I used to have a manual typewriter, had a carrying case and everything but I finally go rid of it during one of my (many) moves.

Recently I switched from a regular keyboard to a mechanical gaming keyboard. Partly for trhe gaming aspect of it (and the super glowy red back lighting) but it's more comfortable and the keys are larger. It doesn't take a lot of pressure to press the keys but they make a very satisfying sound when when typing.

That's insane indeed, Lilty! Eesh.

(are the spouses of all police officers required to carry guns?)

Java, no not a requirement. And, I hasten to add, I never 'carried' except when we were camping. Though I was required...by my husband...to have the gun in my bed...not the nightstand because that would be too slow. Taylor was an upholsterer on the side, having learned to sew as a parachute rigger in Vietnam. He was quite good, so he built a holster into my waterbed so I would not shoot myself in the night.

He was all about saving me...which he did, and that is not an exaggeration. The gun wasn't so much about protecting me from the big, bad world as it was about making me feel powerful. I indulged that because it was important to him and I was grateful.

In re: Label makers, I'm actually amazed that my worship of organization, I've never gone that route.

Though...in 1989, when I worked for the software startup, I ordered so many label makers for our office that we were mentioned as distributors in the manufacturer's national ads. Heh. I was totally Johnny Applestamp.

We have a ghost in our house. She's nice, and looks after the kids, which so far means giving them little toys, mostly marbles. Her name is Antonia.

Raq, that's sweet. Have you seen her?

Mimeograph fluid, mmmm . . .

The heady smell of corflu...

Insane, Lilty. One minute late, TWICE? hahaha and that's the equivalent of an unexplained sick day? Batshit. I was doing good if I could get there less than half an hour late, when I was still going in to the office.

I learned to type on a blue electric typewriter. We had a computer at that point -- we'd had a computer since I was a toddler -- but I found an old book (it might have belonged to my grandfather) with exercises for learning how to type, and I don't think that going through the exercises on a word processor ever occurred to me. It was a typewriter book, so I used it with the typewriter.

I learned to type on a typewrite in Intro to Keyboarding in high school. I found it difficult to translate it to my computer at home at first because the keys were much more sensitive.

I have freakishly small hands and Mrs. Frings' typing class in junior high nearly did me in. I swear, the keys on that (non-electric) typewriter were purposely spaced so far apart, you needed jackhammer mitts to make a decent impression.

Still, I love that I learned to touch type back then...now that 'keyboarding' is such a big part of daily life.

I have learned to type fast, but I definitely type "wrong". My Tiny Dink Hands (TM) don't help.

ETA: Hubs coined the phrase Tiny Dink Hands. It's rude, but it's stuck.

I took typing several times in school -- all on computers. At the vocational school I went to for a legal secretary certificate (which I have done nothing with) the instructor was very particular about typing properly.

Any time she came around I had to change the way I typed, which slowed me down. She was coninviced if everyone typed "correctly" they'd be faster. The thing that seemed to bother her the most is my habit of using the left shift key for all shifting. I don't know how I got started doing that but I don't ever use the right shift key.