me how to type my unorthodox six/seven finger typing system was much much faster than learning QWERTY. Last time I took a typing test I was in the 90+ word per minute area. But yeah, also a very weird and totally unique typing technique.
 

JBear

Internet's foremost Bertolli cosplayer
(He/Him)
I taught myself to type to play MUDs in middle school, but that was just very fast two-finger typing. In the summer between high school and university, I decided that if I intended to become a computer programmer then I should learn how to type correctly, so I shut myself inside with Ms. Mavis Beacon that summer and came out an adept typist. That said, I suspect folks outside the industry would by shocked how many computer programmers of my generation don't know how to type properly.
 

Bulgakov

Yes, that Russian author.
(He/Him)
I suck at typing. Always will.

But to clean my keyboard, I bought a little keyboard/desktop vacuum for $20 during the pandemic. It was one of my guilty QoL purchases, and it was ENTIRELY WORTH IT. I don't know how I cleaned my keyboard before this thing, but however I did it was wrong.
 

Falselogic

Lapsed Threadcromancer
(they/them)
I suck at typing. Always will.

But to clean my keyboard, I bought a little keyboard/desktop vacuum for $20 during the pandemic. It was one of my guilty QoL purchases, and it was ENTIRELY WORTH IT. I don't know how I cleaned my keyboard before this thing, but however I did it was wrong.
What kind did you get? How effective is it? I use compressed air usually but the results are always disappointing.
 

Mogri

Round and round I go
(he)
Staff member
Moderator
It's inefficient, but I'll never get tired of shaking my upside-down keyboard and cleaning up all the resulting crud.
 

Bulgakov

Yes, that Russian author.
(He/Him)
What kind did you get? How effective is it? I use compressed air usually but the results are always disappointing.

This one has been great for me and was like $20 on Amazon. Best feature is the brush head that fits over a normal-sized key perfectly. There's a fancyish one I'm considering if this one ever breaks down, but this is doing the job pretty well for now!

Edit: I totally just vacuumed my keyboard after typing this, and it felt really good.
 
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Dracula

Plastic Vampire
(He/His)
Yeah, I've always used compressed air, and have had similarly disappointing results.

This vacuum looks...amazing.
 
tZsby6F.gif
 

Falselogic

Lapsed Threadcromancer
(they/them)
I do like that even in the 2200s techs still need to know how to interface with a qwerty keyboard and icon based OS. I just imagine buried somewhere at Starfleet is some mainframe running Linux...
 
Keyboards are dope. I learned the basics of how to use one playing Mario Teaches Typing at my grade school's computer lab. I taught myself how to do it well just by practicing and knowing the basics of the homerow.

I have a wireless mechanical keyboard now at home. But I'm not particularly married to mechanicals. The only keyboards I'll talk shit about are the ergonomical wavy ones. Screw those.

I do like that even in the 2200s techs still need to know how to interface with a qwerty keyboard and icon based OS.
It's always been my head canon (and I contend that is the intent of the scene) that Scotty is a Twelfth Level Intellect. He had no idea how to use that computer going into that room, but he figured it out instantly just by looking at it.
 

Violentvixen

(She/Her)
1. How and when did you learn to type? For me, it was Mavis Beacon software in 6th grade. This was probably the single most useful class I took in Junior High. I have probably made use of these skills almost every single day of my life since.
I literally don't remember. I had a typewriter as a kid that I used from really early on, so maybe I just learned the proper way there? I was definitely using the computer before third grade, and I remember we had to take a typing class in 5th or 6th grade and I tested out of it.
 

Torzelbaum

????? LV 13 HP 292/ 292
(he, him, his)
1. How and when did you learn to type?
I learned in high school. But I don't exactly remember how. I don't think it was via Mavis but I think my school used a cheap knockoff or something like that. My technique was OK but I think I have picked up some weird and bad habits over the years.
 
The only keyboards I'll talk shit about are the ergonomical wavy ones. Screw those.
I just thought about it more, and the other keyboards that are whack are:

- The keyboards that either coopt or erase the F-keys. I'm looking at you, Apple/Google.
- Keyboards that lack a proper number pad.

Keyboards that have their letters marked in paint that easily rubs off is another pet peeve of mine, but not nearly as big of a deal breaker, since I rarely need to actually look at the keyboard.
 

Dracula

Plastic Vampire
(He/His)
- The keyboards that either coopt or erase the F-keys. I'm looking at you, Apple/Google.

My fancy work keyboard has big blue icons on top of the F-keys, with the F-numbers shown on the sides of the keys. They function as F-keys by default, though, and you have to hold down a "Fn" key to use the blue icons. They are as follows:
  • F1 has a Microsoft Word icon (by default this seems to do nothing)
  • F2 has a Microsoft Excel item (this also seems to do nothing)
  • F3 has a calendar icon (nothing)
  • F4~F6 have the letters A, B, and C, which also do nothing.
  • F7 shows an Internet Explorer item, which opens a new tab in Chrome (lol)
  • F8 has what looks like an AIM buddy icon? And there's another little buddy behind it. It does nothing.
  • F9 shows an envelope. It actually brings up Microsoft Outlook!
  • F10 has a magnifying glass with a "www" underneath. It highlights the search bar in Chrome...which you can also do with CTRL+K, so this is redundant.
  • F11 has a battery icon, which does nothing.
  • And finally, F12 shows an eject symbol, which also does nothing, presumably because my computer doesn't have a disc drive.
 

Torzelbaum

????? LV 13 HP 292/ 292
(he, him, his)
I use a basic wired HP or Logitech keyboard. But any keyboard I use for any amount of time needs to have the little legs so I can tilt it.
 

Mogri

Round and round I go
(he)
Staff member
Moderator
pdJo32H.png

#46 (tie)
Double-sided tape

Score: 48 - Votes: 2 - Highest vote: 2nd (Violentvixen)​

Kirin said:
(when a thing needs to be stuck a particular way)

I'll admit it: I'm stuck in the stone age, looping my single-sided tape around itself when I need something to stick to both sides. It's not that I dislike double-sided tape -- far from it -- it's just that I don't have occasion for it as often as it would take for the tape not to get dusted over (and thus wasted) between uses.

What are your use cases for double-sided tape, whether or not you are a purchaser of the product?
 

Yimothy

Red Plane
(he/him)
I work with a lot of adhesive items, and frankly being sticky on one side is annoying enough. That’s just my workplace, though, I’m sure it makes sense in others.

I didn’t think of tapes at all! Huge oversight.
 

JBear

Internet's foremost Bertolli cosplayer
(He/Him)
I did not know that this product existed. As Mogri says, I just loop tape on itself when I need something to stick on both sides. Huh.
 

Kirin

Summon for hire
(he/him)
So despite this being a pretty mundane item, the double-sided tape in particular is actually something I have in my office for the specialized machining part of my job - it gets used to mount stock material inside the milling machine, if the stock is light enough or thin enough that it doesn't need to be clamped with a vise.

Of course there's plenty of other uses too - it's a lot less messy than paste if you need to stick a bunch of paper things together collage-style, though most 2D mock-ups of things are just done digitally these days.

Insta-edit: I'm slightly flabbergasted by JBear never having heard of it though! Do they not have double-sided tape in Canada? I feel like you'd see this at the least in any craft store around here, if not in office supplies (but it might be there too).
 

Dracula

Plastic Vampire
(He/His)
I thought double-sided tape was the absolute coolest thing when I was a kid, but I didn't even consider it (or any other type of tape, now that I think about it) for this list! I can't remember the last time I used it.
 

JBear

Internet's foremost Bertolli cosplayer
(He/Him)
Do they not have double-sided tape in Canada? I feel like you'd see this at the least in any craft store around here, if not in office supplies (but it might be there too).
I have no idea, but I'd assume we have it.

Look, it's not like I spend time pouring over the craft or office supply isles at the store. At least, not since grade school. I'm sure my eyes have always just glided right past it and seen it as "tape". Honestly, it sounds like a product that would just annoy me anyway.
 

Falselogic

Lapsed Threadcromancer
(they/them)
I have no idea, but I'd assume we have it.
Look, it's not like I spend time pouring over the craft or office supply isles at the store. At least, not since grade school. I'm sure my eyes have always just glided right past it and seen it as "tape". Honestly, it sounds like a product that would just annoy me anyway.
Then what are you wasting all your time on? Name one better thing than looking at the OfficeMac/Office Depot catalog!
 

Falselogic

Lapsed Threadcromancer
(they/them)
I had a tape on my list but it wasn't this one!
Also, double sided tape is super useful. But my job, thankfully, doesn't require it. In a previous job it could have been useful but the actual use of the product was more finicky and expensive than just using a glue stick. Yes, I had a job, my first professional one actually, in which large portions of the work involved cutting and pasting (literally with scissors, paper, and glue stick) large quantities of printed text.
 
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