Parlez vous Frustration?

My new laptop is mostly a joy. It’s about 4 times as powerful as my old laptop which is now solely the “recording studio” for voice-over work.

But the Fujitsu portable isn’t without its quirks. The number of game developers in the computer world have necessitated a new style of keyboard. New to me, anyway. The “shift” key is one key over from where it used to be, requiring the pinky to stretch to its very limit to hit it. A lazy pinky will hit the key. Why, I wondered, would I need another set of slashes on my keyboard? Well it’s not just the slashes, according to my code-writing friend Jeff. It’s also for the other doodads on that particular key including |.

Yesterday my computer started speaking French, seemingly out of the blue. When I attempted to make a @ or a ? I would get a French e with an accent over it or a different symbol that I didn’t want. Apparently this is something that happens when you’re running Windows 7; sometimes the keyboard goes all Francophone and you have to reset it to English. This I did not know! Fortunately Facebook is a treasure trove of knowledge and one plaintive “HELLLP!” posted in my status garnered about a dozen quick responses. (A faint little keyboard icon appears at the bottom right. Click on it and choose your language preference.)

Other than pinky stretches and the occasional decision to go rogue, the keyboard is delightful. It has a “no spill” feature which means you can’t get liquid into it if you make a mess. (Why haven’t all keyboards been made that way since the beginning of time?) It only needs a light touch and it’s super fast and friendly. The occasional leap into the French language isn’t so bad now that I know where the control É ««éééééééééé