Cool.

Last weekend, both my mother and my mother in law sort of jumped the gun on my birthday.  Mom & Sis got me Guns 'N' Roses Appetite for Destruction, and my mother-in-law gave me a framed print (which I LOVE), and a Walmart gift card. 

I had asked for Appetite.  I used to have copies--one on cassette tape (which got eaten by a past tape player, so I no longer have...even if I had a tape player to listen to it with), and one on (burned) CD. Which wouldn't play any longer.* I really hadn't expected to get the album.  Quite honestly, I expected them to balk, hard, at it.  It's...something.  And it's not something I'll play around the kids (with the exception of about three or four of the songs). 

Sunday evening, I dragged my other half with me to Walmart, because I knew precisely what I wanted to do with part of that card: a quiet USB keyboard.  I can't stand rattly keyboards when I'm writing fast.  HATE them.  It's like sitting next to somebody chewing loudly with their mouth hanging open.  

I got this one: Onn Wireless Silent Keyboard.  It's not quite silent, mind you, but it's very, very close.  Yeah, it's almost certainly made in China, is probably a cheap POS, and will likely quit working within the year; however, at the price point, it's replaceable.  

The good points: it's a full-sized keyboard, and all of the keys are standard size/placement, and there's a raised ridge at the bottom of the F and the J keys.  I touch type, so those are really important.  Especially the standard size: I had a laptop that had a half-sized shift key, with...something else between the question mark and the shift key.  I routinely missed the shift with my right pinkie, and had to go back and fix whatever got FUBARed instead of capitalized.  

It's quiet.  It's probably the quietest keyboard I've ever used.   

It's lightweight.  And it uses standard, AAA batteries, so easy to replace.  And it's got an on/off switch on the bottom, to not waste your battery life when you're not using it.  

It was seriously inexpensive.  I'm not kidding: I went looking for a silent keyboard, and the next price point is $20 higher than this one. 

The bad points: It's a standard, straight keyboard. There's no bend to it for even slightly improved ergonomics. There's no flip-down legs to adjust it, if I were to set it on a desk and try to use it (not really an issue for me--even at a desk, I tend to type in my lap).  It's Made In China, so it will probably crap out within the year. 

Really, though, the good points heavily outweigh the bad points, and the bad ones aren't...really an issue for me.   

Yesterday, I dropped the kids off at school, came home, got the rest of my coffee, and turned on my speaker. Queued up Appetite for Destruction on repeat.  Set up to write. 

And got around 4K words added to Certified Public Assassin in the seven hours they were gone.  

The book really likes G&R.  That album in specific.  And the keyboard is comfortable to work with, and doesn't drive me nuts.  

*Did you know that burned CDs will quit working after a while?  I didn't.  In any case, I've got the CD loaded on my laptop, so that point is moot.