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A GIFT FOR DAD
by
Gregory K.

My family plays lots of games, and sometimes I feel bad –
No matter what, from sports to chess, I always beat my dad!
I know he’s trying really hard in every game we play.
I see the glimmer in his eye... but things just go my way.
Sure, he never moans or whines. I’ve never seen him crying.
But I’m afraid if this keeps up, then one day he’ll stop trying.
And so today, I have a plan (although he’ll never know it),
When we play games, I’ll let him win!
I hope he doesn’t blow it.


As you ponder whether this is a Father's Day poem, a father's birthday poem, a poem for Dad on any day, or all of the above, why not check out this week's Poetry Friday roundup over at just another day of Catholic pondering?

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Do you spend a lot of time on your computer? I do. Between typing in my manuscript (the writing, and then all the editing changes), working on my blog or website, writing book reviews, doing online research, surfing, and even playing the odd computer game, it’s a LOT of time. And it’s so easy for me to get caught up in the work that I’m doing, and ignore my body.

A few years ago, I started to get numbness and tingling pain in my arms. Yep–the symptoms of Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI). Not a good thing. That really scared me, since I need my hands to write, to type, to do art. So I decided to research the subject. I then bought a few tools which, after using them, completely took away the pain and numbness in my arms and wrists, so now I swear by them. I also decided to try to take regular breaks–something that’s very hard for me to do.

Here are the products that I use and I highly recommend to keep your body in good shape while working on the computer:

The Kinesis Advantage Keyboard. I really believe this ergonomic keyboard saved my arms and hands. I researched ergonomic keyboards thoroughly before I purchased this one; many keyboards that are advertised as ergonomic aren’t actually ergonomic. The Kinesis keyboard is. It’s more expensive than many others, but it works. It took away the pain and numbness in my arms, and allowed me to type easily, pain-free.

The one I use, Kinesis Advantage USB, may take some getting used to at first, as the keyboard is contoured, with a separate key well for each hand, which are there to reduce the strain and force you use, and position your arms in an ergonomic position, at shoulder width and with your wrists straight. Once you get used to the keyboard (I had no problems at all), it’s incredibly comfortable and easy-to-use. Any time I’m at a friend’s house and try their regular flat keyboard, I think how awkward and not-well-suited for hands it is, and wish for my Kinesis one.

The Kinesis’ keys are placed for the optimum ease of your fingers; some of the most often used keys (such as “Enter”, “Space”, “Backspace”, “Delete”) are placed in thumb keypads, allowing you to use your thumbs (which are stronger), instead of your overworked and weaker little fingers. There are a lot more ergonomic benefits to this keyboard; you can read about them here.

The Kinesis Advantage keyboard allows both the standard Qwerty layout, and the less-often used but more ergonomic Dvorak layout–AND the keyboard shows both sets of layouts. This is a nice feature; if you use Dvorak, you don’t have to just use it by memory. I decided to switch to theDvorak layout, since it’s better suited for hands. It rearranges the keys so that the ones used most frequently are located on the home row, minimizing finger movement and helping you type faster. It took me a few weeks to retrain myself to type using a Dvorak layout instead of Qwerty, but I’m happy I did.

I have been using my Kinesis keyboard for about three years, and nothing will make me turn back to a regular keyboard. Kinesis has great customer support.

The Kinesis keyboard may seem pricey at $299 US, or $329 US for the Kinesis Advantage keyboard with the Qwerty/Dvorak keyboard, but it’s well worth the money to protect and save your body. It helped me tremendously. I highly recommend it.

The Evoluent Mouse. This mouse took away the stiffness and pain in my arm, hand, and shoulder that I was getting from using the mouse so much. It positions your hand so that it’s in a neutral handshake position, and the relief is almost instant! The position prevents forearm twisting, which a regular mouse creates. The Evoluent mouse is incredibly comfortable and easy to use. I feel like my hand is actually resting when it’s on the mouse.

All five buttons are placed so that your fingers naturally rest on them, and you need only use a light pressure (but still firm enough that you won’t accidentally click on them). You can program the buttons to do what you want, or leave them at their factory settings. It also has a really easy-to-use wheel, which I use to scroll through pages.

The Evoluent mouse is USB, and has infrared tracking that responds quickly and well to your movements. You can adjust the tracking speed and mouse pointer to your own preference. It is compatible with Windows, Mac, and Linux. They also have a left-handed vertical mouse for lefties.

There are a number of vertical mice out there, but after a lot of online research, I chose this one because it seems to be truly ergonomic, the best in its class, and has great user reviews. I have been using mine for about three years now, and I am delighted with it. I never want to use a regular mouse again! You can read more about the Evoluent mouse’s ergonomic benefits here. Evoluent has fantastic customer support, and they make frequent updates to the driver.

The Evoluent vertical mouse may seem pricey to some users at $80.00 US, but it’s worth every penny. You’ll feel the difference immediately. It saved my mouse arm from strain, pain, and numbness. I highly recommend it.

A great free anti-RSI program is WorkRave. It reminds you to take both micro breaks and longer breaks, and during the longer (”coffee”) breaks it shows you visuals of some stretches that you can do, and then suggests that you get up and walk away from your computer for the remainder of the 10 minutes. It also allows you to skip the break if you really need to keep working, or to shorten it. Breaks, micro-breaks, and reminders are all customizable; you can choose when and how often you want to be reminded. And you get the bonus of having a cute little sheep sitting in your system tray–along with feeling better in your body, and not injuring yourself. WorkRave is available on GNU/Linux and Windows.

You don’t often find a free anti-RSI program that shows you stretches, and for me, this is an important part of the program. I’m not likely (okay–I won’t at all) to do stretches without that visual reminder. You can scroll through the exercises, or skip one if you don’t like it. The exercises focus especially on areas of the body that can get stiff or ache, including hands, arms, shoulders, neck, and your eyes. It’s a great program, and it doesn’t cost you anything to use. So why not try it out?

For Mac users, there is a free program called Anti-RSI found here. I don’t use Mac, so I can’t tell you if it’s good or not, but the person who posted about it really likes it.